Filtered out! The Toyota Crown SUV has turned out to be a rebranded Highlander for China

The first leaked photographs of the rumored SUV version of the Toyota Crown have given us a as an alternative best wonder, as it isn't a new luxury SUV, as many expected, but a easy renamed variation of the Toyota Highlander hybrid.

Several months in the past a document from Japan seemed that claimed that the agency turned into considering an SUV version of the Toyota Crown, the big sedan that the Japanese brand has been advertising and marketing in its home market for more than sixty five years. This report pointed to the introduction of a new version in SUV / crossover format that might be placed inside the identical marketplace step because the Toyota Crown, the European E segment or massive sedans for North Americans.

This scheme sounded similar to that of many modern SUVs, which can be advertised inside the equal market echelon as conventional models with which they percentage generation and / or name. Such as the Mercedes C-Class and the Mercedes GLC-Class, or the BMW five Series and the BMW X5, to name just a few. So this intended new Toyota version ought to simply be a new flagship of the brand's SUV imparting sharing the Crown name.

However, these first photographs leaked from China are the first real sign that these rumors have been actual, although additionally they paint a completely distinct image from what we had assumed, because it is not a very new version, a good deal much less a flagship destined to crown the SUV / crossover range of the Japanese producer. These photographs have reached the network from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Technology and correspond to the pix that all manufacturers need to offer to sign up and homologate any version or model, so the character and identity of the vehicle aren't unsure.

Toyota Crown Kluger

The name of the model is subsequently Toyota Crown Kluger and, whether or now not the SUV talked about inside the aforementioned reviews, it's miles absolutely a highlighted variant of the Toyota Highlander. Due to its aesthetic configuration, we're faced with a model very similar to the Toyota Highlander XSE that we are able to locate inside the North American market, even though unlike this, the model this is going to be marketed in China has a hybrid mechanics in place of the three.5-liter V6. Of the XSE model. The name Kluger is likewise associated with the Highlander, as that is the name used by the 7-seater SUV inside the Australian marketplace.

The Crown Kluger has only a few beauty changes and a decaffeinated variant of the hybrid mechanical package based on the 2.5-liter engine that we can discover in other markets. This engine has been homologated in China with an output of 192 hp (189 hp). Although nothing is confirmed for now, it's far viable that the new Crown Kluger might be officially offered at the next Shanghai Auto Show 2021.