Next-Gen Toyota Camry Will Boast Dynamic Performance
The Toyota Camry has been one of the bestselling nameplates in automobile history the world over. It is currently in its 7th generation, and has already undergone one facelift. The typical lifecycle of a Camry has been about 6 years, and so we are due for an all-new generation Camry in 2017.
The typical lifecycle of a Camry has been about 6 years
Next-gen Camry will be dynamic and take handling as its cornerstone
We expect it to make its India debut at the 2018 Auto Expo
The Toyota Camry has been one of the bestselling nameplates in automobile history – the world over. It is currently in its 7th generation, and has already undergone one facelift. The typical lifecycle of a Camry has been about 6 years, and so we are due for an all-new generation Camry in 2017. I had the chance to meet with the man who heads this rather prestigious project within Toyota, the Chief Engineer of the Camry – Masato Katsumata when he was in India for a very product-specific visit. He has been travelling to many markets to get feedback from Camry customers to try and figure out what all needs to be improved in the next car – including the Camry hybrid.
The part that has me very interested is that the next generation Camry will definitely be positioned as a fun to drive and performance oriented sedan. It was more than once that Katsumata referred to this and that is why this is so heartening. He says, "My favorite direction is more fun to drive direction, so I don’t want to just talk about fuel economy for hybrid system. I would prefer to focus more and more on than on the performance side. So for next generation I would prefer to go there." Now you may wonder why I am getting so caught up in this one promise. Well simply because the Camry has never been known to have that credential as its USP. If anything, less than kind reviews have often referred to the Camry as a ‘boat’.
The Camry has two distinct personas globally – the workhorse in the US market, and the luxurious ride in Asia. Many markets get versions that fall in between – but that is largely a 50:50 product portfolio split that Katsumata has to deal with. This takes a few things as hygiene then – the car has to have a comfortable interior with excellent ride quality and powertrain options that are extremely frugal and fuel efficient – the hybrid only adds to that.
But the next generation Camry – and that includes the next hybrid variant too – will be dynamic and take handling as its cornerstone. That will allow Toyota to compete with its immediate rivals with one more arrow in its quiver – not that the Camry’s dominance has been truly threatened off late by any rival. Katsumata further says, "Globally some percentage of customers are just daily users – like (they would use a) refrigerator, or washing machine. But again I love cars, so my clear direction is towards fun to drive and driving dynamics. And of course we have to keep the best in class fuel economy too."
The current Camry on sale in India is available in a hybrid avtaar
Now while I can concede that this decision may well have come from Katsumata’s own love for driving and need for performance (and more importantly from the customer feedback he’s been gathering), there is another factor I reckon. The other reason is that the 9th generation of the Honda Accord that came to market a little over year after the current Camry – has been hailed for its dynamic performance. Globally while there are many cars that compete with the Camry, the Accord remains its true nemesis. That Honda could gain such favour by returning the Accord to its driving fun positioning (the 8th gen was panned for being too bland), has obviously got some of the attention of the Toyota top brass and its customers too.
Katsumata adds, “There is a core Camry customer and also the price tag vs prestige Camry customer. The luxury (or) prestige Camry customers like in India are different from Japan, USA. So specification-wise and pricewise they are quite different. So we have to consider that on the exterior and also the interior, eye catching items are definitely necessary. Even the global model we have to customise our Camry to each regional customer’s demands”
The next Camry will no doubt be a highly anticipated model, and will therefore have extremely varied versions to suit different markets. It should break cover sometime next year, with market introductions by 2018 at the very latest. An Auto Expo debut in Feb 2018 is looking highly likely then for India too – but that is pure conjecture and quite far into the future still!
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