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Toyota Quietly Updates One of Its Quirkiest Models Where It Matters

Getting a preview of the facelifted Crown before it arrives in the US.

Front side of a white and black Toyota Crown with black and silver alloy wheels and red brake calipers.Toyota
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By Chris Chin

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In case you were missing the Toyota Avalon for some reason, the Japanese automaker just reminded the world that it replaced it with the Crown and Crown Signia. The company did so by rolling out some updates for the Japanese Domestic Market model, which we’ll likely see trickle down to other markets.

The Crown’s been with us in its current form since 2022. Which, also marks (no pun intended) the first time Toyota offered a Crown since before the Cressida in 1972.

Because it just crested nearly four years old, that means it’s about time for a midcycle refresh.

Not fixing what isn’t broken, kind of

Two white and black Toyota Crown cars, one sedan and one SUV, with black roofs and red brake calipers on a dark background.
It may look the same, but the newly updated Toyota Crown benefits from some styling changes.
Toyota

As of this writing, Toyota only released preliminary images of its updated Crown crossover sedan. While they may look the same as the soon-to-be outgoing variants, pay attention to the subtle details and one can see the changes.

As with most facelifts, the headlight, taillight and bumper designs all get refreshed for sleeker appearances. But more importantly, Toyota’s designers also addressed one of the Crown’s biggest criticisms, which mainly involved the paint theme.

Originally, critics threw shade at the current Crown’s original two-tone paint design. A lot of the disagreements over it came down to how Toyota’s designers balanced the two hues.

White Toyota Crown car rear with black roof, sleek taillights, and black alloy wheels on a dark background.
Notice how less aggressive the two-tone black-cladding is?
Toyota

On the outgoing Crown, a lot of the car’s body panels were painted black, regardless of the primary color chosen for the doors, three-quarter panels, and the trunk. It made for a rather incohesive appearance.

But now, Toyota updated the design where the formerly black-painted body parts now match the rest of the vehicle’sprimary colors. There is still a two-tone paint effect, with black trim and black-painted bits.

However, it’s not as blatant as it formerly was.

More power and efficiency

White and black two-tone Toyota Crown sedan with black alloy wheels and red brake calipers on a dark background.
The refreshed Crown also gets an upgraded hybrid system with more power.
Toyota

In addition to the exterior visual updates, Toyota reportedly also rolled out its next-gen gas-electric hybrid system. And the result is more power and better fuel and electric drive efficiency.

The gas-powered portion remains to be the same 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated four-cylinder. But thanks to an upgraded electric motor, the Crown benefits from a power bump to the tune of 16 horses.

Rear view of a white Toyota Crown with sleek black and red taillights and black alloy wheels.
The visual revisions are much more refined than the outgoing model.
Toyota

The result is a combined system output bump by five horsepower in total. Should you want more power, however, the Crown still comes with the upgradable turbocharged 2.4-liter gas-electric hybrid system with two electric motors, for a total of 344 horses.

Availability and pricing

Although Toyota always rolls out its updated and new models in its Japanese domestic home market, they always tend to find their way into other markets in the near future. That said, we imagine these updates will soon affect North American-spec Crowns in the coming months.

About the Author: Chris Chin is an associate editor at Gear Patrol, covering cars, trucks and anything else with four wheels. He has over a decade of experience writing news and reviews but considers himself an enthusiast first, with a passion for classics and European cars. His daily driver is a 1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL with nearly 250,000 miles (87,000 are his).

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