Toyota changes its Crown line and makes new models, like an SUV that will be sold outside of Japan.

MAKUHARI, Japan (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) showed off four new Crown models on Friday, including an SUV for the first time. The company is trying to relaunch the 67-year-old brand as Japan moves away from its long love affair with sedans.

The Crown’s 16th generation will be sold outside of Japan for the first time in a serious way. About 40 countries and regions are on the list. The first new model will be a crossover that will come out in Japan in the fall of this year.

“The Crown stood for Japan’s wealth and national pride. It was also a car that brought together the best technology and people in Japan “said Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota, during a speech.

“The new Crown has so many Japanese strengths at its core.”

Hiroki Nakajima, the president of Toyota’s mid-size vehicle company, said that the models will come out over the course of the next year and a half.

Toyoda said, “Customers from all over the world will now be able to drive this historic Japanese brand that was made with passion, pride, and progress.”

There is a sedan, an SUV, a station waggon, and a crossover, which is a combination of a sedan and an SUV. The crossover will be available as a hybrid, but the powertrain for the other models has not yet been decided.

In April, Reuters said that the world’s biggest car company by sales was planning to make a Crown SUV.

The Crown, which came out in 1955, was the first passenger car that was designed and made in Japan from start to finish. This was a key moment in Japan’s rise to become a global automaking giant.

In 1958, it was also the first car that Toyota sent to the United States. Two years later, Toyota had to stop exporting because the Crown’s engine couldn’t go fast enough for American freeways.

At the height of Japan’s economic boom in 1990, Toyota sold more than 200,000 of these sedans, but by last year, the number had dropped to 21,000.