2025 Toyota Crown Signia Limited

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Crown is taking the place of other Toyota nameplates and is doing a good job at doing so. . .


By Gary S. Vasilash


There are probably more people who are familiar with the Roxy Music album of the same name than the Avalon, Toyota’s former top-of-the-line sedan in the U.S. market.


Which is a shame because the Avalon, which was introduced in model year 1995 and had a five-generation run until it became unavailable in the U.S. market, was, year in and year out, generation after generation, a fine automobile.


Perhaps a problem for the flagship that it was simply eclipsed by the Toyota Camry which, year in and year out, generation after generation (it is now the ninth), simply sold in tremendous numbers.


Someone would walk into a Toyota dealership and likely drive out in a Camry because it probably took little in the way of convincing. But for another car that cost a few thousand more, nice as it was, the persuasion would have been more challenging. So if you were a commissioned salesperson, wouldn’t you take the path of least resistance? (It has been the best-selling sedan in the U.S. for 22 years running, and this year it will likely notch 23.)


The product planners at Toyota know they need to have something at the top of the line. Something that isn’t the Camry XSE AWD (the highest trim level of the eight available).


For model year 2023 Toyota introduced the Crown to the U.S. market, the top-of-the-line that was the Avalon replacement.


Initially the Crown was positioned as a sort-of hybrid crossover, with the “sort-of” predicated on what it called a “lift-up” design.


As Toyota put it: “Crown has a raised overall height that’s nearly four inches higher than Camry. The unique height of this sedan offers increased road visibility, along with easy entry and exit.”


But sort-of isn’t enough.


So for model year 2025 Toyota is adding the Crown Signia to it lineup. This vehicle is categorized as an SUV.


And just as the Crown replaced the Avalon, the Signia Crown replaces the second-generation (the all-hybrid one that had a run from model years 2021 to 2024) Venza.
Clearly the “Crown” moniker, which has been a fixture in the Toyota Japan lineup since it went into production in 1955, is taking its place in the U.S. market in a notable way.
The Crown Signia is quite an impressive vehicle.

If there is any problem that the Crown Signia may have (though not for me) it is that the roofline resembles a small wagon more than an SUV. (Image: Toyota)


No, this is not because its hybrid powertrain’s 240 combined net horsepower (188 hp from the four-cylinder engines and the balance from its 134 kW front and 40 kW rear permanent magnet synchronous electric motors) or from its standard electronic on-demand all-wheel drive (it works when it needs to; the driver need not engage buttons or knobs or tap a selection of the 12.3-inch infotainment screen).


It’s not because it has the capability of towing 2,700 pounds or, with the second row seats folded, a 6.5-foot long cargo area.


It is because it is clear that the level of attention to detail executed in both the exterior and interior designs bring to mind the style and sophistication that had been characteristic of the Avalon.


For example, the leather-trimmed seats that are in the Limited grade have double-stitching, quilting and fillet piping. While leather seats can provoke a shrug, it is the fact that there is the double-stitching, quilting and fillet piping that takes them to a level that is not characteristic of an offering from a mass-market brand.


The vehicle as-driven has an MSRP of $51,799. That’s $47,990 for the vehicle and the remainder for the options. (There is also an addition of $1,450 on top of the $51,799 for delivery and handling.)


The options include things like premium paint ($425) and mudguards ($155). The biggest one if the advanced technology package ($1,865), which includes things like various sensors and monitors and associated functions.


So it comes to $53,249, certainly a reasonable sticker for what is a premium hybrid.

Cadillac VISTIQ: Architectural Lesson

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Maybe they got their styles wrong. . .


By Gary S. Vasilash


Cadillac has announced the VISTIQ, a three-row electric SUV.


It has a dual-motor system, which means all-wheel drive is standard. The motors provide 615 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque, which, according to the company, will provide a 0 to 60 time of 3.7 seconds when the Velocity Max performance mode is engaged.


The 102-kWh battery is expected to provide a range of 300 miles.


As Jeff MacDonald, North American chief engineer, for the vehicle puts it:


“From the start, it was our team’s goal to deliver a three-row SUV that provides exhilarating performance and intuitive technology, wrapped in the brand’s iconic design language.”

2026 Cadillac VISTIQ, three-row EV SUV. Jeff MacDonald, North American chief engineer, for the vehicle: “Bold, yet refined, the VISTIQ provides a comfortable ride while handling like a much smaller vehicle, delivering a sense of isolated precision.” (Images: Cadillac)


And of that design language, Brian Nesbitt, executive director, Global Cadillac Design, says:


“VISTIQ continues the Cadillac EV identity, including our signature vertical lamps front and rear, the illuminated pinstripe grille, a 33-inch diagonal high-resolution LED screen, and available 23-inch wheels, rendered in a proportionally stately and functional three-row SUV.”


But there is one odd thing in Cadillac’s announcement of the EV, which will have a starting MSRP of $78,790:


““The spacious interior seamlessly integrates with the elegant design, inspired by modern architectural contours and structure framework. The vertical banding is reflective of robust features in Brutalist architecture and helps frame elements in the interior, creating more refined lines and offering a balance of sophistication and practicality for modern luxury living.”

Inside the VISTIQ. Real wood. Recycled yarn. Carbon fiber. Authentic. Not Brutal.


Brutalist?


Writing in Architectural Digest, a place where they know a thing or ten about architectural styles modern and otherwise, Katherine McLaughlin explains:


“The style is often associated with socialist utopian ideas, which were regularly promoted by the buildings’ architects. Many early Brutalist buildings were affordable housing projects that sought to reimagine architecture to address modern needs.”


Brutalism got its start in post-World War II Britain where, McLaughlin writes,


“Spinning off the heels of the modernist movement of the day, architects were presented with a new set of challenges, namely limited resources, when designing in the post-war era.”

So they had to design buildings that were concrete-intensive and decoratively absent.


McLaughlin quotes Geddes, Ulinskas, principal of Geddes Ulinskas Architects:


“If modernism is about architecture being honest, Brutalist design is about architecture being brutally honest.”


Ulinskas goes on:


“Forms are as simple as can be and materials are stripped to be as bare and raw as possible.”


There is something to be said for honesty in materials in vehicles—if you’re going to have something that looks like wood, it should be wood, not plastic or an applique; the same goes for metal and carbon fiber. And this is what they’re doing inside the VISTIQ.


Yes, the materials are authentic inside. But they are undoubtedly not “as bare and raw as possible.”


Somehow Brutalism just doesn’t seem particularly “Cadillac.”

Some Thanksgiving Driving Stats

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Don’t worry, the turkey can wait. . . .


Who knew that Thanksgiving was a period during which so many drivers were in such a hurry?


According to Verra Mobility, a company that provides things like red-light camera systems so it has first-hand knowledge of this, during the 2023 Thanksgiving weekend (Wednesday through Sunday) there were more than 57,000 red-light violations.


(This is based on information from 21 states.)


Most of these violations occurred on Wednesday between 12 pm and 4 pm.


What’s more, Verra Mobility, which also has traffic cameras in its portfolio, found that during the 2023 Thanksgiving weekend there were more than 150,000 speeding violations.


In this case, the majority of the violations occurred on Thanksgiving, between 10 am and 12 pm. (Leaving the parade and getting to grandma’s house for turkey?)


This finding is curious: while red-light violations have increased annually since 2020, the number of speeding violations has been going down since 2021.


A little forward planning can help avoid an average penalty of $150.

2025 INFINITI QX80 Autograph

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This is what “flagship” means. . .


By Gary S. Vasilash


Craig Keeys, group vice president, INFINITI Americas, was recently a guest on “Autoline After Hours.”


One of the topics discussed is the 2025 INFINITI QX80, which really gives meaning to the term “flagship.”


That is, the three-row SUV is 211.2 inches long and has a 121-inch wheelbase. It is 83.3 inches wide and depending on the suspension setup (there is an independent, double wishbone fore and aft, but there is an available as high as 77.9 inches. In three (Luxe, Sensory, Autograph) of the four (Pure is the other) trims it rides on 22s. (Pure gets 20s.) The ground clearance is (again, suspension-dependent) from 9.6 to 10 inches, which means that the standard body-colored running board is not something that’s merely “nice” to have. The cargo capacities are 22 cubic feet with the third row upright; 59 cubic feet with the third row folded; and 101 cubic feet with the second and third rows folded: with the leather seating throughout and the 14.3-inch infotainment and 9-inch screen below that one for control of HVAC and seating, this capacious vehicle provides a sense that you are in something like a well-appointed cruise ship cabin, not something that is going to take you on your next trip, be it to work or to the lake (there is 8,500-pound—said to be best-in-class—towing capacity, facilitated by the 450-hp twin-turbo V6 that produces 516 lb-ft of torque).


When introducing the vehicle, Alfonso Albaisa, senior vice president for Global Design for Nissan Motor Co., said the new QX80 is “Powerful, practical and provocative.”


While the boxes for the powerful and practical have been checked in that lengthy paragraph above, the provocative nature of the QX80 is evident here:


Which brings me back to Craig Keeys.


He said that he’d been talking to one of his acquaintances who was looking for a full-size SUV. Not surprisingly, Keeys recommended that the QX80 get a look. No surprise.


And also no surprise (after all, Keeys told the story), the QX80 was purchased.


And here’s the thing: People who are in the market for a large, lux SUV would probably opt more frequently for the INFINITI if they were aware of it.


Through the third quarter of 2024 INFINITI sold 7,410 QX80s, or 67% of the number of Lincoln Navigators delivered during the same period.


Over at Cadillac, things were far more robust than was the case for either of those vehicles: 27,992 Escalades.


The QX80 certainly deserves more than it is getting.

Bentley’s Credible Claim

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There’s luxury. And then there’s luxury. . .


Given that the average price of a Bentley is on the order of $300,000, when the company announces that it is going to “create an entirely new segment, the world’s first true Luxury Urban SUV,” you’ve got to give it to them.


After all, while we may think of “luxury” in the context of something from Mercedes—which, of course, has SUVs—it is that rarefied air that Bentley is in that Mercedes—even with its Maybach brand—is without.


The new SUV, which is to launch in 2026, is a battery electric vehicle. Presumably that explains the “Urban” part, as in the company figures this will not be a vehicle to take on some sort of grand tour.


Bentley plans to be fully EV by 2035.


Presently its Continental GT coupe, convertible and Flying Spur models are plug-in hybrids; the V8-based propulsion system replaces the W12 engine that had once been under the bonnets of the cars coming out of Crewe.

The Cost of Tariffs on Auto

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“By means of glasses, hotbeds, and hotwalls, very good grapes can be raised in Scotland, and very good wine too can be made of them at about thirty times the expense for which at least equally good can be brought from foreign countries. Would it be a reasonable law to prohibit the importation of all foreign wines, merely to encourage the making of claret and burgundy in Scotland?”—Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

Here’s something to think about regarding the possibility of tariffs and how they will affect vehicle pricing and/or availability.


David Christ, group vice president, general manager-Toyota Division, Toyota Motor North America, pointed out yesterday (the day after the election) at a meeting of the Automotive Press Association, that Toyota has 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S. It is building its 11th in North Carolina that will open in 2025 for the production of batteries for electrified vehicles. A $13.9-billion plant.

Certainly a solid U.S. footprint. It employs some 49,000 in the U.S.


Christ said an issue with tariffs is that things not necessarily visible to the end consumer—like parts—can have a big effect.


He said, for example, that the Camry is about 90% U.S. by content. But that means 10% comes from out of the country.


That’s because Toyota, like other manufacturers, has a global supply chain.


OEMs don’t make everything that goes into their vehicles. And suppliers of components not only have to find the lowest-cost places to produce their products, but they need a sufficient number of customers for a given part to be produced in a given plant, so with those two factors they are likely to be located somewhere that isn’t necessarily the U.S.


So regardless of the high level of domestic content, that 10% will drive up the cost of the car.

Who benefits from that?


For customers, this makes the vehicle less affordable.


A costlier vehicle might mean fewer of them are purchased.


Fewer cars purchased means fewer cars built.


Fewer cars being built means fewer hours are necessary for people to work.


The trail of consequences continues. Makes you want to reach for a domestic claret or burgundy.


And while it might be thought that this is something that is not an issue for the traditional domestic manufacturers like Ford and General Motors, it is worth noting that in the 2024 Cars.com American-Made Index, which takes into account assembly location, parts content, engine origin, transmission origin and U.S. manufacturing workforce, the top-10 most-American vehicles are:

  1. Tesla Model Y
  2. Honda Passport
  3. VW ID.4
  4. Tesla Model S
  5. Honda Odyssey
  6. Honda Ridgeline
  7. Toyota Camry
  8. Jeep Gladiator
  9. Telsa Model X
  10. Lexus TX

What you don’t see is either Ford or General Motors. And as Jeep is owned by Stellantis and as Stellantis is headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, it can no longer be considered a “traditional domestic.” But the folks that build the Gladiator in Toledo, Ohio, still certainly are.


(In case you are wondering: the highest-ranking vehicle from GM is the Chevy Colorado, at #23. Ford makes it at #29 with the Lincoln Corsair. Which means the cost of tariffs would be higher for them.)


“Free and fair trade is the best way to go,” Christ said.


Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations in 1776. That idea has been kicking around for quite some time.

Maybe the Scooter Version of the 500e Will Do Better

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Another stylish moped rolls out in Europe. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

One of the things that European companies are superlative at is developing mopeds. Presumably this is because whether it is London, Paris or Rome, there tends to be considerable congestion so zipping through the gridlock on a scooter is ideal.

A new scooter was announced this week, the E-Moped 500, which is built by Platum, a company that focuses on micromobility solutions, and was designed by Pininfarina with the cooperation of Centro Stile FIAT.

The Fiat 500e is cute, but the E-Moped 500 is cool. (Image: Pininfarina)

The scooter has a range of 115 km (71 miles) and a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).

One of the features of the E-Moped 500 is a large front wheel that is described as being “a good ally against potholes and cobblestones.”

Certainly the former is familiar in U.S. cities, but cobblestones not so much.

The E-Moped 500 is influenced by the styling of the Fiat 500e electric vehicle.

Presumably Platum is hoping that the scooter does better than the car is doing: the Mirafiori plant in Turin where the car is built has been idled for several weeks given lack of demand for the 500e.

Advancing Air Mobility

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Toyota’s efforts in transportation go far beyond building Camrys. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

“Air mobility has the potential to change our ‘sense of distance and time,’ and open a future with the new option of air mobility that will further enrich the lives of many people.”

You can imagine someone who is in the business of making things like electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis saying something like that.

But that was said by Hiroki Nakajima, executive vice president and chief technology officer of Toyota Motor Corporation.

Toyota is working with Joby Aviation on the development and production of eVTOL air taxis. (Image: Joby)

That’s right: an exec at a company that is best known for building things that travel on the surface of the earth promoting getting from point A to B in the sky via eVTOLs.

Nakajima made the statement earlier this week when an electric aircraft built by Joby Aviation, a company founded in 2009 and based in California, made Joby’s first international exhibition flight at the Toyota Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in Shizuoka, Japan.

One could argue that Toyota is in the business of making things like electric air taxis because it has invested $894-million in Joby; it has Toyota personnel working along side those who work for Joby in a facility in California; and it has signed an agreement through which it will be supplying powertrain and actuation components to Joby for the build of the aircraft.

Although one of the business cases that is being made for these electric air taxis is transporting people from places like the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to LaGuardia or JFK, there are also opportunities for using the aircraft in rural areas. Think, for example, of emergency transport of people who are in places where the terrain means the roads have twists and turns, adding to additional transport time vs. flying in from point A to B and back.

Another example of why the future of transportation is multimodal.

2025 Infiniti QX60 Luxe AWD

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Perhaps the Majestic White would be a better look. . .


By Gary S. Vasilash


When you have a vehicle that has “Luxe” in its name you figure that it must be, well, luxurious. But one thing about the QX60 Luxe as driven here is that it has the “Black Edition Package,” a $1,900 option that provides gloss-black 20-inch wheels, gloss black roof rails, black grille, and black headliner on the inside. And the Black Edition Package makes it possible to select from three premium paints: Mineral Black, Majestic White, or a newly developed color, Harbor Gray.


The first two rows of the three-row SUV have leather, which also happened to be black. (The front seats are the comfortable “Zero Gravity” style that Nissan had initially launched in the 2013 Altima and which have been improved since; the second-row seats (and know that the outboard seating positions back there are heated, while the front seats are heated and ventilated).)


But the thing is, the whole execution seemed less luxe to me and more like I was living in Wednesday Addams’ world.


The QX60 is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter I4 that produces 268 hp @ 5,600 rpm and 286 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. It is mated to a nine-speed automatic.


The vehicle weighs 4,696 pounds.

2025 Infiniti QX60 Luxe Black Edition. (Image: Infiniti)


And it really seemed that in some cases when I planted the accelerator (e.g., coming off a freeway ramp into the speeding traffic) I would have been happy with, say, a couple more cylinders. (To be fair, however, it should be noted that a competitive vehicle, like the Lincoln Nautilus (though it has two rows, not three), also has a turbocharged I4. While it has 250 hp, the vehicle is lighter, so it turns out that a power-to-weight ratio is essentially a wash. The point being that this is something that is characteristic of the vehicle type, it seems.)
It should be noted that the fuel economy numbers are 22 mpg city, 27 highway, and 24 combined, so there is something to be said for not having two extra cylinders.


It checks the boxes with a sizeable touch screen (12.3 inch) and an array of standard safety tech (forward emergency braking with pedestrian detection, predictive forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic braking, blind spot warning, lane departure warning11 and high beam assist). There are also things like traffic sign recognition, intelligent cruise control with stop-and-go, and other features and functions.


New to the 2025 QX60 is a key fob that is recognized by the vehicle such that when you approach the vehicle with said fob there is a beep from the SUV announcing that the door is unlocked. When you turn off the SUV and exit, once you’re a few feet away the vehicle beeps and the doors lock. Clever, but I was a bit concerned when I happened to be repeatedly walking by the SUV with the fob in my pocket. I was afraid that the repeated beeps and locking-unlocking would cause the processor to throw an electronic gasket.


That didn’t happen.


Convenience really matters when you actually need a three-row vehicle (i.e., you have your hands full—figuratively and often literally). Which is probably why there is that fob arrangement.


Credit to the Infiniti folks to be thinking of things like that.

2025 Lexus UX300h F Sport Handling

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Lexus brings a small hybrid. But the styling could use some help. . .?

By Gary S. Vasilash

The good news about the Lexus UX300h F Sport is that it is a hybrid. And not just any hybrid system but the fifth-generation Lexus Hybrid System. Which doesn’t necessarily mean all that much at first. I mean, does anyone remember the second- or third-generation Lexus Hybrid System?

I didn’t think so.

But what this does mean is that the UX300h has a system that has been refined multiple times, more times than probably any competitive hybrid vehicle out there.

As for what that system consists of: it is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that is supplemented by two motor generators via a planetary-type continuously variable transmission. There are front and rear motors and a 60-cell lithium-ion battery.

All of which means that there is a total horsepower of 196.

And a combined fuel economy of 43 mpg.

Which is a nice thing to have.

The thing to know about the hybrid system in this vehicle is probably this: you can simply ignore it. It just works. There is nothing that makes you think, “Hmm. . .I wonder what’s going on in there?”

In a word: seamless.

Lexus UX300h. The plus is that it is a hybrid. The minus is in that styling. (Image: Lexus)

The model driven here features the F Sport Handling package. Which means there is active variable suspension from a mechanical standpoint and an aluminum pedals and sport seats (among other things) from an aesthetic and functional perspective.

Regardless of the active variable suspension—as well as active cornering assist—the UX300h is not exactly the sort of thing you’re going to take to the local gymkhana and crush it.

Lexus says there is “the higher seating position and versatility experienced in a crossover.”

I suppose there is a higher seating position compared with, say, a Lexus RC, but while this is supposed to be a “crossover,” it is a diminutive one (176.97 inches long, 72.49 inches wide, 60.63 inches high, and a 103.94-inch wheelbase) and with a 6.3-inch ground clearance, this isn’t exactly something you’ll wonder about a running board for ingress and egress.

There is a 12.3-inch color touchscreen. There is the Lexus Safety System+ 3.0, which includes various collision prevention/mitigation technologies as well as driving enhancements.

The tech isn’t overwhelming in the UX.

But then there is the styling.

And this is something that I think is not only underwhelming for a Lexus, but underwhelming, period.

The cladding around the wheels doesn’t make the vehicle look robust. The creases in the body side unnecessarily break up the surface (i.e., this is a small vehicle, so it’s not like there is a giant slab that would require some sort of visual relief).

About the only thing it has going for it is the spindle grille, and that’s something that many people find to be off-putting.

The base UX300h MSRP is $36,340.

The one driven here has base MSRP of $47,647.

And that’s a problem, I think.

One could select the top-of-the-line Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and get a bigger, more powerful vehicle with a slightly smaller touchscreen (10.5 inches) and a bit less in the way of fuel economy (40 mpg combined)—and have a base price of $40,205 for the loaded-trim.

“But it’s not a Lexus.”

Yes.

Still. . . .