Toyota has revealed its new Century limousine, the redesigned luxury saloon that claims the title of Japan’s most popular chauffeur-driven luxury car.
Under the bonnet is a 5.0-litre V8 engine with supplementary electric motor to form a hybrid system producing 425bhp in total. This system replaces a V12 that featured in the previous Century and achieves 38.4mpg on the Japanese test cycle. Individual performance figures have not been released, however it'll have the same electronically-limited top speed of 112mph as all other new cars in Japan.
Toyota aims to sell 50 per month in Japan, at a price of £135,259 including local taxes. The high price is down to the fact that the Century is hand-built. The car’s badge alone, a phoenix, takes six weeks to engrave, and the car comes in only one trade with all equipment. The only option is the choice between wool or leather upholstery.
The new car gets more modern safety technologies, including Toyota’s Safety Sense pack, which consists of a pre-collision system, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, automatic lights and road sign recognition.
Soundproofing sits high on the agenda when constructing the Century, while a system to limit engine noise and vibration is also fitted. The rear pillar of the car has been made more upright to give onlookers a greater sense of significance of the rear passengers, says Toyota.
The Century was first introduced in 1967 and was named in celebration of Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda’s 100th birthday. The new car is the first full refresh the model has had in 21 years, although it still uses traditional techniques in its design and construction.
Compared with the outgoing model, the new Century's wheelbase increases by 65mm to 3090mm to provide more rear and, to aid entry and exit, the car sits lower to the floor by 15mm. At 5335mm long, it’s 110mm longer than the extended-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and is 1930mm wide and 1505mm tall.
Once in the back, the left-hand passenger in the new Century has an electric extending leg rest, massage seat and an 11.3in entertainment system with 20 speakers and a 7.0in touchpad control module.
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