Here’s The Toyota Luxury Vehicle That Has Been Compared to the Rolls-Royce

While Toyota is known for its affordable quality cars, one Toyota car takes luxury to the next level, and people have compared the vehicle to the Roll-Royce. The vehicle is none than the Toyota Century. The detailed work Toyota did in the vehicle has made it likened to the Roll-Royce.

However, one of the main issues of the Century is that you can only buy one in Japan. The price of the Century starts at around $180,000. The Century is speculated to compete with Rolls-Royce in terms of product quality.

Just like Rolls-Royce, the Century is hand-assembled with minimal machine intervention. This includes hand-painting and final assembly. The Century is a Toyota-made limousine, with each vehicle requiring hours’ worth of woodworking between the wooden panels and the hood ornament. 

For instance, about 45 hours are required to carve the “Celestial Rooster” hood ornament. Paint colour options include navy blue, black, burgundy, and silver.

But, the contrast is that the overall dimensions of the Century give it a smaller stature than the Phantom, Ghost, and Wraith. Unfortunately, these vehicles’ interior room specifications are unavailable, though likely comparable within the same luxury car class.

Interestingly, only four people were trusted to paint the Century, and two apprentices were selected as well. These individuals have been trained to create a flawless, hand-made mirror finish through lacquering, hand wet-sanding, and many other techniques to ensure the paint is better than any other luxury car on the market. 

Toyota uses seven materials and countless coats to ensure its desired finish. The paint and internal fixtures are intended to connect passengers to the Celestial Mirror.

It certainly helps that several locations on the Century are polished to such a bright finish executives can straighten their ties or other appearance-related facets in the vehicle.

For the second-generation Century, Toyota developed a V12 engine, though exclusively for one luxury car. No other Toyota vehicles were allowed to use the 5.0L V12. This is the model of Century, which was placed for sale internationally—unfortunately, only 27 were sold outside of Japan. 

Since the market was so unreceptive to the Century, Toyota cancelled international sales of the ultra-luxury vehicle. One thing is made clear about the Century; like the Rolls Royce, it is a passenger’s luxury car, not a driver’s car. 

In the interior, the Century is a full-wool interior with the option for leather seats. The Japanese automaker prefers wool, a more polite upholstery material for the interior, though it understands the luxury draw of leather upholstery. 

The customized versions of this luxury car come without a published price tag, based solely on the cost of customizations and labour needed for the vehicle and any markup Toyota seeks to place on it.

The Emperor of Japan and the royal family have five heavily customized V12 Century Royals; each is reported to be closely comparable to the Presidential Limo, with one new vehicle having been commissioned for an imperial coronation ceremony, the first convertible Century ever made. In accordance with ceremonial requirements, the passengers must be readily visible at all times and from nearly all angles during the parade. 

The Toyota Century was created by a few at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji plant. The comparisons drawn between Rolls-Royce and Toyota Century are mainly in the ultra-luxury build, quality, craftsmanship, and time investment. Still, one of the biggest differences between the two is price, while other factors include international availability and customization availability.