Something reads peculiar to me, being that Toyota is discontinuing the Avalon for the 2022 MY and that vehicle per my own insight ends production in the summer of 2022 (August). Toyota mysteriously trademarked CROWN for the United States, recently from what I can see on May 20, 2021 and from their recent patterns, almost every filing goes into production nowadays or uses the name of rebadged product (Harrier trademark, ahead of 2021 Venza).




As we know, Toyota will be launching the Grand Highlander in November 2022, alongside the updated 2023 Highlander (MMC).

In a sense, this is supposed to be a downmarket alternative to the new TX 350 and TX 500h (8GR-FXS?). Such a vehicle however, does not fit the mission statement that a Crown SUV would.

Is Toyota bringing over a new Crown CUV as an upmarket 5-seater substitute for the discontinued Avalon? Or is a next generation Crown sedan, somehow weirdly enough taking the place of the Avalon instead? A new sedan makes 0 business sense, other than cost consolidation like Harrier/Venza. Sell Crown globally and also federalize it for USA.

With the death of the Avalon and it skipping a refresh for MY 2022, it seems that the Camry just might be on its last legs. The next generation car is semi-carryover, basically meaning it reuses TNGA-K and won't be a big leap. It is also being fully engineered at Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, MI., with almost no Japan HQ input.

 

This might be one of those cases where Toyota is doing it for the sake of posterity rather than hinting at any new vehicles. As I'm sure you're aware, the "Crown" name is already being used in the Chinese market as a sub-brand of Toyota rather than be its own vehicle, which includes things like the Crown Kluger (Highlander). Maybe Toyota has similar plans here. Otherwise a new sedan Crown after the flop of the outgoing one would be complete financial suicide.

 

This can conceivably be what the "Grand Highlander" will be called. Isnt the Crown becoming an SUV? Since Toyota no longer has a flagship with the Toyota logo with the departure of the LC, this could be it. I cant imagine they would bring the Crown brand name down market and turn it into a Camry replacement.

And no, if the tsunami, financial crisis and covid didnt ruin them financially, 1 car model wont do it.

 

This makes alot of sense. I wonder if they did the same with the name "Century".

 

Hard to imagine the Camry being dropped, even in an environment of dropping U.S.-market sedans. It's been an icon for decades.

 

There is no chance that the Camry nameplate will ever be dropped.

 

Would love to see the Crown name stateside. I always felt that they applied for this trademarket multiple times in the past though and obviously never used it. I could be wrong of course, but I'd certainly welcome seeing them here.

As for this Grand Highlander stuff, this is all news to me. I have no idea what that is even supposed to be. Toyota's version of the GMC Denali's? lol

 

There's still the Century as a flagship. As for the actual Crown... very hopeful (the current one is essentially the 5GS platform) but unlikely. The SUV rebadges don't count.

 

Perhaps not, but Carmaker usually has access to at least fairly reliable information.

 

If a Crown comes, any chance a new GS would come in the future?

 

It might be for the sake of protecting nameplates , but I am not certain of that in this case. As I mentioned before, a good majority of recent Toyota trademarks shared with existing or pre-existing nameplate, see production. I think someone tired of paying unnecessary money to file trademarks which won't ever be used (outside of cancellation)

I mentioned what I did about the Grand Highlander and etc, because of this recent development in Asia and demise of Avalon. "Toyota Crown" as a trademark, seems suspect in the sense that they're developing an all-new model off of GA-K. Whether it is a sedan or CUV for export, I am not certain.

Toyota might be trying introduce an RX adjacent crossover at Toyota dealers, which to me seems like overkill, but it's a thought to consider. Being that for JDM, it is very likely what they're doing. A near-luxury, spacious 5-seater on GA-K, above Venza in size.

No, I actually explained what Grand Highlander is for that reason and what Crown could be as a 5-seater flagship crossover, with a large backseat compared to the Venza. In fact, I feel like maybe I got taken out of context further up, because I can envision them bringing over a GA-K Crown sedan and sharing it between markets globally to save on costs. Or doing so with a crossover, which echos a discount RX, with no direct relation or rebadge.

I also pointed out how Toyota trademarked Harrier years back in anticipation of launching the Venza and in the end stuck with Venza, instead of using the JDM market name.

BTW, Grand Highlander is going to be a large 3 row, compared to the more midsized Highlander. Not sure why they need, but I guess as an alternative to the BOF Sequoia.

Oh, but you know that doesn't matter to some (or one), but it's okay.

Thanks mmarshall, I try, but I am not without mistake. I make plenty. I didn't believe Lexus would rush the LS refresh for MY 2021 and expected it to be on sale this year, not late last year. Lexus did that one in 33 months!

I am just disappointed that Toyota went from making the 2018 Camry a global effort and mass undertaking, to leaving the next generation (2023) as a satellite operation of Ann Arbor. It can often result in an underwhelming product.

I'm sure they are doing a job, but the way I found out about this, was from suppliers.

I have gotten some confirmation Lexus has a lot of "interesting" product coming during the 2020s, but a new GS is not one of them. It is permanently dead. If you personally want to know more, PM me and I'll direct you to the right person.

 

I had said nameplate. Not sedan or model. CAMRY, derived from the mixing the words MY CAR (CAMRY) it is the best selling sedan in the United States for like 20+ years or something. There are millions of families that have purchased a Camry since the inception of the nameplate, people have passed the car down to become their child's training car. the Camry is the gateway to the Toyota brand for a many (not all) first time buyers. The Camry has had the same great reputation for reliability, safety, features and resale for decades. The current XF70 model is currently produced in 7 different manufacturing plants around the world (China, US, Japan and more). I believe the Camry was the first ever model to be produced in the US at their new Kentucky Plant in the 1980s (I recall when they opened the plant) So, with all that in mind, I highly doubt the Camry name will be discontinued.

It would be a corporate and branding disaster to remove the Camry name. Maybe there will be a Toyota Camry Crown edition Maybe a pure Toyota Crown Maybe Camry moves to a crossover based style

If it were my money, I would think Toyota trademarked the name so nobody else could beat them to market and perhaps use the name (but that is just my opinion)

IMO, it is next to impossible to figure out what a company is going to do when they trademark or patent something. Obviously some things can be figured out.

In 2018, Toyota trademarked the Land Cruiser Prado name in Canada. https://www.toyotanation.com/threads...erica.1586010/
Other trademarks in the United States recently are Trailhunter

 

No idea where you got that from.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Crown

The Camry and Crown have always been connected by name.

 

Just sent PM

 

This has me thinking Toyota will deploy a similar lineup like Jeep has with the Grand Cherokee, Grand Cherokee L, Wagoneer, and Grand Wagoneer