Toyota has revealed the first details of a new sedan
concept it's bringing to the Tokyo Motor Show. What you're looking at here is the Toyota
Crown concept, previewing what will, when it reaches showrooms next summer, be
the fifteenth generation of a model line stretching all the way back to 1955.
Toyota's taking the opportunity to pack the new one with all the latest tricks,
including vehicle-to-vehicle communications and advanced safety systems. It's
also boasting having tested the thing at the Nürburgring, basing it on the same
Toyota New Global Architecture as the new Camry.
Like the GX that's based on the Land Cruiser Prado,
the Lexus GS is closely based on the current Crown. It stands to reason, then,
that the next-gen Lexus sedan will share much with the new Crown as well. Based
on the dimensions the automaker has released for the pre-production concept,
it's actually a bit bigger than the current Lexus GS in every dimension but
height (which remains identical).
Lexus is expected to launch one new model to replace
both the smaller ES (which currently shares its segment with the sportier IS)
and the larger GS in an effort to streamline its product lineup and avoid
cannibalizing its own sales. With the Lexus division set to unveil an
unidentified concept of its own at the same expo, we can't help but wonder if
we won't see this same concept reskinned for upscale export as well.
