Is Toyota coming out with left-hand drive Crown?

Is the Toyota Crown Kluger heading to the U.S. market?

The Crown is one of the most iconic and recognizable names from Toyota. What makes that an impressive tidbit is the fact that the Crown hasn’t been sold worldwide in quite a while. The current-generation model isn’t even sold outside Japan.

But there is an interesting update about the Crown. They trademarked the name in the U.S, and in a way, it also matters to us.

That may be significant because the Crown is no longer available with left-hand drive. If anything, it was an indication that Toyota had no plans to bring the fifteenth-generation model to wider markets. However, the U.S is left-hand-drive, and that opens up the possibility of us getting it too. The last time Toyota sold the Crown here was in 1999.

But before we get too excited, there are other possible scenarios. The first one is Toyota simply re-registering the name to protect their rights over it. It’s a move automakers do all the time and it isn’t out of the ordinary. It sounds anti-climactic, but possible nonetheless.

The other one could be a sign that they might bring it back in the U.S as a crossover. Remember the Crown Kluger from China? That model is essentially a luxury version of the Highlander. With that in mind, is it possible that the Crown Highlander could be the hybridized large crossover Toyota was talking about before?

We won’t know for certain until we actually see the Crown name attached to a model outside Japan. Then there’s also the matter of Lexus, which already serves as the luxury division of Toyota worldwide. It might end up overlapping with Lexus models if they revive it abroad. Either way, we’ll keep an eye out for any updates.