We reported earlier today on the leak of a Toyota “New York Region 2022 Sales Plan” on YouTube by user Driven District and, being enthusiasts, we were primarily interested in the high-performance Corolla GR. Keen-eyed readers, though, may have noticed that the document also contained some interesting information about “Crown” and to a lesser extent, Corolla Cross Hybrid models.
Both will be coming to the New York Region in small numbers in 2022, which, by extension, means the rest of the U.S. (and likely Canada) can look forward to the models too. That’s a little surprising in the case of the Crown because until now, we’ve only had very limited forewarning of the model.
Read Also: New Toyota GR Corolla Will Arrive In The U.S. This October, Claims Leaked Dealer Document
Reports about Toyota filing a trademark application for the “Crown” name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office emerged last spring but you could have been forgiven for not holding your breath for a U.S. market introduction based solely on that trademark reported by Motortrend. Now, though, it would seem that a vehicle wearing the ‘Crown’ badge will make its debut, and pretty soon if it is to be sold this year.
But which Crown could it be?
The Crown is most famously used as a name in Japan, where it is sold as a premium luxury sedan in RWD and AWD forms that shares its underpinnings with the Toyota Mirai, the Lexus LC, and the Lexus LS. The model has been on the decline recently, though.
The name has also recently been used in China, where it has become a sort of sub-brand. There, it has been applied to the local version of the Toyota Highlander, the FAW Toyota Crown Kluger (pictured above) and a variant of the Alphard van called the Crown Vellfire.
How Toyota plans to use the Crown name in the U.S. remains to be seen but reports have suggested that the sedan will be replaced by an SUV and we all know how America feels about those.
In addition to the revelation about the Crown, the document also suggests that Toyota plans to start selling the Corolla Cross Hybrid in America this year. Toyota brought the crossover Corolla to the U.S. in 2021 and confirmed that a hybrid version would be joining the model lineup at some point in the future. Now, this doc tells us that it should arrive in dealers across the States this November.
For the European market, the Corolla Cross Hybrid is powered by a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and an electric motor that together push out 197 hp (146 kW / 199 PS), 28 hp (21 kW / 28 PS) more than the non-hybrid U.S. model currently makes.
