Toyota Crown sedan may morph into an SUV

TOKYO: If a car model doesn't meet sales target, its days are numbered - or it could switch bodystyle.

That's what Toyota is planning to do to the luxury Crown sedan, according to Japanese newspaper Chunichi Shimbun in a recent report.

Toyota wants to retain the Crown's name but turned it into the world's favourite bodystyle - an SUV.

The Crown SUV could debut as early as 2022 and be exported to China and US a year later. It would be based on the TNGA-K platform that is shared by the Highlander, Harrier and the JDM-spec Kluger, said the newspaper.

The Crown nameplate is one of Toyota's oldest, having been around for 65 years and through 15 generations. The Crown is believed to be the the first Japanese car to be sold in North America in 1958.

The 15th-generation Crown was introduced in 2018 and was recently refreshed featuring a bigger infotainment screen instead of two individual displays.

Will the next generation Crown become an SUV? Only time will tell.