Toyota May Have Leaked the 2025 Camry UPDATED
Toyota may have revealed the design of the next Camry sedan in an unrelated video. The supposed leak comes via a rather straightforward clip from the automaker explaining the difference between buying and leasing. It uses the Camry as its demonstration vehicle, usually represented by die-cast toys scaled to fit in the palm of the hand.
However, near the halfway point, an image appears on a prop flier showing a rendering of a new model (h/t CarBuzz). The vehicle in question looks like an amalgamation of the current Toyota Camry, Toyota Prius, and Toyota Crown.
It features design aspects of all three, though the sedan body style would likely preclude the latter and we already know what the updated Prius looks like. Considering some of the design changes Toyota has been implementing of late, it seems very plausible that this was either an early drawing of what the new Camry might look like or a way for Toyota to unofficially tease the upcoming model.
Either way, marketing teams have loads of meetings about this kind of thing before new materials are leased to ensure nothing is leaked accidentally. Odds are decent that this was something Toyota hoped viewers would find and then discuss in a manner that garnered some added attention for the brand.
Though it’s hard to get terribly excited based on a singular image. Toyota will almost assuredly dump the 3.5-liter V6 as an option and run with an array of economical four bangers. Some of those will be hybrids and there’s a decent chance that the brand will launch a performance focused GR variant later on. But it’s probably not something we will encounter at launch and there are worries that it might not be all that exciting of a model.
Honda seems to have abandoned extra-sporty versions of the Accord since its update (farewell to the Sport 2.0 Turbo). The trend appears to be for automakers to supplant hotter sporting trims with lukewarm sport-hybrid variants and it may be the path Toyota takes with the Camry. Then again, the brand has been upping its performance game of late and might want to take that corner of the market for itself as the otherwise handsome and handy Accord apparently bows out.
At any rate, the Honda Accord was recently previewed in Japan having dumped the majority of its physical controls — mimicking some of the unpopular choices Volkswagen has made with its interiors. Automakers will tell you this is a styling decision. But it’s all about cutting costs and trying to force customers into using their proprietary infotainment systems. If Toyota manages to avoid that, the Camry will already be a winner to many regardless of what body it’s given.
However, the assumed leak doesn’t look all that bad. For as much as we like to gripe about how modern trends are ushering in a new Malaise Era, Japanese and Korean exteriors are some of the best we’ve seen in ages. Today’s cars look pretty good, even if powertrains keep shrinking and the supportive technologies are sometimes obnoxious.
UPDATE: Toyota has replied with a statement reading, in part, that "the image is not a preview of a future Camry". Even if it's not, we'll leave the image because it looks cool and we'd hope Toyota uses that styling as a guide. Well, at least I do. -- TH
[Image: Toyota]
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Consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulations. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, he has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed about the automotive sector by national broadcasts, participated in a few amateur rallying events, and driven more rental cars than anyone ever should. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and learned to drive by twelve. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer and motorcycles.
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TV screens to run everything instead of knobs. Turbo 4 that poorly does the job of a V 6. I think i will turn away from new product and preserve what I have for 15 years. I m reaching that point.
"Even if it's not, we'll leave the image because it looks cool and we'd hope Toyota uses that styling as a guide. Well, at least I do."
@MattPosky
LOL that's definitely misguided, because modern cars are not designed like you've implied. For years upon years now in the internet era, I'd say it's pretty obvious to many of us out there, today's "new" cars are designed WAY before they even enter showrooms because of intense engineering and manufacturing lead times.
Been like that since the 1970s, which is why cars rarely get yearly styling changes like before in the 50s-early 70s.
Typically it's 2 or 3 years before first production builds when they're fully designed, not a few months out. They're nowhere near making these design changes now in the present. Major design work definitely ended by 2022, since it's a 2025 model and needs to be ready for prototype testing ahead of production.
Case in point: The current Camry was already fully designed 9 years ago and barely came out in 2017 ( 6 years ago). It's a shorter gap this time around.
You give a really false impression of how these things work by implying the quoted statement of yours above, as the 2025 Camry body design is already a done deal and being shown behind closed doors.
Check out an automotive literature book or an in depth industry trade paper, to learn about how automotive development works for ICE cars. You'd learn a lot and benefit from it, if you're actually thinking an early 2025 model is still being designed in late September 2023.
I typically lurk on here, but I do cringe at some stuff I see get posted within articles and give a wrong idea of the reality to unsuspecting types, from being embellished or distorted. I commented to debunk it.
That being said, the rendering is 90% close to the actual 2025 Camry XSE. The guess from the artist surprisingly isn't wrong and it's more than a coincidence why the rendering was used as a placeholder by that body, because the accuracy isn't far off. The official stance is to deny it, because it's not official Toyota internal. In reality, it's the next best thing to use without leaking internal docs.