At last week’s Tokyo Auto Salon, a Toyota executive dropped a bombshell as we were standing in front of the Toyota Century GRMN (stands for Gazoo Racing Meister of Nurburgring) concept car, a bespoke SUV belonging to none other than Toyota’s ex-president, Akio Toyoda. While we stood there admiring the vehicle that reportedly cost around $220,000 with options, the executive confirmed something about the new brand that I’d only heard rumors of.
The GRMN version will cost around $220,000 fully specced.
Wanting to remain anonymous, for the time being at least, the executive stated that the Century brand, which is now targeting foreign markets, is in the process of positioning itself to sit above Lexus as Toyota’s ultra-luxury brand. The new Century SUV debuted in September last year, and this GRMN prototype is an extra-special version of that base SUV.
Sure, Japan’s biggest carmaker is referring to the new SUV as a Toyota Century, but that’s only until the marketplace gets used to the name.
According to our source, ideally, the company just wants to refer to the Century SUV as ‘Century,’ and the four-door version, that’s gone through three generations since 1967, as ‘Century Sedan.’
But if the truth be known, the executive only revealed the facts when I suggested that the super-luxurious Century should have been called ‘Lexus Century’ to highlight its stately Rolls Royce Cullinan-style airs, instead of the more mundane ‘Toyota Century,’ especially given the fact that Toyota plans to export the model now and Lexus has a much higher status internationally. That’s when our source commented, “Ah no, the Century will actually be positioned above the Lexus brand as an extra luxurious brand.” Now it all makes sense. Just how successful it will be is debatable.
The rear seats offer supreme luxury and full customization.
Just how many countries will get the new Century brand is still unclear. The Toyota executive confirmed that the new Century SUV would be offered in right- and left-hand-drive versions to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, and that the new model will offer a host of options and upgrades allowing buyers to fully customize their SUVs. Buyers will have a choice of a standard Century, costing around $170,000 or the bespoke GRMN version—like the one you see here—hovering around $220,000.
In addition to bespoke paintwork and aeroparts, one of the highlights of Akio Toyoda’s special Century GRMN is its rail-less powered rear slide door that apparently opens wider than that of a large minivan like an Alphard. The SUV’s suspension has also been specially tuned to remain flat and stable, with the minimum of body roll, even when changing lanes at 100 mph. While Toyota did not mention much about the car’s powerplant, we expect the bespoke version to get the same 406-hp 3.5-liter V6 hybrid with all-wheel-drive.
In fact, according to our source, Toyota are thinking of offering Toyoda’s bespoke Century GRMN as one fully customized ‘complete car’ in its own right, and call it the ‘Morizo Edition,’ after Akio Toyoda’s nickname used in motor sport circles. But you will require around $220,000 for that Morizo version.
Perhaps one reason why Toyota has not come out with a major press release announcing the new Century brand being positioned above Lexus yet is because they only have the one model at the moment and the cheapest version of that SUV will set you back at least $170,000. We are guessing they will wait until they release one more Century model before announcing the brand’s new positioning.
