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Over the last few years, the Alphard, Toyota’s luxurious rolling living room, has quickly become a favorite for wealthy families in Indonesia.

Besides the practical fact that it can accommodate a whole family, for many people, owning an Alphard also means prestige.

Two years after the last Alphard release, Toyota Astra Motor, the local license holder for Toyota, has launched a new version of the Alphard. Just like the 2009 model, the new Alphard comes in three variants — this time they are the 2.4 G, the 3.5 G and the 2.4 X.

During the launch, Johnny Darmawan, the president director of Toyota Astra Motor, said that Toyota was committed to keeping its models fresh.

“It’s Toyota’s policy to rejuvenate our cars every year or every two years,” he said, adding that the changes could be either major or minor.

Toyota boasts that the new Alphard has excellent engine performance. The Alphard uses two types of engines. The 3.5 G is equipped with a 3,456-cc engine that can produce 275 horsepower. The engine is also equipped with an automatic 6-speed sequential transmission.

Meanwhile, the 2.4 G and the 2.4 X models, each have a more modest 2,362-cc engine that produces around 170 horsepower.

When it comes to the exterior, Toyota also gave the stately Alphard a bit of a makeover.

The Alphard has a new face with a bigger and more aggressive front grill and bigger fog lamps.

In the rear, you will find that the new model is equipped with a bigger and longer garnish attached to the rear hatch.

The new model also has more stylish 43-cm wheel rims.

There’s not much change in the Alphard’s posh interior design, except for a darker wood panel. To provide convenience for the family driver, the seat adjustment button is located on the front seat shoulder. Meanwhile, the 2.4 G and 3.5 models have a sun roof.

With a hefty price tag, Alphard owners expect the very best from their cars. And the extras are a big deal for people who may spend hours a day in traffic inside their Alphard, idling away in comfort and looking to be entertained.

Joko Trisanyoto, Astra’s marketing director, said owners had complained about the quality of the sound system in previous models. He said that the new models provide real five-star entertainment.

Each Alphard is equipped with speakers from Focal, a premium sound system manufacturer from France. Unlike the old Alphard, which had eight speakers, Joko said that the new Alphard will have 10 high-quality speakers. But Joko was quick to say that it was more about quality than quantity.

“It’s not really about having more speakers. We improved the quality of the sound,” he said.

And besides being able to play CDs, DVDs and other entertainment features, the 15.50-cm touchscreen head unit in the vehicle comes with the Toyota Navigation System, which is preset with detailed maps of Java and Bali and more than 13,000 points of interest to make sure drivers never get lost.

The Alphard comes in four colors: white pearl, silver metallic, gold pearl metallic and black metallic.

Johnny said he was confident that the new Alphard would get a positive response in the market. He added that people could start placing orders at the end of this month.

The Alphard models are priced at Rp 655 million, Rp 800 million and Rp 1.034 billion ($66,000, $88,000, $113,740), for the 2.4 X, 2.4 G and 3.5 G, respectively.

Although premium cars make up less than 1 percent of Indonesia’s car market share, there is a trend toward more expensive cars as incomes rise. Mercedes, Audi, BMW and other premium car makers have all expanded sales aggressively as the country’s car market has been growing by about 20 percent annually over the last five years.