Toyota has never been a company that chases headlines for the sake of it. But the Century Coupe—first seen as a blazing-orange concept and now reportedly headed for production—looks like a deliberate attempt to do something un-Toyota: shock the luxury world awake. And if the latest whispers out of Japan are true, it might do so with the most outrageous powertrain Toyota has ever put into a road car.

Forget the sensible 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that underpins the GR GT. The Century Coupe is rumored to arrive with a twin-turbo 6.0-liter V-12 paired with plug-in-hybrid assistance, good for more than 800 horsepower. Yes, a Toyota with a V-12 in the 2020s. That sentence alone feels like it was smuggled in from an alternate timeline.

For a brand that just spun the Century nameplate into a standalone ultra-luxury marque, the move actually makes a twisted kind of sense. Century isn’t Lexus-plus. It’s Toyota’s answer to Rolls-Royce: understated, obsessively engineered, and designed to be bought by people who never talk about what they drive. A twelve-cylinder halo car is exactly the kind of statement that tells the world this isn’t just another fancy Camry.

A V-12, but Whose?

What’s still a mystery is where this V-12 would come from. Toyota hasn’t built one since the Century sedan quietly retired its own in-house twelve-cylinder in favor of a hybrid V-8 in 2018. That old engine made a modest 425 horsepower—not exactly the stuff of hypercar legend.

One theory floating around Japanese outlet Mag X is that Toyota could Frankenstein together two of BMW’s turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-sixes—the same basic architecture used in the outgoing Supra. On paper, that gets you a neat, modern 6.0-liter V-12 without starting from scratch. In reality, it sounds like a branding nightmare. Century is supposed to be Toyota’s purest expression of itself, not a luxury coupe with Bavarian DNA hiding under the hood.

More likely, Toyota will do what it always does at the top of its game: quietly spend a fortune developing something bespoke, over-engineered, and built to last far longer than anyone expects.

Luxury With a Launch Control

To keep all that power from going up in smoke, the Century Coupe is expected to come standard with Toyota’s E-Four all-wheel-drive system. Gearbox choices are rumored to include either an eight-speed or a ten-speed automatic—both very Toyota solutions, focused less on drama and more on smooth, unflappable torque delivery.

The production car should stay visually close to the concept, though some of the weirder elements are likely to disappear. Those chunky black wheel arches and the SUV-like ride height felt more like a design team flex than a coherent statement. Expect something sleeker, lower, and more fitting for a six-figure grand tourer.

Inside, things should become more conventional, too. The concept’s two-seat layout—with the lone rear passenger riding behind the front passenger in chauffeur-spec comfort—was amusing but wildly impractical. A proper four-seat layout makes far more sense, especially if Toyota wants this thing to actually get driven.

Bentley Money, Toyota Promises

The price? Start mentally north of $200,000 and work your way up. Reports suggest Japanese pricing between 30 and 70 million yen, which puts the Century Coupe squarely in Bentley Continental GT and Rolls-Royce Wraith territory.

That’s bold, but Toyota isn’t trying to out-plush Bentley. Its pitch is different: combine that level of exclusivity and performance with something those brands don’t usually brag about—bulletproof reliability. If Toyota really can build an 800-plus-horsepower hybrid V-12 coupe that doesn’t need a specialist on speed dial, that could be the Century’s real party trick.

The production Century Coupe is expected to arrive in 2027, timed to celebrate the model’s 60th anniversary and the full launch of Century as its own brand. And while nothing is official, it’s hard to imagine Toyota spending this kind of money just to keep it a Japan-only curiosity.

If it does come to North America, the Century Coupe won’t just be another ultra-luxury import. It’ll be a philosophical grenade lobbed into a segment dominated by European excess: a quiet, terrifyingly powerful reminder that Toyota, when it wants to, can build absolutely anything.

Source: Toyota