Starting with the 16th-generation Crown (S23X), Toyota has promoted it from a single model to an independent car series, and even a sub-brand of its own brand. It has been exactly two years since the launch of the first model, the Crown Crossover, in July 2022, during which all members of the 16th-generation Crown family have been unveiled, namely the S235 Crossover, the S236 Crown Sport, the S230/232 sedan, and the S238 Estate/Signia (SUV). At present, there are already two cars that have entered the country as imported cars, namely the Sedan and the Crossover.
Figure: The market response of the Crossover version is mediocre, and the visibility is not high; The Sedan version was handed over to FAW Toyota Network for sale, according to the previous sales with 4S stores, although it was more expensive than the domestic production in the early years, and the delivery time had to wait for a few months, the number of intended customers was a bit beyond expectations, including a large number of former crown owners of the replacement orders.
It's just that Toyota's purpose of family-forming the Crown this time is to sell the Crown brand to the world and turn it into a global car series like Corolla and Camry, which are not just C-class and D-class sedans, they have already been family-oriented. Since the "Crown Family" will be sold all over the world, we are also in the circle in China. At present, the two cars that have been introduced in advance are sold as imported cars in FAW Toyota's network, but let's not forget that Toyota also has a "two-car strategy" in China, which balances the interests of the North and South factories, so the remaining two models that have not yet been introduced, the Estate station wagon and the Sport, are almost certainly the responsibility of GAC Toyota. However, there is another problem that arises here, the authorization of the crown car series has been controlled by FAW Toyota since the localization of the twelfth generation of the crown (S180), and if Guangfeng also wants to introduce the crown, it will undoubtedly require a series of "operations" to make it happen.
So what should Guangfeng do? In fact, this problem is not unsolvable, and the way to solve it is also very simple: "You Yifeng holds the crown in your hand, and I Guangfeng has a concave Buddha!" ”。 What kind of car is the Alphard? This is a business 7-person car that used to increase the price by 300,000 yuan if you want to pick up the car on time in China, and the price increase will exceed 1 million yuan.
Although historically, Alphard is not the same thing as the crown at all, and the luxury heritage is slightly inferior to the crown, but from the perspective of the "gold weight" of the user group, the Alphard is indeed a lot higher than the crown; What's more interesting is that both Crown and Alphard, the absolute main domestic market is in the four provinces of Lingnan and the three provinces in East China, and they have also been recognized by a number of commercial customers, so Alphard is not without this qualification. Besides, Guangfeng really doesn't have too many good ways to do it except for this trick. If you just think that you are talking about it or that you are just joking, then you are really surprised: because there is a lot of gossip telling us that Toyota and Guangfeng already have this idea and are in the process of implementing it.
Figure: Even if there is more verbal criticism on the Internet, but back to the real world 24 hours a day, the 40 series of concave Buddha new cars are still in short supply, and many domestic "battery MPVs" want to challenge it, but back to reality? It's nothing more than a few new and old forces fighting and being swept up there, and it has no impact on the 40 series at all. Cars are a commodity that belongs to the real world, and no matter how much patriotism you control, you can't buy a really good car with real money.
Picture: Rich people are not stupid, it's okay to buy a battery car to play and experience, but if you really want to go out to meet people, it's better to hand over your life to someone who really knows how to build a car.
Figure: The photos leaked out of the Internet can prove whether the editor is bragging, please look at the picture~
Pictured: This is the original Crown Sport, which is technically a Crossover SUV.
According to the current state, not only will the crown become an independent car series, but even the Alphard, which is based on a "7-person car", will not escape the fate of being "car-based" and "branded". After all, the reason why the remaining two cars of the sixteenth generation Crown have to be renamed is more related to Toyota's "two-car strategy" in China. However, the domestic automobile market at this stage is different, to put it bluntly, it is still in the "developing" stage, and it is still necessary to rely on two or three joint ventures to balance certain interests, after all, the interests must be reasonably distributed in order to be able to cooperate for a long time, as a member of the Chinese character cultural circle, Japan certainly understands.
Pictured: This is the Estate/Signia, the largest SUV model in the 16th generation Crown family, and the left side is covered with a blue sticker, which can't be the "Hybrid" badge, right?
Picture: It is reported that these two "Alphard" in China were photographed in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and the editor wants to ask why it is not in Guangzhou, the headquarters of GAC, but in Shenzhen?
Pictured: Actually, this is already in April......
Although the official has not officially announced the introduction plan of these two new cars, according to the leaked pictures, it is estimated that they are all eight or nine. It is conceivable that after the official announcement of the future appearance, it is estimated that there will be a lot of yin and yang strange voices on the Internet, after all, China's Internet public opinion bar, pulling ethnic hatred, extreme nationalism is prevalent, and patriotic feelings at the level of rigidity and self-use have been prevalent for many years. Even the closure of factories by certain brands can be pulled into a spiritual victory...... Excuse me, if you don't even have the most basic analytical skills, what kind of media are you going to do? Just as Mitsubishi, which has long been acquired by Nissan, has joined the "Nissan-Honda battery car alliance", does it have a gross relationship with those battery cars made in China? But how can the domestic self-media public opinion also be declared as "the victory of new energy vehicles"? To put it mildly, "What I pulled today has anything to do with what you ate yesterday?" ”
The issue of naming is introduced here, and I will briefly explain to you the background of these two cars. Except for the sedan version, which is built using the top production platform of TNGA-L Small, the other three cars are built using the TNGA-K platform, in other words, they are the products of the same platform as Highlander and Camry, but as a luxury-level packaged car series, the driving and riding of the crown will undoubtedly be better than the ordinary car series. The largest Signia has a wheelbase of 2,850 mm, which is the same as the Highlander and Lexus RX, with a length of 4,930 mm, a width of 1,880 mm, and a height of 1,620 mm.
Figure: In a sense, Crown Signia can be regarded as an upgraded version of the Highlander, the luxury level is between the Highlander and the Lexus RX, with different positioning of the car family to capture a specific market segment and target group, this approach is only capable of real large factories, small factories or medium-sized factories with limited capabilities can only use "car sea tactics", Toyota, Hyundai, and today's domestic brands, are like this. Any objections? Please go to the car magazine website and learn more about the history of automobiles.
The Crown Sport is positioned as a more special one, with a wheelbase of 2,770 mm, which is unique to Toyota's current models. As the sixteenth generation of the crown family, wheelbase, body size of the smallest car, it will be named "Sport" is not for no reason, especially recently Lexus in Japan launched a high-performance version of the LBX, the editor guesses that Toyota will not let go of this embryo, when the car family sales are stable or even long-term, it is possible that Akio Toyoda will put the 3.5 V6 into it. Of course, this is the crown of Taiwan and not GR, and it is estimated that it will only converge somewhat.
Picture: The editor stared blankly at this official picture, why do you always think that it will have a GR Crown Sport version in the future? Am I a GR upper body?
Picture: This tail light shape, every time I look at it, I feel that I have seen it somewhere, why is it so familiar? We riders might as well help solve their doubts in the comment area? (Tips: It's not Toyota's, the one from the factory next door..... ）
Photo: As for the powertrain, with the exception of the sedan version and the Crossover, which was first launched, the other two models use a 2.5-liter hybrid power unit.
Whether it is Alphard Sport (Crown Sport) or Alphard Estate (Crown Estate), even if it is renamed and comes to China, it is still introduced as an original imported model, which you can rest assured. As for why we emphasize "imported cars" so much, there is no need to explain the quality of imported cars, those who understand understand it, and those who don't understand it can check where and which country we learned the technology of domestic automobile steel; In addition, buying an imported car can also more strongly support national taxes, whether it is customs duties or purchase taxes (consumption tax); Buying a fuel car can also support the country's education, and your own children can go to school with their heads held up, because "my dad has paid an education surtax and a local education surcharge"; I am also at ease when I drive on the main road, because we have refueled and paid the city maintenance and construction tax.
Less to take that kind of patriotic feelings to moral kidnapping, in our [car magazine] this kind of only respect the development of automobile technology, respect the law of historical development of the automobile media platform does not exist, as we have been saying for many years: from 2000 to the present, the so-called domestic car critic industry, vertical new car media industry, now all kinds of car shopping guide short video self-media, and even more than 20 years to build the entire new car consumer public opinion guidance matrix, is a joke! A good car without advertising is garbage, and an industrial garbage truck with multiple Internet troops is national pride, isn't this a joke? !