New Century
October 30, 2025
Jay RameyToyota's plans for a Maybach-style role for its Century sub-brand mostly remind us of two obscure marques.
For decades the Toyota Century had been an anachronistic secret menu item of sorts, made largely by hand for Japan’s business and government elite as well as the country’s royal family, with the aloof chauffeur-driven sedan powered by V8 and later V12 engines. Even spotting one on the streets of Tokyo required some effort, with Toyota producing the model in small numbers aimed at a very static customer base.
Featuring an exceptionally conservative, muted exterior design grounded in the visual language of the 1960s, the Century remained equally static for decades, enduring only occasional changes inside and out with one major change being the switch from a V8 to to a 5.0-liter V12 engine in 1997.
Exports of the model during its first two generations, spanning 1967 to 2017, remained equally rare, with Toyota preferring to keep the Century close to its ancestral home.
Now, Toyota is signaling that the Century is ready for a greater role in the Toyota lineup, one that will place it above Lexus in the automaker’s product range. The automaker has revealed teaser images showing a large coupe with boxy fenders, sliding doors, and a front fascia inspired by the Century SUV.
“In the past, I suggested creating something above Lexus, but with Toyota being a full-lineup, mass-production manufacturer, the company inevitably opts for cars that deliver high volumes,” explained Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda.
“But when it comes to luxury cars, we need to go above even Lexus.
‘What about Toyota’s Century?’ That was my advice for positioning.”
One major question regarding these plans is precisely what this new positioning will do to Lexus in the short term.
Century has effectively been a one-model sub-brand for much of its existence, one slightly outside the regular Toyota range. It’s assembled in a separate factory in small numbers, for a clientele that almost always opted for cloth over leather. Even the debut of the third-generation model in 2018 did not manage to shift this dynamic despite slightly more contemporary styling and modern tech inside.
The Century SUV, first shown in 2023 and based on a platform shared with the Lexus TX and the Toyota Grand Highlander, sought to expand the model line, offering chunky styling along with a 3.5-liter V6 PHEV powertrain and a focus on rear passenger comfort.
It is this SUV model that first hinted at an expanded Century lineup, though one still aimed almost entirely at the same set of customers in Japan. And it still maintained a focus on being a chauffeur-driven vehicle. An even chunkier four-door convertible based on the SUV that was revealed in early 2024 as a one-off, however, did not inspire confidence in the idea of a wider Century lineup.
Is there room in the ultra-luxury space for yet another small-volume player that, to date, has been confined largely to Japan?
Toyota is betting that there is.
But if there are two brands that Century reminds me of, it’s neither Rolls-Royce nor Bentley, but rather China’s Hong Qi and Russia’s much more recent Aurus. The former is one of China’s oldest and easily most exclusive marques, while the latter is a successor in spirit to the handmade ZiL limousines that served the Soviet elite.
Both Aurus and Hong Qi are also known mostly in their respective countries, rely on locally-produced components, and have traditionally been built in small numbers. The two luxury brands, offering armored and unarmored vehicles, have also been very expensive.
The export potentials of both brands have either been limited or non-existent, though Hong Qi has been trying to escape this role for the past decade or so. The two marques have also been the cars of state ministries, local governors, and other government officials.
But both also matter very little outside their respective countries.
Century certainly has a number of advantages over Aurus and China’s Hong Qi, including a preexisting dealership network and a vast catalog of parts bin items, but the same was true of Mercedes’ Maybach, which struggled on for just over a decade before time and pressure from resurgent rivals caught up to it.
The central question is whether Century will be able to get any traction in markets outside Japan, given the current variety of high-priced ultra-luxury offerings from the UK and Europe, with startup brands like Lucid also aiming for a slice of the same pie.
For now, and perhaps well after a complete picture of the coupe emerges October 30th, the Century experiment may continue to invite comparisons to Mercedes’ Maybach brand relaunch — now a quarter of a century in the rearview mirror – and with its own set of painful lessons learned.
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