Toyota Makes Customized Convertible Century for New Emperor of Japan

Japan’s former Crown Prince Naruhito officially became the 126th Emperor of Japan on May 1 after his father abdicated. Though there was a brief ceremony to mark the occasion, his ceremonial parade is slated to be held in October. For the parade, he will be riding in a vehicle that Toyota will make specially for the event, a one-of-a-kind convertible Toyota Century.

Toyota has confirmed that it will be making a one-off car for the new emperor. Technically, no one else will have a vehicle that is exactly like the emperor’s. Toyota said that the Naruhito chose to have the Japan-only Century as his flagship vehicle back in January explaining that it had several characteristics that made the model the top choice. The most important requirement was that it should be a vehicle that was  available in the Japanese market. It also needed to be one that was bigger than the other vehicles in the parade, high levels of power and efficiency and should be designed in a manner that the emperor and the empress are easily visible. This is why car needs to be a convertible. Safety was also a major concern. While the Toyota Century will serve as the base, it will have several custom features including the convertible roof

The Century was initially launched in 1967 to mark the birthday of the company’s founder, Sakichi Toyoda. Last year, Toyota launched the first fully revamped Century after the model was reworked in 1997. The Century is now powered by a hybrid V8 powertrain and has a price tag of USD 175,000.