spwolf

you guys are talking from fan/enthusiast stand-point.

a. Camry has been finalized 100%. There are no changes of any kind to be done anymore.
b. Due to Tsunami, Toyota does not know what is left and what is right.
c. Toyota does not want to announce new Camry without knowing when they can ship large quantities to US market.

It is as simple as that.

I dont think it is good business move and good show for investors if they unveiled it now and said that they dont know when it is going to launch.

It is certainly going to detract buyers - if you think it wont, then those buyers do not care about new Camry anyway, right? You cant have it both.

spwolf

besides, if KY plant already shipped batch of PR Camry's, they will certainly show up very soon!

dunnojack

if the dealers didn't like it, it must have been damned ugly, as in Crossturd ugly.

mmarshall

With the Camry, I don't see where it makes much difference at all when you introduce it. Whenever it's introduced, it's probably going to sell. Camrys and Accords, in the American market, have become institutions.....they sell in greater numbers than any other passenger-cars, and are generally exceeded only by the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado pickups. For some time, over 400,000 Camrys and 400,000 Accords each year were sold in the American market.....even with the recession, the number is above 300,000 each. The Camry has continued to sell despite a decrease in the reliability of V6 models and worsening interior fit-finish.

-J-P-L-

Notice also the contrast between GM and Toyota.

GM has the habit of revealing their cars one, even two years early. Look at how early the Volt was shown. Now, GM reveals the 2013 Malibu for crying out loud. We're not even half way through 2011. I wonder if GM is shooting for a Jan or Feb 2012 release of the Malibu. Seems like they should just release it as a 2012 as it is clearly ready. Yet, Toyota isn't even showing their 2012's.

TRDFantasy

Of course we are taking about this from a fan/enthusiast (and industry) standpoint. Most regular consumers won't have any idea about the new Camry until they see it in a commercial or at dealer lots.

a.) I already mentioned that. The 7th gen Camry design is definitely finalized, so it only further raises questions as to why Toyota did not debut it in NY.
b.) I highly doubt that. You underestimate Toyota's prowess. Toyota already knows exactly when they'll be at full production capacity, and is the first Japanese automaker to be so precise with their estimates.
c.) This has already been discussed. Toyota already DOES KNOW when they can ship large quantities, because they have made long-term estimates for when production returns to full levels, and when all suppliers are producing parts at full levels.

On the contrary, given Toyota's lineup is starving for new product, and given what happened in Japan hit Toyota shares hard, announcing a major PRODUCTION vehicle like the Camry now would do a lot of good for Toyota. It would increase investor confidence as well as industry confidence in Toyota. Because Toyota decided not to unveil it now, for the next several months investor and industry confidence will continue to be shaky about Toyota, and I predict this year will be somewhat rough for Toyota.

I can't see how it will detract regular consumers from buying the new Camry, since most of them won't know about the car until they see it at dealers.

I understand Toyota wants to be very secretive for competitive reasons. At the same time, they need to increase industry and investor confidence and give Toyota fans something to be excited about, which is new product. What makes this frustrating is that no statement at all from Toyota was released regarding the no show of the 2012 Camry at NY.

Where where those Camrys shipped? Has anyone confirmed? Since there was no NY unveiling, Toyota could have locked up those prototypes nice and tight for several months somewhere. Maybe they were shipped to another location for testing.

spwolf

you dont move PR cars from super guarded factory if you are not showing them to anyone.
Toyota's PR said that rebuilding efforts are constantly going to square 1 - I would guess this is for suppliers, as it is supplier factories that are at the issue. They also said iQ is likely to be delayed as well as Prius V.

SLegacy99

Yes...why wouldn't it have a manual transmission?

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Maybe Toyota is doing away with it.
Demand low.

TRDFantasy

Toyota at least said something about the Prius V and iQ in terms of delays. Nothing has been said about delaying the Camry due to supplier issues.

As for the cars, well we must ask where then did they go?

Fizzboy7

What type of professional business method relies on DEALERS to determine a final style of a car? That is one of the worst ideas I've heard. A dealer has not majored in auto design, are not engineers, and are not the bean counters for the company. A giant company such as Toyota, who has access to every marketing and design tool in the industry, does not spend m(b?)illions on a new design only to show the car to dealers at the last minute and say, "here... what do you think?" They can't possibly operate that half-hazardly.

What I do think is happening is Toyota is falling into a new pattern of stalling redesigns to save costs . From doing it every four years, then to five, and now to six, this is the new life cycle- even if it hurts sales. With the exception of gung-ho Hyundai, other makers have been doing it too.

spwolf

Probably embargoed media previews...

Thing with Prius V and iQ is that they are new vehicles on the market... they are not replacing anything.

If they announced Camry, they could end up as Honda - which has brand new car, and only 10k-12k cars to sell, despite old one averaging 20k-30k per month.

So their customer will enter the dealership and not be able to buy the car.

spwolf

as already said, car design is finalized now and car has started pre-production process in KY plant.

But they said that there were some last minute changes few months ago, although minor ones.

It is sign of great company who realizes and fixes their mistakes.

As to this delay, It is rather obvious it is due to tsunami as they already said their production levels wont be same until November/December... thats 7-9 months, I dont know how can anyone think that it is not affecting their car reveal schedule.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I was at the NY auto show yesterday and asked a Toyota Rep about the '12 Camry and why it wasn't there.
He said the Toyota brass decided to change things on the car and that's what's causing the delay till possibly Sept.
I asked about the dealers seeing the car and not liking it and he said that he heard that but didn't know if it was true.
That's all he had to say.

TRDFantasy

I don't believe the rumor at all that the Camry is delayed because the dealers "hate" the styling. Dealers supposedly didn't like the Gen 6 Camry styling at the beginning either. I highly doubt Toyota would change the design based on what dealers think.

Also I highly disagree about the saving costs point. No, I think Toyota is delaying redesigns to ensure quality. However in the Camry's case, it looks like Toyota is delaying it due to what happened in Japan, and isn't talking about the new Camry yet apparently for competitive reasons. Delaying new designs to save "costs" would be a completely ludicrous move and would be borderline market suicide for Toyota to be doing that. Toyota explicitly mentioned that short-term profits would take a hit while new products are slightly delayed to ensure quality. This is not cost saving at all.

Hyundai's speed of new product releases will come back to hurt them hard.