Toyota Century SUV is a new approach to low-key old-school luxury

In some respects, the launch of Toyota’s new Century SUV is the sad end of an era. Outside of JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) car enthusiasts, not many people know that Toyota’s Japanese product line-up includes the company’s equivalent of a Rolls-Royce, a massive limousine explicitly designed for captains of industry and powered by a bespoke V12 engine. 

The first Toyota Century arrived in 1967 in an attempt to wrestle the chauffeur-driven market away from Western manufacturers. It was so successful that the first generation remained in production for 30 years until an all-new Century model arrived in 1997. 

Throughout this time, the Century was discreetly marketed and deliberately low-key – almost all Centuries are painted black. The second-generation model maintained this stealth-wealth ethos, surviving for a remarkable 20 years until the current Century Sedan was launched in 2017 (losing the V12 in favour of a hybrid V8).

Now Toyota seems in danger of throwing that hard-won discretion out of the window with the launch of the new Century SUV. For a start, there are colours aside from black, but there’s also a totally different scale and stance to the new vehicle. For the first time, the Century name will officially be sold overseas, which perhaps explains why Toyota has adopted this relatively modern symbol of status. 

There’s something innately standoffish about most SUVs, thanks largely to their sheer size. Whilst Toyota is one of the last entrants into the luxury SUV sector, its rivals singularly failed to capture the qualities of their equivalent sedan/saloon offerings; a Rolls-Royce Cullinan will never trump a Ghost, let alone a Phantom; Bentley’s Bentayga doesn’t have the timeless grace of the Flying Spur, and so on. 

Whilst industrious executives thrived on the anonymity of the original Century (wool seats for quiet softness, not the gauche squeakiness of leather), the SUV version lifts you above the crowd. The bluff sides of the sedan have a certain retro simplicity; translated into 4x4, and all you see is vertical metal cliffs – a clear hint of Cullinan.

Inside, the added scale allows for more space for lounging, with ultra-wide opening rear doors and seats that recline practically into beds, along with a host of relaxation options, including an acoustic environment calibrated by a ‘musical instrument manufacturing master’.  

Craftsmanship is used everywhere in the Century range, with bodywork fashioned from aluminium in the traditional way and details like the phoenix emblem on the radiator grille engraved by hand. JDM aficionados will be pleased to see the retention of the traditional style lace seat covers, although they might not pass luxury muster in certain foreign markets. 

Up front, the cabin is relatively austere – this is after all a place for a chauffeur to work. The 3.5-litre V6 is mated to a plug-in hybrid system, with the idea being that around town, batteries are all you’ll ever need.

Although Century sedan retains its crown as the world’s most discreet luxury car, you can still find specialists willing to make it a little more OTT – Japanese tuning company WALD will lower the ride and fit bigger wheels, for example. Even so, it’s hardly in your face. 

The Century’s new SUV sibling is designed to shake things up. However, can the Toyota badge transcend its mass-market associations to make the Century SUV a true rival for the likes of Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Maybach?

Toyota.jp

WALD.co.jp