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| The Crown Seat is based on the front car seat of a Toyota Crown. |
Let’s be honest: you’ve probably sat in your car at the end of a long day, engine off, just enjoying the way those heated seats hug your back. And you’ve thought – even if just for a second – why can’t my office chair feel like this?
Well, Toyota heard you. Sort of.
The automaker’s parts subsidiary, Toyota Boshoku, just unveiled a limited‑edition office chair that’s essentially a fully functional front seat from the Toyota Crown luxury sedan – reimagined for desk duty. It’s called the Crown Seat, and it’s every bit as over‑the‑top as it sounds. Oh, and it costs more than many used cars.
Not just another “gaming chair” with a logo
We’ve all seen the brand‑collab gaming chairs – Audi, Lamborghini, Ferrari logos slapped on race‑style buckets with pneumatic lifts. But those are inspired by cars. Toyota’s Crown Seat is literally a car seat. Just add legs.
According to the official announcement from Toyota Boshoku, the chair retains the power front seat from the current Crown models – including all the creature comforts you’d expect from a flagship sedan. We’re talking:
- Three‑stage heating for chilly mornings
- Built‑in ventilation fan (no more swamp back during Zoom marathons)
- Power reclining and height adjustment (because who wants to crank levers?)
- Tilt function to find that perfect angle
- Adjustable lumbar support – your lower back will send thank‑you notes
But the real “wait, what?” details are the seatbelt buckle (still fully functional, though you probably won’t clip in to answer emails) and a USB‑C port built right into the buckle. There’s a rechargeable battery inside the chair, so you can juice up your phone or laptop without crawling under a desk.
Yes, you read that right. Toyota put a battery and a charger in a seatbelt buckle. Because why not?
Strictly limited – and strictly Japan
Here’s where car enthusiasts and ergonomics nerds alike start crying: only 70 units will ever be made. The Crown Seat is part of The Crown Collection, a specialty store in Japan, and pre‑orders opened on April 23. If more than 70 people want one – and let’s be real, they will – Toyota will hold a lottery to decide who gets to hand over their money.
Speaking of money: JPY 495,000, which converts to roughly $3,119 or €2,661. That’s without shipping (and good luck getting it outside Japan – Toyota has already ruled out international availability).
For comparison, a brand‑new Herman Miller x Logitech Embody gaming chair runs about $1,800. A top‑end Steelcase Gesture is around $1,300. So this Crown Seat is in a league of its own – both in price and in absurdity.
Who’s actually building this thing?
Toyota Boshoku is the automotive component manufacturer behind the chair’s seat – they normally supply interiors for Toyota, Lexus, and other brands. But the legs, height adjustment mechanism, and armrests come from Itoki Corporation, a Japanese furniture company that knows a thing or two about office ergonomics.
So it’s not just a hacked‑up junkyard seat welded to a base. It’s a proper collaboration between car‑seat engineers and office‑chair designers. The result? Something that looks completely out of place in a cubicle but probably feels like a throne.
Why would anyone buy this?
Let’s be practical for a moment. Nobody needs a $3,100 office chair with a seatbelt. But the Crown Seat isn’t aimed at people who “need” an office chair. It’s aimed at:
- Toyota Crown superfans – the kind who own every piece of Crown‑branded merch
- Wealthy home‑office builders who want a conversation starter that isn’t a standing desk
- JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) collectors who will park this next to their R34 Skyline
- Anyone who has ever sat in a Crown and wished they could take that seat home
And honestly? After a full day of Zoom calls, spreadsheets, and back pain from a $200 Amazon special, spending three grand on a ventilated, heated, power‑adjustable car seat starts to sound almost reasonable. Almost.
The fine print (and the lottery)
If you’re in Japan and feeling lucky, you can pre‑order through The Crown specialty store. But again: only 70 chairs exist. If demand exceeds supply – which it almost certainly will – Toyota will run a lottery. That means even if you have the cash, you might not get one.
And for everyone outside Japan? Start searching for importers or prepare for heartbreak. Toyota Boshoku’s press release is crystal clear that availability is limited to the Japanese domestic market.
Final verdict: absurd, brilliant, or both?
The Crown Seat is exactly the kind of weird, wonderful, unnecessary product that makes the automotive world fun. It’s not solving world hunger. It’s not making office work more productive. But it is taking one of the most comfortable car seats on the market and turning it into something you can use while typing an email.
Is it worth $3,100? For 99.9% of people, no. For the 70 lucky buyers who win the lottery? They’ll probably never complain about office chair comfort again.
Just don’t forget to fasten your seatbelt before your next spreadsheet. Safety first.
Source: Toyota Boshoku official news release – linked above.
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| There will be only 70 units of The Crown Seat. |