This file photo offered by Toyota Motor Korea shows the Crown crossover utility vehicle.
SEOUL, June 5 (Korea Bizwire) — Toyota Motor Korea on Monday launched the flagship Crown crossover as it beefs up its product lineup to boost sales, which remained weak for years due to trade tension between Seoul and Tokyo.
The Crown crossover utility vehicle (CUV) comes with two power trains, one with a 2.4-liter dual boost gasoline hybrid engine and the other with a 2.5-liter gasoline hybrid engine, Toyota said in a statement.
The Crown CUV has been first added to the Japanese carmaker’s lineup in Korea.
Other Toyota models available here include the Camry sedan, RAV4 gasoline hybrid, RAV4 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, Sienna gasoline hybrid van, GR Supra and GR 86 gasoline-powered sports cars.
The gasoline hybrid Prius will be added soon.
The 2.5-liter Crown model sells at 57 million won (US$43,000), and the 2.4-liter dual boost Crown model is priced at 65 million won.
Toyota Korea’s vehicle sales fell 1.4 percent to 629 units in May from 638 a year earlier.
From January to May, however, its sales jumped 35 percent to 3,012 from 2,237 during the same period of last year, according to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association.
In July 2019, Japan tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials critical for the production of semiconductors and displays.
In August, Japan also removed South Korea from its list of countries given preferential treatment in trade procedures.
South Korea viewed the moves as retaliation against 2018 Supreme Court rulings here ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
(Yonhap)
