The Toyota Crown is somehow either genius or the answer to a question nobody ever thought to ask. It’s a sedan with the ride height of a crossover that’s supposedly the spiritual replacement for the now-dead Avalon. Last year, Toyota managed to convince just over 2,000 people to buy a Crown, which isn’t a lot. If it wants to pump up those numbers, we say build the Crown convertible concept that it recently revealed.
Yes, you read that right. Toyota recently revealed a convertible version of the Crown. According to CarScoops, it’s a one-off that the Japanese automaker has no plans of ever putting it into production. We’ve only seen the Crown convertible in the YouTube video shared via the Toyota Times, but it looks like the engineers who turned the regular Crown into a convertible did an absolutely incredible job of making it look like an OEM product.
Unlike when Nissan turned the Murano into a convertible, Toyota’s engineers retained all four doors, even as they cut off the roof and door pillars. So, at least hypothetically, you’re looking at a convertible with true seating for five. We’re not sure how safe the rear seat would be in a crash, but that’s something we’re sure Toyota’s engineers could also figure out. Corporate just has to commit to putting the Crown convertible into production.
Eventually, someone was bound to crack the convertible code and finally be successful again in the age of crossovers. Nissan couldn’t do it with the Murano CrossCabriolet, and Land Rover couldn’t do it with the Evoque Convertible. But maybe Toyota could do it with the Crown convertible. After all, old people are probably the most likely demographic to still want a convertible, and the Crown is aimed squarely at old people.
Come on, Toyota. Do it. You know you want to. Otherwise, we’ll be incredibly disappointed, and you don’t want to see us disappointed in you.