Mr. Burns

Very likely. That, the shape of the headlights and the mirror design made me think maybe it's an ES, but the body shape is Camry.

The biggest mistake Toyota can make with this car is overlap design with Lexus, and LEDs are moving into that territory dangerously.

ydooby

Well Lexus doesn't sell the ES in Thailand so that's a Camry for sure. And the 3rd-gen Prius has LED headlights already so why not all Toyota hybrids? I just hope the headlight shape won't really look too much like the LS as pictured in the magazine (the US Camry will get a zigzagged headlight design but the ASEAN/Japanese Camry may still get the LS headlights).

xioix

If Toyota doesn't start to add new fancy things to Toyota, then all the critics say Toyota isn't stepping up, when Toyota adds all theses things, guys on here cry foul, Toyotas are getting too close to Lexus

Why not let Toyota bring all these new features to Toyota's and then let them bring in new stuff for Lexus as well

ydooby

Exactly my point on why TMC should release Lexus models first before Toyota equivalents of the same generation so that at no point does a Toyota surpass a Lexus in features and content. Right now it's the opposite unfortunately.

spwolf

it doesnt really work that way... Entune is ready late this year, it was not ready last year... so it wouldnt help ES to launch in 2010, right?

So it isnt that simple... or CTh would get Lexus-version of Entune for instance... but it simply was not ready at that point of time.

ydooby

What I mean is that this Camry launch should've really been the ES launch instead, and that Entune could've been introduced with the ES. The new Camry can be launched half a year later and gets it too, but the point is to launch Lexus before a Toyota equivalent so that anything new from TMC is introduced through a new Lexus.

spwolf

well what i am trying to say is that if ES was launched march 2011, it would not get entune, because entune wasnt ready then. get it? not that simple...

ydooby

Delay the Camry launch by half a year. Introduce the new ES this fall when the launch of the new Camry was originally scheduled. Entune is ready this fall. Just swap the dates of the two launches. It's simple.

Anyway, what I'm talking about is more about the planning of the future launches. Had TMC planned to launch the ES before the Camry in the first place then the development cycle of Entune would've been targeted around the release of the ES. Same goes for their new technologies in the future.

STIG

Camry is the most significant new car, and ES isn't. ES can wait.

Sulu

I agree that the Gen3 (1992 to 1996) Camry was a very nice car. One reason was because it was over-engineered. But that was also the main problem with that generation: overbuilt meant overcost. I had a 1995 Camry LE (i.e. Gen3.5, after the mid-model change). While it was a great car, there were some glaringly bad examples of cost-cutting: the storage bay under the basic radio (fitting a single-DIN head unit within the space of a double-DIN left a little storage area under the radio) did not have a cover on it like the 1992 to 1994 models did; and the vanity mirrors in the sun visors were uncovered (the 1992 to 1994 models had covered vanity mirrors) and they were a real nuisance because when the passenger-side visor was down, the vanity mirror reflected everything, including sunlight -- really annoying.

The new Gen7 2012 Camry could NOT be delayed any longer. Because the current, Gen6 Camry came out early in 2006, it has been on the market for over 5 years now. And with massive recalls last year and the introduction of flashy new models from Hyundai and Kia, the Internet is screaming "aging!", "long in the tooth"; eventually, the buying public will start to believe that and sales will fall. If Toyota wants to maintain the Camry as the best-selling car in America (and more importantly, the benchmark against which all other mid-size sedans are measured), the new Gen7 Camry has to come out now.

LeX2K

I think it's opposite, Toyota can differentiate themselves from the competition by putting in some Lexus goodness into their mainstream sedan. Most other makers don't have the, uh, luxury of a luxury division to draw on, Toyota needs to take advantage of this. Lexus will offer better noise isolation, styling, power, reputation for service, the status symbol etc. And if someone decides that they are going with a Camry instead of a Lexus because the Camry has some Lexus like features, I don't see a problem. It beats the alternative, where someone doesn't see enough in the Camry and walks into a Hyundai showroom instead. You can't force all your customers to step up a brand because of missing goodies.

ydooby

Then the ES will always be rightfully regarded as a tarted-up Camry. It's that simple.

Before, Lexus was an afterthought. TMC created Lexus models out of Toyotas. But now with their launch in Japan it's time to change that mentality and plan the releases of Lexus models ahead of Toyota equivalents. If they are serious about making Lexus their premium brand then they should give it the priority status.

The latest-gen LX and Land Cruiser are a good example of debuts of twins done in the right order, with the LX given a 5-month edge on the Land Cruiser. Cool stuff like the new Crawl Control, although standard on the new Land Cruiser too, was showcased on the Lexus first.

ydooby

I'm more talking about the future, not this time, the plans of which have already been set in stone. At some point they just have to take the temporary hit on one of the "aging" models and swap the order of the releases of these twins in order to signify Lexus's premium status.

spwolf

i thought LS400 was created specifically with Lexus in mind? RWD Toyota's were always Japan-Only models.

there is clear path for Toyota to differentiate on multimedia features - for instance I bet ES will have:
1. Larger screen than 6.1"
2. Higher resolution screen
3. Faster CPU in Entune
4. Remote Touch to control it

Doesnt really matter which one is out month before or after... ES will have more advanced features than Camry.

ydooby

It does matter that, until the new ES is released, the new Camry gets cooler stuff than the current ES. That's the point I was originally responding to.