The Toyota Crown Replaced the Avalon. Was It a Mistake?

The Move from a Somewhat Boring Sedan to a Confusing One

When Toyotadiscontinued the Avalon after the 2022 model year, it was the end of an era. For nearly three decades, the Avalon served as Toyota's flagship sedan in North America, offering comfort, space, reliability, and a loyal customer base that appreciated its traditional formula. It wasn't an exciting car, but Toyota doesn't have to do that in order to establish a following.

But due to declining sales and a waning interest in sedans, much less full-sized ones, Toyota canned the Avalon after the 2022 model year. In its place came the Toyota Crown for the 2024 model year, and what a change it was. Toyota's approach to the traditional sedan was radical, perhaps a bit too radical for staid Avalon buyers.

The Crown is a lifted sedan-crossover hybrid with unconventional styling and an premium positioning. to adapt to shifting consumer tastes. Sales of the traditional, low-riding Avalon had dwindled as buyers migrated to SUVs. The Crown was introduced to bridge the gap between sedans and crossovers (the latter segment was booming), offering a higher seating position, easier ingress and egress, and standard all-wheel drive. While Toyota hoped the Crown would attract a new generation of buyers, the sales figures suggest the gamble hasn't paid off.

The Avalon Had a Loyal Following

The Avalon was never a volume leader like the Camry, but it consistently delivered respectable sales throughout most of its life. During its strongest years, the large sedan routinely sold between 30,000 and 50,000 units annually in the United States. The 5th-gen Avalon that debuted in 2018 sold just over 26,000 units.

The sedan market contracted and consumer preferences shifted toward SUVs, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see the Avalon decline. In 2022, sales were just 11,494 units. But if you compare it to the last year of the Buick LaCrosse (2019), a direct competitor, sales were far worse at only 7,241 units. The only other full-sized sedan that competed with the Avalon was the Chrysler 300, which had a banner year in 2022 with 16,662 units sold.

But Avalon buyers knew exactly what they were getting. It offered a spacious cabin, respectable handling, a comfortable ride, an available 3.5-liter V6 or a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder hybrid. The formula wasn't exciting, but it didn't need to be. Avalon customers weren't looking for excitement. They wanted a premium sedan without having to upgrade to a luxury brand with the associated price point. The Avalon also served as a natural upgrade path for longtime Camry owners. As buyers aged and sought more comfort and refinement, the Avalon made sense.

The Crown Is Struggling to Find Its Audience

Toyota introduced the Crown for the 2023 model year with a completely different mission. Rather than replacing the Avalon directly, the Crown attempted to blend sedan and crossover characteristics into a single package. The change in thinking about sedans seemed to make sense given the burgeoning popularity of crossovers.

The name wasn't new because the Crown begin in Japan back in 1955. In fact, the Crown is the basis for other Toyota models like Corolla (meaning "small crown" in Latin) and Camry (from "kanmuri", meaning crown in Japanese) The name carried over to a new generation of sedan in the U.S. because of Toyota's intent to provide an elevated sedan experience. It rides higher than a traditional sedan, comes standard with hybrid power, is appointed like a near-luxury automobile, and features bold styling.

The problem is that many buyers aren't quite sure what the Crown sedan is. Is it a four-door sedan? Is it a sleek crossover? Is it an upscale family car? The answer is somewhere in between, and that's part of the challenge for buyers. It's also trapped somewhere between Toyota and Lexus territory. Consumers generally prefer vehicles that clearly fit into a segment and a brand's ethos.

The result has been underwhelming sales. Toyota hasn't reached its goal of approximately 20,000 Crown sedans sold in American annually, although it came close in 2024 at 19,648. 2025 proved to be significantly less, moving just 12,309 units. Even with Toyota's strong reputation and growing demand for hybrids, the Crown has struggled to gain meaningful traction in the marketplace. While Toyota likely anticipated some initial resistance, the vehicle has yet to establish itself as a major success story.

The Avalon Should Have Been Redesigned

A new Avalon could've sparked renewed interest in the model and given it a modest sales bump. The fifth-generation Avalon, unfortunately, was more of a mild evolution of the fourth-generation model. The brand didn't take many risks other than to provide a hybrid variant. Improved hybrid efficiency, all-wheel drive, expanded trim levels, and more power would've helped it rise in a segment where other carmakers were giving up.

But that's not what happened. Some buyers who would've bought an Avalon if Toyota had continued to build it considered moving down to a Camry. Others may have purchased a Lexus ES, which had legroom closer to the Avalon. The 2023 Lexus ES originally started at at around $42,000 for standard gas models and $43,500 for the hybrid variant. A top trim Hybrid was about $52,000, a little less than the Crown Platinum. Why wouldn't buyers opt for a premium badge and model with a proven history rather than a new mishmash sedan/crossover with a less prestigious badge and less space?

Ironically, Toyota's newest Camry has become more premium than ever, featuring standard hybrid power and a refined driving experience that overlaps much of what Avalon buyers once appreciated. It also provides almost as much rear legroom as the Crown, and has almost as much horsepower as the base Crown. In many ways, today's Camry feels like the spiritual successor to the Avalon more than the Crown does. One of the biggest issues with the Crown strategy is that Toyota abandoned a proven formula. The Avalon may not have generated headlines, but it satisfied a specific group of buyers well.

To be fair, the Toyota Crown has plenty of strengths. Every model comes standard with a fuel-efficient hybrid powertrain and all-wheel drive, while higher trims offer the 340-horsepower Hybrid Max system for impressive performance. Its raised ride height makes entry and exit easy, and the cabin is near-luxury. The problem isn't that the Crown is a bad car; it's that it wasn't the replacement many Avalon buyers were looking for.

Final Thoughts

The problem is that the Crown never truly replaced what made the Avalon successful. Sales figures suggest that Toyota overestimated demand for a lifted, premium hybrid sedan while underestimating the loyalty of Avalon buyers. Sometimes innovation pays off. Other times, it replaces a product that customers knew and understood. The Crown may eventually find a larger audience, but that seems like a stretch unless the brand does something different with it for the mid-cycle refresh. So far, the numbers indicate that replacing the Avalon was a costly miscalculation.

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This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 4:30 AM.