LexFather

And not everyone wants french vanilla or an imitation of something else. I mean an edgier family car that sells 200k a year is still a family car that sells 200k a year. You want to make a statement, step your game up.

The fact of the matter is for me personally nothing in this class makes me want to fap.

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

Not for nothing, but I don't think the 6th gen Camry was bland at all...the car is more of a victim of it's own success. The "problem" (if you want to call it that) is that they sell 400,000 of them a year, so after a while, you just get plain flat sick of seeing them and yeah, they look bland.

Remember when the Altima was considered the "looker" of the family sedan world? Today it's as plain Jane as the Camry, if not moreso. Sonata is starting to get the same way for me.

If I saw 400,000 naked clones of Megan Fox, I think I'd start to get bored of them as well.

GoHuskers

I think this Camry will be a big hit again.

There are people who want "futuristic" design but there are many others who just want a reliable and vanilla design. I believe that 9 out of 10 Vietnamese in my community own Toyota or Honda products.

speedflex

I don't see it as making a statement as that implies that you're just trying to impress others. I would want something that has some clear personality because it impresses me.

And I don't want to go the elite stand that a person needs to spend 40k and up for something that begins to have these qualities. Like I said earlier, the Koreans are at least trying and the market isn't ignoring them.

When it comes to the Camry people seem to flock to it because it carries the strength of the Toyota brand behind it and because of the car's reputation for quality. Preserve those virtues and take the design game higher. People will still come as they always have.

But this new Camry has "Design by (focus group) Committee" stamped all over it.

LexFather

I think the Camry has personality that says "I don't need to knock-off something, I'm fine with not being flashy".

There is a market for everyone. If you want flash/fish face/Mercedes CLS buy a Sonata. You want to look like a Lexus GS, buy an Altima. You want safe and understated, buy a Fusion/Malibu/Camry. You want ugly, buy a 200C

The market spoke just last month. More people bought the old, tired, bland, Camry then anything else.

My suggestion, maybe they ALL should pull a VW, make blander looking, worse Toyota's and watch sales skyrocket.

I think Camry owners maybe figured it out way before all the other guys that "hey its just a Camry" and are happy with that. Some of the other guys are trying way to hard to pose and be something they are not.

Its like the old saying goes, you can make a Civic with 1,000hp, its still a Civic.

speedflex

There's validity to that viewpoint. But don't forget that even though the Sonata (and Optima) haven't reached Camry sales yet they have both doubled the sales of the previous versions of themselves. That point often seems to go amiss in all the comparison to Camry sales. For Hyundai and Kia the designs have paid off in higher volume... instead of alienating the "conservative" family sedan customer, the exercise has invigorated sales and made both cars, at least the Sonata, major players in the segment.

bigbwb

Lets not get carried away here, I would not get bored from that

LexFather

True and good points. To me though a case where styling really won people over was the 2002 Altima. B/C out of styling and the 3.5 VQ it wasn't a very good car. To me that was CLEARLY a styling win..

Contrarily Hyundai/Kia added style but the interiors are good and they offer some ridiculous lease rates as well as warranty and buy-buy incentives. I don't think its just styling winning people over.

Kinda off topic but its kind of funny to me that I am more impressed with Nissan's rise vs Hyundai/Kia but it seems the media forgot what Nissan did. Shame on them.

speedflex

That's right. In fact, with the drop that Honda's image has taken and the Accord's dip in sales over last few months the Altima is the one in closest striking distance of Camry. We'll see how the battle plays out once the new Altima debuts.

TF109B

I got 1 thing to say, we haven't seen it in RED. Another point, no one has driven it in anger either. Soon we'll know, and give me one in a nice blue with the optional TRD wheels.

-J-P-L-

The very first leaked shots from last month were of a red SE. Blurry, but easy enough to get the sense of it.

spwolf

For Hyundai and KIA, 10 years of investment in both personnel and factories, as well as low Won, have helped to make their cars sell.

But Hyundai and KIA imho are bigger problem to other makes, than to Honda and Toyota.
Just like in Europe, they are not taking sales from Toyota and VW, they are taking them from other low cost manufacturers.

There were always cars that had more adventurous styling than Camry, and Toyota in general.

Blackraven

The Hybrid version looks boring

But hey
It's a Camry........so it will sell thousands. In short, whatever Toyota does with this car, they know that the Camry brings them cash flow. I guess that's all that matters here in this case.

However
Would I buy it? Probably not.

P.S.
@spwolf

Most people at our other forum (carspyshots.net) seem to prefer the JDM version.

That is not to say the US version sucks or will suck. No not at all. I do believe that they are (AT THE VERY LEAST) good designs so there is no negatives here. In terms of interior and specs, there are no downgrades either so it's all same and positives.

Still with that said
I think if we compare between the Japanese and US versions, I might have a slight preference over the JDM unit.

Most especially if it has something like this:


How about you spwolf: If given a choice between these two versions/iterations of the same car, would you also prefer the JDM version or would you prefer the US one?

spwolf

well thats modellista - with bodykit and aftermarket oem wheels.

but not sure what to tell you - I would pick Avensis :-).
Although new Camry has more interesting interior than Avensis - Avensis is quality but very plain (more like old Camry in simplicity but high quality materials).

Blackraven

I prefer the Avensis though (which is considered as the pride of Toyota cars that are made in Europe).

Oh and that MMC facelift on the Avensis really improved the front grille (which was something that many people complained about of the older pre-facelift unit).

They should bring that car to ASEAN. Hey, they export this to Japan (yeah from Toyota UK Derbyshire to Japan, then they just install the radio unit in Japan).