Hello, everyone! I'm Mogo
Everyone calls Toyota's Highlander a financial artifact, but Highlander can only protect the capital. There is a car in these two years that can talk about the return on investment. That's the crown:
A few years ago, the old crowns of tens of thousands of pieces in the old car market were once speculated to 200,000 or 300,000. Have to sigh: love (ren) huai (sha) no (qian) price (duo) ah...
A few years ago, a few news must have touched the heartstrings of some people: the crown that has been suspended for many years is going to return to China!
Will it be the fifteenth generation crown?
Today, let's talk about the crown! Is it really coming back? What's it like to come back? Why did you leave in the first place? Can you continue the classic?
The crown of the year
Why?
What kind of car is the crown
The Crown was once Toyota's flagship. In addition to the special nature of Toyota Century, the crown has always been the flagship product of Toyota sedans. For a long time, the crown was the most advanced product that Toyota, and even Japanese car companies, could provide to consumers.
The crown of the past is naturally a suitable carrier for showing identity and status in Japan. In Japan's high-grade business society, such a mid-to-high-end car is also needed to serve the president of the company and the subordinate senior officials of the government. Toyota even once advertised an advertising slogan in Japan: "When did you buy Majesta?" "The implication behind this is that buying a Crown Majesta represents success in life.
The Crown is a business luxury vehicle that serves the rear. The reason why the crown appeared is because the Japanese economy, which began to revive in the 1950s, has a huge demand for corporate commercial vehicles. This is also the most core positioning of the crown car series in the future: the commercial car of enterprises and institutions.
The back row of the crown in 1983
With such a positioning as a commercial car, it is destined to serve the back row. Such a focus on the rear seat of the car offers the luxury of the rear seat of that era. Since such vehicles are often driven by full-time drivers rather than consumers themselves, the driving experience has to give way to comfort.
What is the feeling of the crown in China?
Crown established a high-end image earlier. For high-end models and brands, time is the most precious asset. The Crown is one of the earliest high-end models introduced in The Country. As early as the 1960s and 1970s, it was introduced into China as a reception car for the Canton Fair. In the 1980s, it was widely introduced as a car for enterprises, institutions, government agencies, and high-end hotels. The European and American luxury cars represented by the BBA began to become popular, which was already a matter of the nineties.
In the 1970s, the mainland imported the fourth generation of crowns in bulk
The crown was also a symbol of the first rich. In the South in the 1980s and 1990s, crowns, which came from a wide range of sources, became the most convenient luxury cars for families who were one step ahead of the well-off. As the crown of their car, it naturally became a status symbol of success and prosperity in the minds of ordinary people, and planted grass in the hearts of young people at that time.
Crown 133 can be described as the peak of imported crowns
Ordinary people also have access to it. In the 1980s and 1990s, Crown served as a high-end taxi for some cities. Compared with the slightly mysterious Audi and Mercedes-Benz, which only existed in the organ compound at that time, the crown naturally had a layer of people-friendly atmosphere. At one time, the crown became synonymous with high-end taxis, and in the nineties there was a popular sketch "Face and Crown", starring Feng Gong, presumably many people have seen it.
The crown of that year was indeed high-end and luxurious. In the 1980s and 1990s, it was the era of Japan's bubble economy, the era of the most unscrupulous cost to build luxury cars, cruise control, automatic air conditioning, power seats, car refrigerators, 12-disc CD sound system, automatic rotating air conditioning fans... Even today, these configurations are not standards that ordinary cars can match.
83 years of crown center console, densely packed buttons
Later crowns
Why not
Two missed opportunities
The nineties were the crown's most glorious years
The nineties were also the afterglow of the crown
In 1995, the Crown 133 model, which was popular in the Chinese market, was discontinued. Also in 1995, FAW, Volkswagen and Audi signed an agreement to officially enter the mass production stage of the Audi 100 model in a small batch license production mode. The common result of the two events is that the black government car on the road has gradually changed from an imported crown to a domestic Audi.
This was the first opportunity to take the crown to the next level, and in the choice of domestic production in the 1990s, Audi, who dared to taste crabs, experienced the delicious beauty of crab yellow.
In 1999, the rounded C5-generation Audi A6L was domestically produced, and the extended wheelbase brought the Chinese luxury car market into a new era. At the same time, China's auto market, which ushered in the new century and the WTO, began to develop rapidly. Luxury brands have entered China, and Chinese consumers' perceptions of luxury are constantly refreshing. In this context, the 11th generation of crowns, which completed the replacement in 1999, chose not to enter the Chinese market anymore.
This was the second opportunity, and at the dawn of a booming luxury market, Crown chose to leave. This opportunity has achieved the top three Ashkenazi luxury brands.
Eleventh generation crown
The crown belongs to the front wave
No longer attracts the back wave
In 2005, the 12th generation of crowns was domestically produced, ushering in a return to the light of the crown in the domestic market. The 12th generation crown, which is known as "starting from 0, redeveloping", its product power is worthy of recognition. But as time passed, Crown's days became more and more difficult.
There is a product strength factor to this. The crown developed for the Japanese market segment, in the face of global luxury cars such as Lexus and BBA, can be said to be seriously out of step with the times. The narrow body and gentle power are already product-level hard wounds.
China's luxury car market has entered a stage of increasingly involution since 2010, and in the face of BBA and second-tier luxury brands with sharply lower prices and stronger product strength, Crown can be said to have almost no ability to fight back. In the later period, the price collapsed, the production process also declined, and the sense of value of the product gradually collapsed.
Behind this
It is the increasing embarrassment of the entire car series of crowns
The crown is no longer Toyota's flagship. Under the Toyota brand, the crown is still the flagship of the car, but it is not in today's Toyota system. Lexus diverts most of the crown's consumers, and what the crown can bring to the consumer, Lexus gives more.
The crown has face, Lexus has more face
The audience of the crown is also gradually narrowing. Whether in Japan or China, the traditional consumer groups corresponding to the crown are no longer the mainstream of consumption. The most reluctant to crown feelings may be after 50, after 60. Maybe their savings are funding the younger generation to buy a car, but they're no longer the backbone of making car buying decisions.
Without a certain life experience, how to accept such an interior calmly
The crown is not without changes. Since the 14th generation of crowns, it has tried to be more youthful, individual, and athletic in design. The 15th generation of the Crown has become very different, more like a rear-drive sports car that inherits the spirit of Mark X and is mainly controlled. But the 15th generation change is too radical for traditional consumers and not radical enough for younger consumers. After a brief period of popularity in the early days of the market, the 15th generation was once again reduced to a chicken rib in Toyota's products.
The "rejuvenation" of the 14th generation crown
After understanding why the former crown can be made, and understanding why the later crown is not, the next thing we should explore is whether the crown that has returned to the past can be achieved.
The crown of the future
Is it possible to do it
First of all, the news about the return of the crown is still in the stage of rumors. But these rumors are not empty, and then let the onion circle Sherlock Holmes - I, for everyone to analyze a wave:
The crown of the return
15 generations? 16 generations!
The introduction of the 15th generation crown is the most widely circulated and seemingly reasonable statement. However, the 15th generation of crown has entered the end of the life cycle, and from the information currently flowing out, March 2022 will be the last day the 15th generation of crown will accept orders, and will be officially discontinued in April. In fact, since last year, the 15th generation of crowns has been discontinued due to the epidemic.
Fifteen generations of crowns
The rumors of the crown's return to China have another protagonist: the mysterious 16th generation crown. Not only the mainland market, but also the Taiwanese dealers across the strait during this time have also reported the news that a new crown will be introduced in the fourth quarter of 2022. Globally, the new crown is also the protagonist of many rumors. For example, in the Us market, it is now also rumored that the Asian Dragon will stop production, and its status will be replaced by a new generation of crowns imported from Japan.
Information from Toyota dealers in Taiwan
Previously, the gossip that the pre-imported crown will mention the new car in the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, and this is also the time when the current 16th generation crown is expected to be released. Combining these messages, it is roughly certain that the introduction through imports will be the 16th generation crown.
Is the crown of the future a crossover?
The new generation of crowns is also gradually revealing some information. Judging from the earliest disclosed information, the sixteenth generation of crowns will not be a traditional sedan, but a cross-border "Sedan+". Exactly what the concept of "Sedan+" is is still unknown. Maybe it's similar to the new generation of Mondeo, which integrates a lost SUV gene on the basis of the car, or it may be similar to the former Costa and other models.
Tall and burly sedan, acceptable
Long words like this, click!!!
According to the latest information flowing out, the new generation of Crown will abandon the front-longitudinal rear-drive layout in favor of the front-facing front-drive layout. The new generation of models is more like a new Asian dragon than a new crown.
"In the next generation of Crown development, I hope that developers will break through the original inherent understanding of Crown, and nothing is sacred in developing better cars."
——Akio Toyoda's views on the development of the new generation of crowns
What the new crown looks like
The 16th generation crown using the same GA-K platform as the Camry Asian Dragon, there is not much information flowing out at present, and we can speculate based on the existing information. According to the official statement, the new generation of crowns will be introduced in the form of CBU, that is, in the form of vehicle imports.
The japanese media drew a new generation of crown hypothetical diagrams, look at a happy look
In terms of body size, it has at least reached the Asian Dragon level of FULL-SIZE. The new car should not only replace the current crown, but also be able to replace the Asian dragon in the North American market. If you can do both, the size of this car will not be small. The new car will have a strong relationship with the Lexus ES, its wheelbase may also be 2870mm, and the outer dimensions may reach a scale of 5000mm long and 1860mm wide.
There are not many power configurations available on the TNGA-K platform, but there are not many high-end power currently installed. The 2.5L self-priming engine and the 2.5L oil-electric hybrid must not be absent. Since it is positioned as a crossover, the E-Four four-wheel drive should also be the standard. Considering the price, perhaps the imported version will be equipped with a 3.5L V6 engine as a support for value.
Internal and external materials and processes may be on par with Lexus ES. It is likely that this car will be produced in line with the ES series at the Kyushu plant in Japan. Toyota also has some black technology that will be used in new cars, which may add value to the new generation of Crown.
Write at the end
If the Chinese auto market in previous years was the Era of Volkswagen, the last few years are clearly the era of Toyota. Toyota now maintains an amazing retention rate and terminal price in the domestic market. Since the launch of the sub-brand crown last year, it should also be hoped that the crown brand should become a breakthrough to further enhance the value of Toyota's products.
Today's crown brand still lacks the support of truly high-end products. The arrival of the new crown is the winner and loser of Toyota's vision. However, from the perspective of the sales form of the vehicle import, it means that Toyota's sales expectations for this car are not large.
What kind of new crown are you looking forward to? We also welcome you to share the story of the same crown