The new Toyota Century costs as much as a McLaren 540C

Last year, Toyota showed us its new Century. Which looked rather a lot like the old Century. In a world of tech-laden, exotically trimmed limos, it went deliberately against the norm, the highlights of its spec sheet being net curtains, wool seats and a magazine rack. Seriously.

All of which might mean its freshly announced 19,600,000 yen price tag comes as a wee bit of a surprise, given it currently converts to around £135,000. An amount that can buy you a properly decked out Mercedes S-Class or Range Rover, not to mention any one of the current crop of Premier League sports cars: Audi R8, Merc-AMG GT, Porsche 911 Turbo, McLaren 540C…

None of which, of course, have net curtains, wool seats or a magazine rack. Not unless you have everyone at McLaren’s MSO secret ops team on speed dial.

There is some actual technology in the Century, too; it pairs a good old fashioned V8 engine with some new fangled hybrid stuff, while there’s a 20-speaker stereo and a full suite of anti-crash systems.

It’s also got rarity on its side. Toyota plans to build just 600 a year, with its intensely handmade nature slowing the production process down so it neatly matches probable demand for a £135k saloon car with the same badge as an Avensis.

There’s something deeply wonderful about the Century, its appeal so specific that anyone without an enthusiasm for cars simply won’t get it. If anything, a sky-high price tag only reinforces that. Are we right?