DETROIT – Toyota will debut the redesigned, eighth-generation Camry next month at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Look for the car to follow the mandate from Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda for more exciting styling and performance, says Bob Carter, senior vice president-automotive operations for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., today at the Toyota holiday media party.
“We’ve been somewhat conservative in our styling…(but) we’ve been focusing on passionate, emotional design, and (making our cars) more fun-to-drive. This is the most significant vehicle that we’ve brought out forever, or perhaps in a long time,” he says.
The Camry has slumped, as have all midsize sedans this year, while American car buyers embrace light trucks, specifically CUVs. Through November, Camry sales were off 9.4% to 355,204 from 392,056 in the same period year-ago.
November segmentation data is not yet available, but in October WardsAuto’s Middle Car segment, where the Camry lives, declined 15.6% on a daily-selling-rate basis and in January-October lost 12.3% of its year-ago volume.
Camry sales fell 16.2% last month on a DSR basis, however, the car’s 28,189 sales kept it as Toyota’s No.1 seller in the U.S.
Carter says he expects the Camry to remain the top-selling car in the U.S. for the 15th straight year, but reiterates within Toyota it may succumb to the RAV4 compact CUV.
“Is the trend (of moving to utility vehicles) going to continue? My answer to that would be absolutely,” Carter says. “My goal is the Camry will always be the No.1-selling sedan, but the No.1-selling Toyota could be a RAV4.”
RAV4 sales tallied 314,925 January-November, and Toyota has a goal to sell 400,000 in 2017 in the U.S.
Yet, Carter expects a new generation of the Camry to perform well, and likely lift the Middle Car segment up, as the Chevy Colorado’s introduction lifted the Small Pickup group.
Carter doesn’t comment on rumors of a possible Camry EV, nor does he say if the car will retain its hybrid and V-6 engine options. Many competitors in the Camry’s group, such as the Hyundai Sonata, have discontinued a V-6 and use strictly a 4-cyl.
