Aug. 31, 1995

Full-Model Change Introduced for CrownThe "New Crown Identity"―Supreme Pride and Satisfaction

Tokyo―TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION announced today a fully remodeled Crown four-door Hardtop (Royal Series) and Crown Majesta, putting them simultaneously on sale nationwide from August 31st^*1.

Crown Four-Door Hardtop 3.0 Royal Saloon
Crown Majesta C-Type

Leading-edge technology and the attractiveness of the "dignity," "comfort," and "quietness" so suited to Japanese taste have been combined in the Crown to position it, with its distinctive character, as one of the premier luxury cars in Japan.

The Crown will be sold through Toyota dealers nationwide (Toyota Toyopet and Tokyo Toyota dealers in Tokyo, and Osaka Toyopet dealerships in Osaka). The sales target is 10,000 units per month. The New Crown, the 10th generation of the model, creates a "New Crown identity," providing supreme pride and satisfaction through

A more dignified, characteristic exterior design and an interior design suited to Japanese taste.
Underscored performance appeal thanks to ample power from the VVT-i^*2-equipped engine, and superior stability and controllability from the newly introduced VSC^*3.
Improved safety and environmental considerations. Standard equipment includes supplemental restraint system (SRS) air bags on driver and passenger sides, and an antilock brake system (ABS). The 3.0-liter engine boasts the best fuel efficiency in its class.

^*1The Crown Majesta C i-Four will go on sale from November 1.

^*2Variable Valve Timing-intelligent (VVT-i): Continuous variable valve timing mechanism.

^*3Vehicle Stability Control (VSC): Vehicle stability control system.

Overview

Design

The dignified characteristic exterior and tasteful interior design elevate the Crown's functionality and luxurious feel.

Exterior

Based on the Crown tradition, the exterior design provides

A side silhouette having a sedate, horizontal theme.
A new design achieved through dynamic lines and solid surfaces.
Subtle details, such as the radiator grille, which suggest the unequaled quality of traditional craftsmanship.

The Crown four-door hardtop (Royal Series) also presents a bright, decorous design, while the Crown Majesta expresses elegance, amid a feeling of composure and dignity, that befits the top model in the Crown Series.

Attention has been given in both vehicle types to function, such as easier entry into and exit from the cabin by widened door openings, and easier trunk loading and unloading by lowering the trunk's lid opening height.

Interior

In line with the Crown's design concept of "dignity," "comfort," and "quietness," the following have been provided

An instrument panel having a horizontal theme that emphasizes a feeling of length and breadth.
Door trim using extra fabric to provide a luxury feel.
Seats providing secure support through ample cushioning and carefully selected coverings.
Switches having a uniform feeling of smooth action and suave operation.
Storage boxes that open and close smoothly.
Thinner hand grips carefully shaped to give a luxurious feel when grasped

The interior environment has been created to allow driving with minimum fatigue by, for example, providing a larger all-round field of vision and a quiet cabin environment.

Performance

Together with the Crown's traditional superlative quietness and comfortable ride, the added superior driving stability under wide-ranging conditions and ample power performance suiting a luxury car underscore the Crown's performance appeal.

Engines

All five engine types provided for the Crown Series emphasize power, quietness, and smoothness.

1UZ-FE Engine

A changed compression ratio and use of an air intake cooling duct have increased combustion and air intake efficiency to improve fuel efficiency and maximum output and torque.

Vibration and noise have been suppressed by reducing the weight of components and increasing their rigidity.

2JZ-GE (VVT-i) Engine

Low and medium torque are improved by about 10% using the newly developed VVT-i engine technology, which provides optimum operation-oriented intake valve timing by continuously changing the air intake valve opening and closing timing, the use of an air intake cooling duct, and optimization of the intake/exhaust manifold system.

These advantages provide ample power performance suited to a luxury car such as powerful acceleration for swift start-up and smooth, easy passing.

Besides substantially improving fuel efficiency through the VVT-i, raising the compression ratio, and reducing friction loss, noise levels have been improved through the increased rigidity of its parts.

Body and Chassis

The design of the body and chassis provides a well-balanced combination of maneuverability, drivability, safety, and quietness.

Superior Drivability

The Crown four-door hardtop (Royal Series) employs a newly developed highly rigid body and four-wheel double wishbone suspension to achieve superior stability in diverse driving conditions, while retaining the traditional supple ride and smooth steering feel.

The Crown Majesta's upgraded suspension rigidity provides optimum control of changes in the roll and yaw of the vehicle, giving a comfortable ride with excellent maneuverability and drivability. The pneumatic suspension continuously controls the suspension damping force in relation to vehicle speed and road surface conditions (Sky Hook Control).

The Royal Touring and the F models feature exclusive suspension tuning to enhance the enjoyment of sports driving.

vsc: The epoch-making Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system, equipped to the Crown Majesta C i-Four, contributes to vehicle control and accident prevention by controlling the brakes of each wheel and engine output in case of lateral skidding that is beyond a driver's control. Lateral skid occurs in sudden turns or changes in road conditions.

Noise Suppression: Superior quietness has been ensured by suppressing engine, road, and wind noise. The vibration modes of car parts are controlled to suppress noise effectively based on interior sound mode analysis and evaluations on actual vehicles. Noisy panel vibrations are completely damped with sound insulation and sound absorbing material. The design of moldings and the exterior controls wind flow around the car body to reduce noise.

Safety and Environmental Considerations

In addition to providing dual SRS air bags and ABS as standard equipment on all models, both active and passive safety have been significantly upgraded through the introduction of features such as the new VSC technology.

Active safety is further enhanced by providing the driver with excellent emergency-avoidance performance through easy-to-operate functions, a less fatiguing environment, and increased visibility. Passive safety features include securing survival space in the cabin through careful consideration of possible collision types, passenger restraint systems, and SRS air bags to reduce damage from a second collision, and easier escape and rescue.

Environmental considerations include the conservation of energy and resources.

Active Safety

Excellent stability and controllability are achieved through high-level chassis performance. Combined with the VSC, the i-Four―a comprehensive vehicle control system centering on electronically controlled 4WD―has been improved to implement leading-edge safety technology. Further active safety aspects include

Standard ABS on all vehicles.
Standard TRC on vehicles mounted with the 1UZ-FE engine (excluding the i-Four) and the 2L-TE engine.
ECT snow mode that improves throttle control on snowy roads.
Body design that makes it easy to determine the car's perimeter.
A front pillar shape designed to improve driver visibility.
Headlamps and backup lights with improved light distribution.
Electro-multivision with a GPS voice navigation system to provide optimum routing to the destination by vocal instructions. Along with equipment to go on sale at a later date, this system will be capable of accessing the Vehicle Information Communication System (VICS) scheduled to be launched next spring, thus enabling it to display traffic information.

Passive Safety

Passive safety features a newly developed impact-absorbing body construction that minimizes deformation of the cabin in different types of collisions, including offset front collisions and side-impact collisions. Further passive safety features included as standard equipment on all cars are

Dual SRS air bags.
Front seat belts with pretensioners.
Collision-sensing door lock release system.

Environment Considerations

Means of conserving energy include

Maximum weight reduction of 190kg (Crown four-door hardtop) and 50kg (Crown Majesta) made possible by optimal engineering while retaining body strength and rigidity.
Improvement of fuel efficiency in all cars by weight reduction, improved engines, and automatic transmissions.
Vehicles with the 2JZ-GE engine are equipped with the Flex Lockup system and VVT-i, achieving top fuel efficiency in the 3.0-liter class of 9.8 km/1 (10•15-mode), 20% higher than current models. The Flex Lockup system enables the lockup clutch in the torque converter to be operated over a wider speed range with sophisticated control technology.

Recycling

Means of conserving resources include

Recycling resin waste materials for use in some parts recovered from manufacturing processes and bumper recycling materials.
Labeling of plastic parts to identify resin material, and efficiency of dismantling work for recycling by reducing the number of attachment points, is carried out to increase recyclability.