Subtle
February 17, 2026
Alex KiersteinJDM tuner TOM’S relationship with Toyota is long and rich. The TOM’S Century is a fun departure from the norm.
The Toyota Century is cool. TOM’S is cool, at least to old-school Gran Turismo alumni. Porque no lo dos? Having a motorsport and tuning legend give the very staid Century a semi-sporty aesthetic makeover is unusual by American standards, but it’s culturally appropriate for Japan. Hence the continual confusion surrounding tS- and STI-badged Subarus in Japan, which don’t conform to our expectations that STI means top-tier performance. Sometimes in Japan, STI just means it has an STI exhaust bolted on, full stop. And sometimes, in Japan, you hand your most luxurious and least sporty vehicle to a tuner and let them go mild with it.
Expectations reset, context acknowledged if perhaps not fully understood, the TOM’S Edition Century is really just an exclusive version of the Century. Or, as TOM’S puts in on the “About TOM’S Edition” section of its Japanese site, “Neither sporty nor luxurious. A consistent aesthetic that is ‘TOM’S.’”
Got it.
The tuner goes on to note that most associate it with motorsport and motorsport-inspired road car tuning, but that it also strives to, essentially, elevate or perfect whatever it’s working on. So there’s a JDM Lexus LC TOM’S Edition, and a Lexus GX TOM’S Edition. It’s still doing all its usual stuff, but this is the sort of thing at least a few Japanese buyers apparently crave. And just look at the TOM’S GX: I crave that, too.
TOM’S will apparently convert preowned Centurys to this spec, with quilted leather inside, a subtle decklid spoiler, 19-inch BBS Dura wheels, and so forth. The body kit encompasses the front bumper, side skirts, rear skirt, and quad-outlet TOM’S Barrel exhaust.
A converted preowned car lists for $170,000 or so, and the complete package on a new car is likely more still. Not that this would do us in North America much good; this generation Century isn’t legal to import until 2043. But the previous generation, introduced in 1997, is legal, and while I’m not sure I’d stomach writing a check big enough, I’m sure TOM’S would make a TOM’S Edition of whichever Century you’d like for the right sum.
Recent Posts
All Posts
March 2, 2026
February 27, 2026
February 26, 2026
Leave a Reply