Hiroyuki Watanabe

The Ninth Generation Against Headwinds

The Crown, which had become Japan's representative flagship in the 1980s, entered a time of hardship from the ninth generation. Toyota also brought Lexus's top model, the LS, to Japan as the Celsior, reaching a turning point where the position of "Someday, a Crown" changed. Then the bubble economy burst, demand for luxury cars fell, and competition with imported cars intensified. The ninth and tenth generations came out amid these headwinds, and Watanabe, who led their development, had honed his skills under Kenichi Imaizumi of "Someday, a Crown." From Watanabe's time, the Crown entered a period of transformation.