Toyota confirms it's bringing a Crown crossover SUV to L.A. show

With Toyota’s latest teaser, the company has removed all doubt, its big L.A. Auto Show reveal will be a Crown crossover SUV of some sort. And with it, both the Crown lineup and Toyota’s already enormous SUV range will become even larger.

The teaser gives us a surprisingly clear look at the back of the Crown. And as we mentioned with the last teaser, it looks extremely similar to the Crown Estate Type concept shown last year (and below) with the other Crown variants. It was the largest of the hatchback-bearing concepts, and the one with the most conventional SUV design traits, specifically matte black plastic cladding around the wheel arches. It also had a contrasting roof that’s become a common styling point both at Toyota and among other automakers. It did eschew the slightly controversial two-tone styling of the Crown sedan that’s available right now.

It’s a pretty safe bet that the same powertrains that the Crown has will carryover to the Crown SUV. That means the base option will probably be a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid making 236 horsepower and sending it through an e-CVT to all four wheels. Optionally available should be the Hybrid Max powertrain that combines a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder with bigger electric motors and a six-speed automatic transmission. That powertrain makes 340 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque.

Toyota may also take this opportunity to launch the previously announced plug-in hybrid powertrain for the Crown line. Odds are it would be similar to the system used in the RX 450h+. The Lexus is rated for just 304 horsepower, which may or may not translate to a hypothetical Crown PHEV, and the same goes for the RX’s 37 miles of electric range.