TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp plans to launch a sport utility vehicle (SUV) version of its Crown sedan next year, three people said, overhauling a model that has been a showpiece in the Japanese market for nearly seven decades.

The SUV - which will come in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full-electric models - marks an attempt to make the 67-year-old Crown more relevant as consumers shy away from sedans, the people said, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public.

Sales of the hybrid are expected from the summer of 2023 and will include exports to China and North America, while the plug-in hybrid is intended for the domestic market, they said.

The electric model is due to launch in early 2024 and the automaker has yet to finalise export plans, two of the people said.

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As part of the overhaul, Toyota will also roll out a fully remodelled sedan version of the Crown from this summer, the people said.

Both the SUV and the sedan will be manufactured at factories in Toyota City, Japan.

A Toyota spokesperson declined to comment.

Largely sold in the domestic market for much of its history, the Crown was the first passenger car developed and built entirely in Japan, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s rise to become a global automaking giant.

It was also the first car Toyota exported to the United States, in 1958. Two years later Toyota was forced to suspend the export, as the engine wasn’t capable of speeds needed on American freeways.