The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

Toyota's updated Century has dropped the legendary '1GZ' V12 in favour of a hybrid V8 powertrain, but we still want one badly
The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

The Century is one of the weirdest cars Toyota has ever made. The second-generation version was fitted with a ‘1GZ’ engine - the only production Japanese V12 ever made - and stayed in production for nearly 20 years.

It was old-fashioned enough when it was first released in 1997, and had a reputation for being the wheels of choice for important government types and, err, gangsters. There’s now an all-new version on the block, and it’s just as quirky.

The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

Just check out those 100 per cent wool seats! And the wood! And the net curtains! It really is a blast from the past, and even the all-new exterior isn’t vastly different to the old one.

Beneath the retro veneer though, much has been done to bring it bang up to date. There’s an LCD panel to control all the electrically-adjustable seats, a big entertainment display, a 20-speaker audio system, safety systems like collision avoidance, and much more besides.

The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

The car has also - sadly - lost the V12. In its place is a ‘2UR-FSE’ 5.0-litre V8, supplemented by Toyota’s ‘THS II’ hybrid system.

The wheelbase has been extended to give rear seat passengers more space, and Toyota has even increased the door opening height and reduced the drop between the treadplate and the floor to make ingress and egress a little more graceful.

The New Toyota Century Is Here, With Hybrid Power And No V12

Fancy sampling those soft wool seats (leather is available, but why would you want that?) in person? The car will be on display at the Toyko Motor Show later this month.

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Comments

Juampi Grigüelo

It looks really nice, but it would be nicer if Toyota would actually sell it somewhere other than Japan, so at least I can see it

10/05/2017 - 12:38 |
66 | 2
Anonymous

[DELETED]

10/05/2017 - 12:39 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Cool

10/05/2017 - 12:40 |
0 | 0
Jakob

The interior is such a weird combination of modern shapes and 1970s luxury barge chique. I don’t know why, but I like it. I like it a lot.

10/05/2017 - 12:41 |
60 | 4
Mason Smith 🇺🇸(Mustang Life)(Crowd Killer)

In reply to by Jakob

It also reminds me of the 90’s and early 2000’s

10/05/2017 - 12:55 |
2 | 0
Mason Smith 🇺🇸(Mustang Life)(Crowd Killer)

In reply to by Jakob

In fact it looks alot like a planes interior from around that time.😁

10/05/2017 - 12:56 |
6 | 0
BenPaye(JDMSquad)(MX5Squad)(LFAsquad)(Subie Squad) (Rotary F

Ooh it has curtains

10/05/2017 - 12:43 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

It looks like a Chinese/Korean car for some reason, I wonder why…

10/05/2017 - 12:44 |
180 | 4
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Even I don’t know, think it was designed by a Chinese guy or something

10/05/2017 - 13:14 |
4 | 14
Nishant Dash

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Toyota staff: Herro, actuarry we ran out of aideas so we copy from the Koreans, because their design is vry sugoi!!

Jk

10/05/2017 - 13:21 |
108 | 12
Teoman

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Its like the original car, i like it
Already look old tho

10/05/2017 - 13:54 |
22 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I thought it was similiar to Hongqi

10/06/2017 - 06:25 |
2 | 2
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Next question is how does this compare with the Lexus LS, why is Toyota producing 2 ultra luxury executive cars? Can’t they use a Lexus as the government’s car?

10/06/2017 - 07:18 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Reasons to be a Yakuza 101.

10/05/2017 - 12:45 |
40 | 2
Anonymous

No V12->Not worth it.

10/05/2017 - 12:46 |
4 | 6
Anonymous

Amazing, but dropped something gorgeous

10/05/2017 - 12:47 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Japanese Rolls-Royce :D

10/05/2017 - 12:52 |
0 | 0