Akio

Hello, everyone.

Even though we are here today to spotlight the launch of a new model, we arranged 15 generations of the Crown for you to see on the way in.

Some of you may have wondered why. Let me begin by telling you a Crown’s story woven by successive chief engineers.

The Crown’s origin can be traced back to Toyota’s founding era. 90 years ago, our founder Kiichiro Toyoda decided to take on the challenge of entering the automobile business. Driving the ambitious dream was his philosophy of enriching the lives of the Japanese people by creating a passenger car for the masses.

Production of Toyota’s longed-for domestic passenger car finally began in January 1952, 15 years after the company’s founding. It was Kiichiro himself who named the vehicle “Crown.”

Appointed as the Crown’s chief engineer was Kenya Nakamura.

Driven by a strong sense of mission, Nakamura put all his energy into developing the Crown. He had the conviction to do what he thought was right despite strong opposition and criticism. No latest technology was ignored in its creation, including a double-wishbone suspension for the front wheels.

Reminiscing about the launch, Nakamura said, “It was like all of Japan was in the midst of a festival. When I apologized for something that wasn’t good enough, customers consoled me by saying: ‘It’s just a tiny scratch. No big deal.’ It was like the whole country was giving me a push.”

In 1957, the Crown participated in an Australian rally, making it the first Japanese car to race in an international rally. Soon after, Toyota took another bold step by exporting the vehicle to the United States, marking its first passenger car export.

Then, in 1959, Toyota opened its Motomachi Plant specifically for producing passenger cars. Building a mass-production plant with an annual capacity of 60,000 units was a major decision, given that Japan’s passenger car market was still in its infancy.

For Toyota, all its post-war challenges started with the first-generation Crown. I would say that car symbolized Japan’s recovery and growth momentum.

The third-generation Crown was launched in 1967 when personal vehicle ownership began to take off in Japan. Kameo Uchiyamada took the reins as chief engineer after experiencing the second-generation car’s development under the tutelage of Nakamura. Looking at cars in a parking lot, Uchiyamada noticed that lighter colors seemed to be gaining in popularity.

Anticipating that more people would be using a Crown as their personal vehicle, he decided to make the third generation available in white. Widely known as the White Crown, that model became a driving force in Japan’s motorization.

That was the Crown’s foundational period.

Over the next two decades, the Crown matured into a presence sought out by customers.

Launched in 1971, the fourth generation daringly adopted bold styling for a new image in anticipation of intensified competition from foreign cars.

However, partly due to quality issues, sales ended up being a struggle. The lesson learned from this model and taken to heart to this day was this: The Crown must first and foremost meet customers’ core needs.

From that point on, successive chief engineers pursued Crown development while being careful to balance innovation and customer expectations.

That approach to car-making bore fruit in the seventh and eighth generations, led by chief engineer Kenichi Imaizumi. With its “Someday, a Crown” tagline, the seventh generation became a status symbol in Japan, followed by the eighth generation, which achieved the highest sales volume in Crown history.

I joined Toyota in 1984, and my first workplace was the Motomachi Plant. I was involved in the production preparation for the eighth generation, and I still remember how everyone took pride in their work.

In the 1980s, the Crown had undoubtedly become Japan’s flagship. However, its growth peaked there. It entered hard times from the ninth generation onward.

To start with, the Crown’s positioning within Toyota changed.

In 1989, Toyota introduced the Lexus LS in Japan as the Toyota Celsior. That change was a major turning point in the history of the Crown, which had served as Toyota’s long-standing flagship.

Then, after Japan’s bubble economy burst in 1991, the Japanese economy fell into recession, dragging down with it the demand for luxury vehicles. Moreover, competition from imports intensified.

The ninth and 10th generations of the Crown faced these harsh headwinds. Chief engineer Hiroyuki Watanabe, inheriting the role from Imaizumi of the “Someday, a Crown” days after working under him, came to experience both prosperous and difficult times for the Crown. From his era, the Crown entered a period of transformation.

In the 2000s, Toyota accelerated its advances overseas, pursuing a greater scale in sales and production. This gradually led to prioritizing models and markets that promised larger sales and profits.

With Crown sales in a steady decline, there was growing concern that the model’s end might be near. This sense of crisis drove development of the 12th-generation Crown, launched in 2003.

Mitsuhisa Kato, who headed development, said at the time, “There’s no way I’m going to let the Crown end on my watch.” With such determination, Kato took on the challenge of rebuilding the Crown. He redeveloped the platform and engine from scratch to achieve world-class driving performance.

At that time, I had just started driving training under Hiromu Naruse, my mentor. I still remember experiencing firsthand the driving performance of the Zero Crown.

The Zero Crown indicated a new direction: A Crown with advanced driving performance.

In 2008, the global financial crisis struck, and I was appointed president after the company plunged into the red. Despite the difficulties this posed for our company, we persisted in taking on the challenge of transforming the Crown.

“Let’s make a car that attracts people at first glance! You can change whatever you want to do that.” That’s how I encouraged the development team to redesign the Crown.

We transformed vehicle styling, renewed the vehicle platform, and honed the driving performance at the Nürburgring. That’s how we created the 14th-generation “Reborn Crown” and the 15th-generation “Connected Crown.”

For the past 20 years, we have explored Crown’s evolution while facing the challenge of the changing times.

Nakajima

I am Hiroki Nakajima, president of Toyota’s in-house Mid-size Vehicle Company overseeing the new Crown’s development.

Let me talk about the new Crown’s development story. First of all, a little more than two years ago, we were working on a partial redesign of the 15 ^th -generation Crown.

I shared details of the project with President Toyoda, but he did not approve it, saying: “Is this truly going to result in evolution? Why don’t we start thinking more seriously? Maybe we should skip a partial redesign.”

Looking back, I believe those words marked the beginning of the development of the 16th-generation Crown.

We started by revisiting the passions of successive chief engineers to thoroughly reexamine what the Crown was all about.

We realized anew that there were no fixed rules such as those governing the shape of the car or its drive system. The only common thread was the engineers’ spirit of innovation and challenge. This prompted us to understand how we had tied ourselves to our predetermined rules over time.

At the time, I recalled the two messages President Toyoda had been repeating since becoming president. That is, “let’s make ever-better cars,” and “let's aim to be the best in town, not the best in the world.”

I realized that the Crown is a long-time seller because the past chief engineers constantly challenged themselves to create an ever-better Crown with a best-in-town focus in their car-making to make customers happy.

This caused us to drastically change our approach. We freed ourselves from fixed ways of thinking and started exploring a new Crown that would achieve happiness for our customers. That’s how this crossover’s development began.

President Toyoda gave us the green light when we showed him the vehicle’s shape and packaging. Around that time, he also gave us a new task.

He said: “Why don’t we also think about a sedan?”

Frankly, I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. But I thought it was because he saw our changes since deciding to skip a partial redesign. We had a different mindset because we returned to the Crown’s origin, and he wanted us to apply that to making a sedan version.

Then, in return, we proposed four different models, thinking that we also needed a hatchback and a station wagon to meet diverse needs. This is the background story.

Let me once again introduce to you our four versions of the new Crown.

Nakajima

Let me once again introduce to you our four versions of the new Crown.

First, the Crossover. This Crown is the result of fusing a sedan and an SUV. Its packaging allows for ease of entry and exit, provides a high viewpoint, and makes the vehicle easy to drive. Its driving performance, underpinned by a new hybrid system, marks an evolutionary advance, making it a sedan like no other.

Next, the Sport. This Crown is a new form of sporty SUV, a spirited and creative car with easy-to-drive packaging that offers an agile and sporty driving experience.

Then, the Sedan. As an orthodox sedan, this Crown was developed in pursuit of quality and comfort, as well as a new formal expression. It is also well-suited as a chauffeured vehicle.

Last, the Estate. This Crown, as a highly functional SUV, enables users to enjoy driving performance with power to spare and an active lifestyle in a mature atmosphere. The rear seats fold to form a completely flat cargo area, making this model a cross between a station wagon and an SUV.

These four models are united under the Crown name. Starting with this now-launching Crown Crossover, we will roll them out in succession over the next year and a half.

Akio

I believe that the philosophy of producing happiness for all has always been at the core of the Crown.

This flagship has represented Japanese success and pride, bringing together Japan’s world-class technology and skilled workforce.

The new Crown is full of these underlying strengths.

That is why, with this series, we will once again take on the world.

The new Crown will be available in approximately 40 countries and regions, with an expected annual sales volume of some 200,000 units.

I would be more than happy if we could help restore vitality to Japan by making the Crown a Japanese car loved round the world.

I sincerely want the world to know what Japan’s Crown is all about.

In closing, let me say a few words to customers around the world.

I’m so excited to announce today… that this new Crown family of vehicles will be offered…not just in Japan… but globally…. for the very first time.

Customers from around the world will now get a chance to drive this historic Japanese nameplate… born out of passion, pride, and progress.

A car that could very well be… our crowning achievement!

We hope to create a new story for Japan’s Crown with all of you. Thank you very much for your kind attention.