Toyota’s Crown premium mid-size sedan enters its seventh decade with a significant update that adds a new direct-injection turbo engine, new colors and a world-first ITS safety package.

Offered in Japan since 1955, the Crown is available with three different personas: Athlete series, Royal series and Majesta series. The most significant changes have been made to the Athlete and Royal, while the Majesta has also received some updates.

The Toyota Crown Athlete’s grille features a new mesh pattern and extends all the way to the bottom of the bumper, which has been redesigned as well.

The model now features Bi-Beam LED headlights and surface-emitting LED clearance lamps with a daytime running function. At the rear, the Crown Athlete features larger ring-shaped taillamps, while the interior gains agate laminate decorative paneling. Turbo models will offer a dedicated Prussia Blue interior color.

Another significant addition for the facelifted Toyota Crown Athlete is a new 2.0-liter direct-injection turbo petrol engine which pairs a twin-scroll turbocharger with a cylinder head that uses an integrated water-cooled exhaust manifold.

The engine delivers 235PS (232hp) at 5,200-5,800 rpm and 350Nm (258lb-ft) of torque between 1,650-4,400 rpm. The unit is mated to Toyota’s 8 Super ECT transmission and is fitted as standard with a Stop & Start System, returning 13.4 km/L (7.45 l/100 km or 31.5 mpg US) according to the JC08 test cycle.

Moving on to the Crown Royal, the bumper and grille have been refreshed as well, with the grille lowered even further and sporting a chrome finish that extends from the center to both sides, encircling the fog lights. Inside, the model features a lattice patterned panel based on a detailed wood-grain finish as well as new black with brown accents.

Toyota offers twelve colors representative of Japanese aesthetics, including a self-restoring clear coat that self-repairs small scratches. The exterior colors can be combined with three new interior colors: white, black, and gold.

The facelifted Toyota Crown will be the world’s first mass-market vehicle to offer a driver assist function that uses a dedicated ITS frequency. Named ITS Connect, the package uses Japan’s standardized ITS frequency of 760 MHz to receive and share data transmitted by external infrastructure and other vehicles. ITS Connect includes a series of technologies based on Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications.

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