Toyota Crown is expected to expand the lineup with hydrogen fuel cells and plug-in hybrid powertrains, as well as more body styles, Toyota confirmed Wednesday – though it has yet to confirm those. What will come to America?
Crown returns to the US for the 2023 model year with a hybrid powertrain and sedan body style that Toyota now calls a “Crossover type”. Toyota has previously shown the regular sedan, “Sport” (hatchback) and “Estate” (wagon) versions of the Crown in concept form and on Wednesday announced some details about the production versions of the vehicles. this Crown variant.
The first model to appear will be the Crown Sport, launching this fall with a hybrid powertrain, followed by a plug-in hybrid this winter. The Crown sedan will also debut this fall and will feature both hybrid and fuel cell powertrains, while the Crown Estate will launch in 2024 with hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains.
Toyota Crown Sport Prototype
Compared to the current Crown for the US market, the new sedan will be about 2 inches longer, 2 inches wider and will be about 3 inches lower. The Sport and Estate versions will be even shorter than the sedan, but just as wide, with the Estate being slightly taller than the Sport.
Toyota did not provide further details on the powertrain. Crown has been revealed for the US with the automaker’s sportier styling Hybrid Max powertrain, revolves around a conventional automatic transmission instead of Toyota’s signature planetary hybrid system that some versions still have. With the standard hybrid system, Crown achieves up to 41 mpg combined in EPA testing.
Crown PHEV report, or prime minister crown, to use Toyota’s current plug-in hybrid nomenclature, which circulated shortly after the launch of the Crown hybrid in the United States. However, Toyota has yet to confirm its plans to offer the plug-in hybrid powertrain mentioned in this version in the Crown US market. Plug-in version of Highlander or Grand Highlander is still to be expected, though.
Toyota Crown Estate Prototype
On the fuel cell front, Toyota redesigned the Mirai for 2021 as a sportier rear-wheel drive sedan and repositioned its powertrain as having “emissions.” because it cleans the air. Given that the Mirai is still relatively new, there’s really no need for Toyota to replace it, or bring a second model to the US microfuel cell market.
Toyota has no plans to start manufactures fuel cell modules in the US starting this year. They will be part of a kit that will essentially replace the traditional heavy-duty diesel engines in Class 8 pickups. Toyota didn’t mention passenger cars in its announcement of the project, but the technology does. Hydrogen fuel cells could help the company meet more stringent emissions standards proposed by the EPA.
