Oooo today is a great day! Toyota made us truly happy with the news that they are planning to utilize the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit as a place for a world premiere of their 2018 Toyota Camry. To bring up the hype about it, they also made something slightly sneaky in the form of a few teaser photos of the new Camry’s rear quarter panel that clearly show it will host a faster-like back and a bit more aggressive character lines.
Since the world’s affinity is shifting toward crossovers, the 2018 Camry might be the only midsize sedan at the show, but nevertheless, it is very important for the Japanese company. Toyota’s senior vice president of automotive operations, Bob Carter stated in Detroit that he expects the Camry to be a top seller when it comes to passenger cars in the US again in 2016 for the 15th year in a row. The Camry will surely boost the sales for Toyota and help it retain the first place, together with Corolla and the always-increasing sales of crossovers such as the hot RAV4 and the Highlander. Unfortunately Mr. Carter did not want to specify any details about the powertrain, and moreover, he declined to say if the Camry will still be offered with a V6 as a hybrid, or whether there will be an all-electric version for the first time.
The all-new model is supposed to be somewhat of an improvement from the old variant that it’s replacing. We can expect a sportier vehicle than we used to, and as Carter confessed the old Camry was somewhat conservative and “some would call it boring”, according to him. He also mentioned that famous reference from former General Motors executive Bob Lutz who compared the old Camry to the “really nice refrigerator”. But this is all past and the new Camry will focus on being more fun to drive, as that was mandated by from the top of the company, according to Carter. It is going to be built in Georgetown, Ky., the same plant that makes the Toyota Avalon and Lexus ES, and that plant has a capacity of 550.000-600.000 units produced annually.
Although the trends have shifted towards crossover vehicles, as I previously mentioned, Mr. Carter is still optimistic about Camry being one of the most significant vehicles in the lineup within Toyota. That is exactly the reason they decided to unveil it at Detroit Auto Show, which is by them the most important in North America. In addition to the Detroit introduction, we will see separate press conferences for Lexus and a third event where they will discuss technology that affects both of these brands.
