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The Toyota Century has long been the company’s luxury halo model, a sedan par excellence for Japanese royalty, government leaders, and the moneyed business set. The company now has a Century SUV on the way, in a sign that Toyota is moving with the times. It also took the opportunity to hint at the vehicle’s party side, with a cabriolet version potentially in the works.
The tease of the new drop-top model came during Toyota’s world premiere of the Century SUV, as covered by Motor1. While Simon Humphries, Toyota’s Chief Branding Officer, explained that the “possibilities are endless” for customization, an image of a convertible Century SUV appeared in the background. It suggests Toyota might be keen to recreate the joys of the much-maligned Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.
We know the hardtop Century SUV is set to cost the equivalent of $170,000 when it goes on sale in Japan. While the Century has always been, by and large, a nameplate for Japan and Japan only, that may very well change for this model. The Wall Street Journal paraphrased Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima as saying the SUV “will be offered to customers in all regions of the world,” though details on U.S. availability are unknown at this time. In any case, we’d expect a potential convertible version to cost significantly more than regular SUV, especially if it’s part of a bespoke customization program akin to what Rolls-Royce offers for its own lineup.
Don’t expect to see Century convertibles roaming the streets on your future Japanese holiday, regardless. Toyota only expects to sell about 360 units of the ultra-luxury SUV each year, and that’s for the regular hardtop version. A convertible model would be even more exceedingly rare by comparison. The new Century SUV will be built alongside the existing sedan line.
Notably, this isn’t the first time that Toyota has built a Century with an eye for top-down fun. The automaker famously revealed a topless version of the Century sedan for Emperor Naruhito’s ascension to the Japanese throne in 2019.
Cabriolet SUVs have become more of a thing in the past decade or so. Land Rover caught plenty of attention with the Range Rover Evoque convertible, while Volkswagen has similarly flirted with the form with the T-Roc.
If we’re honest, though, we kind of want to see what Toyota could achieve with a convertible Century SUV. At the very least, it’s unlikely Toyota would disappoint when the ultimate Japanese luxury nameplate is on the line. Here’s hoping it gets built.
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