Yahoo Autos Toyota Crown PHEV is coming to the U.S.
After seeing the 2023 Toyota Crown for the first time a few months ago, we wrote, "Its form would hit the bullseye as an electric crossover, another of the shapely, lifted lozenges balancing the dictates of aerodynamics, packaging, and market tastes. The Crown even has a flat underfloor, the grubby bits from the front bumper to the rear suspension hidden behind aero panels." In response a question about that, Toyota told us it had no plans to bring an electric Crown to the U.S. The company is ready to admit it's taking the midway step, however. CEO Akio Toyoda told Motor Trend at a dealer conference in Las Vegas that the U.S.-market Crown will get a plug-in hybrid form.
The step lends credence to a Reuters report from April of this year, citing insiders as saying Toyota plans PHEV and battery-electric versions of the new crossover. In the Reuters piece, though, the Crown PHEV was only for the Japanese market and would debut next year; the EV would arrive in early 2024. If the Reuters report was accurate, it's impossible to know what's occurred between then and now, just as much as it's impossible to know what's going to occur over with a potential EV version in 18 months. Toyota will put the Crown on global markets whenever it goes on sale, so it's possible the PHEV comes here but an EV trim does not.
