i suppose if your trying to get non camry buyers to consider hybrid camry, styling is an issue. but i wonder who toyota's target market is? when your making the most popular cars in the world like camry and accord, the last thing you want to do is make a styling faux pas like ford did with the taurus in the 90's. customers left in droves. perhaps what toyota needs is a camry size hybrid on an all new platform. but, would that drive up the cost?
As a former owner of a 93 Taurus, I can tell you that what killed that car was exploding tranny's, head gaskets, and lousy brakes. The styling changes didn't help but word of mouth killed those cars because they were engineered to a price point that destroyed reliability. Have they learned their lesson? I won't waste my money finding out.:rockon:
why would Camry styling be an issue when Prius sells so well? IMHO, I love the Gen3 looks, but overall Camry is prettier car.
Even for younger audience, it is not as "hip" styling of Sonata makes it somehow an drivers car, it doesnt.
true, there is a lot that goes into an automobile and the different factors that people use in their purchase decision making. you would think the mfg.'s know more than we do. but, sometimes i wonder.
then again both Camry and Corolla outsell everything in their class.... so maybe they are not that wrong?
Actually in Canada, the Civic is waaay ahead of the Corolla. The Corolla is left fighting for 2nd place with the Mazda3 (they swap places throughout the year although I have a feeling the Corolla will be 3rd overall this year because the Mazda3 is newer)
corolla does not cut across generations the way civic does. camry not so much either, but quite a bit more than corrola. i really think it needs a redesign. it sorta has that 'oldsmobile' feel to it.
That makes the numbers even more important, no? A large share of a small car buying population is pretty important. We also buy more small cars per capita than the US who favours more midsize category cars.
no, what i was saying is that Corolla sells a lot better worldwide than Civic Not to mention Mazda 3. But in any case, Civic and Accord are vanillaware like Corolla and Camry...
"2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid: New Style, Same Old Hybrid System! By John Voelcker The press is obsessed with calling NiMh: decade-old technology. This time by none other than By John Voelcker of greenCarReports. They just want to have Li-ion in there even if ther is no additional benefits except for higher costs. He did not go into how Li-ion would improve efficiency in a non-plug-in hybrid. Also, a Video with some shots of 2012 Camry. 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid: New Style, Same Old Hybrid System Something else written by John recently; Vague, Ambiguous, Inaccurate Prius v mileage, etc... Will 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Get Us Used To Plugging In?
Doubt it. I would think the Mississippi plant would be the choice plant (they did want to build the Prius there after all before the 2008 economic turndown)
"decade old technology", "toyota has bet on wrong technology" i will politely call him an idiot . I bet he will not understand how come Camry Hybrid has bigger trunk than Sonata Hybrid, that uses "superior" lithium... not to mention mpg and especially power/speed . Lexus GS also gets much bigger hybrid trunk, at 465l, where before it was horrible 280l.