The Toyota Century Brand: Can It Succeed In The Current Ultra-Luxury Market?

Summary

• Toyota is aiming to create a new ultra-luxury brand, Century, to compete with the big names
• First vehicle shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2023 in SUV form
• An executive limousine version has also been shown
• Century aims to take advantage of the greater than 5% growth YOY in the ultra-luxury segment expected over the next 7 years
• Faces many challenges, least of all overcoming the Toyota badge meaning “inexpensive and reliable”
• We think Century has a very good chance of becoming a viable option for ultra-luxury customers, with Toyota’s experience with Lexus as a high-luxury and supercar brand

The ultra-luxury car market has traditionally been the playground of esteemed brands such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Maybach. However, Toyota’s foray into this exclusive domain with its new Century ultra-luxury brand has caused some serious discussions within the automotive industry. It will offer two cars, an SUV and an ultra-luxe executive limousine, as their first entries.

Today, we will look at the sales performance of ultra-luxury cars over the past five years, scrutinize the pricing dynamics within this rarified segment, and evaluate the potential impact of Toyota Century’s entry on the existing trends.