Toyota Wants to Take Its Ultra-Luxury Century Brand Global

October 1 (IT Home) — According to a report yesterday by the foreign outlet The Japan Times, Toyota wants to take the Century to the global market, aiming to bring this ultra-luxury car — a rival to brands such as Rolls-Royce — outside Japan.

IT Home learned from the original report that Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda appeared at the US Automotive Hall of Fame awards ceremony in Detroit last week, deliberately arriving in a Century SUV. He announced on the spot that the Century would become a global model, and said he wanted to hear feedback from people in the American car industry.

Since it was introduced in the 1960s, the Century has been Toyota’s top luxury saloon. It is the vehicle of choice for members of Japan’s imperial family, prime ministers and the presidents of major companies. For decades there was only one Century model, usually driven by a chauffeur in white gloves, carrying VIPs to and from the centres of power in Japan.

In recent years Toyota has sought to turn the Century into a distinctly Japanese brand. Last October it unveiled a sleek Century coupé concept car, which caused a stir in the automotive world. Toyota then chose to elevate the Century into a standalone brand, positioned above Lexus, and an English-language website followed.

Tatsuo Yoshida, an automotive industry analyst at Bloomberg, said: “If you look only at sales volume or revenue, there is not much commercial sense in Toyota pushing the Century. But it is clearly meant to send a clear signal to the outside world that Toyota aims to secure a place in the ultra-luxury car market dominated by European brands.”

The new Century is still partly hand-built. In Japan, this flagship SUV starts at 27 million yen (about 1.153 million yuan at current exchange rates), making it Toyota’s most expensive passenger car. Toyota sold about 500 Centuries last year, compared with roughly 1,700 in 1997. Against a backdrop of sluggish economic growth, a weak yen and inflation in Japan, taking the Century global could produce a halo effect that lifts sales of Toyota’s other models.