Toyota Camry Still King of the Showroom, Challengers Closing In
For the 12 year in a row, the Toyota Camry is the No. 1 best-selling car in the United States, but how long its reign continues will depend on how well its competitors can do in their attempt to dethrone the king of the showroom.
The current total sold for 2013 is 378,520 units, with its closest competitor — the Honda Accord — trailing by just over 44,000. Toyota has stated that they intend to keep the crown for as long as possible, and have acted accordingly by aggressively ramping up incentives beginning last month.
The result? A quarter of its overall sales occurred during the Black Thanksgiving weekend, with similar results expected around Christmas time when the automaker holds their annual Toyotathon. Earlier this year, Toyota said it was prepared to defend the Camry’s crown with “ whatever it takes“.
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However Toyota has significantly improved its designs, but other Japanese models like Honda, Nissan & Mazda are far better in designs. I feel when new Toyota looks OK, but after a year or two, others beat it, and it starts looking old-age.
84Cressida, give it a rest man. Yes a lot of car "enthusiasts" love to mock the Camry, I personally do not agree with them. Having said that, there has been a shift in the Camry's position in the marketplace from the absolutely perfectly crafted and impeccably reliable zenith of midsize cars that commanded a premium(3rd gen camry). To volume leader by merit of its combination of excellent reliability and affordable price. This is nothing new, the Camry only became best seller in the 4th generation, when Toyota first started cutting costs and passing the savings on to consumers. They've played this strategy out to the current generation. It's a strategy that has worked well for them, and we'll see how they proceed with the 2015 cars. I think they need to reverse course on the decontenting, even at the expense of some profits, just to re-inject some of the "fat Camry" magic back into the nameplate. Then again I'm sure the Toyota product planners know better than I do what's best for the company. To defend the current car's flapping bumper and cheesy interior trim with excuses reeks of fanboi-ism.
Man, I guess I am the only guy who thinks this is a pretty decent looking car. My wife wants a Sedan to replace the Tucson when it is done and this is on the list though but our main criteria is that it not leave her stranded when I am off in a worldly craphole for several months versus driving excitement. I have driven these and frankly, I don't see what the fuss is. They aren't as good relative to the competition anymore, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the Competition, especially the US makes have gotten better rather than the Camry getting worse. It does have decent headroom in the back seat, mores than any of the other midsize sedans (save maybe the Accord) with those sexy sloping rooflines everyone loves. That is important to folks who actually buy family sedans to drive their family around in versus those who race them by the spec sheet on the interwebs.
I quit shopping Toyotas years ago because in my part of the country they all arrived at the dealership with a second window sticker showing a huge (about $1500) but almost worthless "options" pack added by the distributor. Now I hear Toyota is touting rebates and such. Did they also get rid of the distributor's swag?