Toyota Crown Sport SUV: A Hot Crossover Not Headed for American Soil
The Toyota Crown entered its 16th generation in the 2023 model year. That’s right, a vehicle that hasn’t been part of the American Toyota lineup until recently has been around that long. As strange as it might sound, the hottest Crown isn’t sold in the United States. Why can’t we have the new Toyota Crown Sport SUV in America? There might be some simple reasons for this omission.
The Toyota Crown Sport SUV is among several body styles for this Toyota name
The Crown name has been a longstanding staple of the Toyota brand and is offered in several different body styles. These bodies are the Crown Crossover, Crown Sport, Crown Sedan, and Crown Estate.
The crossover was the first to arrive for this new generation, quickly becoming a common sight on the roads. The new Crown Sport is a new type of SUV with a look and style that’s been compared to the Ferrari Purosangue when it appeared with red metallic boy color and black large-diameter wheels. That’s certainly a compliment of sportiness that any Toyota would love to enjoy.
The hot SUV isn’t what we see in the U.S.
The 2023 Toyota Crown we see in our market muddies the waters with confusion. The body is that of a sedan/small crossover mix, and the ride height leans toward a crossover, but this hybrid vehicle is what Toyota brought to replace the discontinued Avalon. Our best guess is that the Crown we see in America is the Crown Crossover, not the Crown Sport SUV.
That’s too bad. The Toyota Crown Sport SUV would be a welcome addition to the Toyota SUV lineup, which is without anything exciting. Competitors have sporty midsize SUVs, but Toyota doesn’t. The Crown Sport SUV could easily compete with the Ford Edge ST, the upcoming Chevy Blazer SS, and Kia EV6 GT, to name a few.
Why won’t Toyota offer this Crown Sport SUV in America?
Top Speed ventures a guess that the Crown Sport doesn’t enter the American lineup because it shares similar dimensions with the new Toyota Grand Highlander. Strangely, they also offer that deleting the regular Highlander would make room for the Crown Sport. These two thoughts make things unclear.
Currently, the sporty and attractive Toyota Crown Sport SUV isn’t scheduled to arrive in America, but that could change in the near future. We might not see it as part of the 2023 model year, but later in the Crown’s 16th generation, this SUV it might show up, especially if the market for powerful midsize SUVs grows.
What does the 2023 Toyota Crown offer?
The Crown we get is a lifted sedan that rivals some small crossovers for passenger and cargo room. We see three Crown trim levels: XLE, Limited, and Platinum. All models come with standard AWD to put power to all four wheels. The Toyota Newsroom tells us this version of the Crown offers two different hybrid powertrains, one of which is the Hybrid MAX version which delivers 340 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque.
Although we don’t get to enjoy the stylish look of the Toyota Crown Sport SUV, the version we’ve got is pretty impressive, especially with that Hybrid Max powertrain. Still, Americans typically don’t like being told they can’t have something.
