by Toyota transforms Crown seat into a luxury office chair
Those willing to spend thousands of dollars on an office chair have plenty of options. Herman Miller, Humanscale, Steelcase and Haworth offer seating for four-figure sums for those who basically live at their desks. But none of them, no matter how functional, costs as much as a new office chair from Toyota based on the Crown model. Of course, none of these brands also offer a seat belt buckle.
The perfect seat, unchanged
These well-known brands put considerable effort into explaining how they developed their chairs. Toyota Boshoku, the company responsible for most Toyota interiors, simply looked at the front seat of the Toyota Crown and essentially said, ‘it’s perfect.’
Based on the power-adjustable front seat used in the Crown, this office chair retains most of the features you’d expect from an actual car. This includes power-adjustable seatback recline, height adjustment, front seat cushion tilt adjustment, and lumbar support. The chair also has ventilation to reduce sweating and heating for colder days. Who needs central heating and air conditioning with such equipment?
The funniest detail — the seat belt buckle
Perhaps the most amusing part of this chair is that the seat belt buckle has been left in place, but it has now been transformed into a USB port for charging devices. Toyota does not disclose the capacity of the built-in battery or how long it will last between charges.
Collaboration with a Japanese furniture manufacturer
To ensure that this actually works as an office chair, rather than just a detached car seat clumsily balanced on casters, Toyota Boshoku collaborated with the Japanese office furniture company Itoki. The chair base, height adjustment mechanism, and armrest structure were developed with Itoki’s help to preserve the comfort of the original Crown seat while ensuring the functionality of genuine office furniture.
Price and availability
The chair will be sold through the Toyota Crown premium in-house dealer network, known as THE CROWN, as part of the ‘THE CROWN COLLECTION.’ The price starts at 495,000 yen, which at the current exchange rate is approximately $3,500 USD. Toyota reports that only 70 units are planned, and if demand exceeds supply, buyers will be selected via lottery.
This unusual product demonstrates how automakers can leverage their developments in other areas, turning ordinary car components into luxury items. Although the price of $3,500 puts this chair in the same league as the most expensive office models, its uniqueness and limited edition make it more of a collector’s item than a practical solution for the workplace. Given that Toyota plans to produce only 70 such chairs, they will likely become a coveted trophy for brand fans and collectors, rather than a mass-market office product.
