Hybrid-only Camry will look to improve on poor UK sales of its Avensis predecessor
The Camry saloon will return to the UK after 14 years as a hybrid-only replacement for the Avensis
Toyota has revealed prices and specifications for UK versions of its latest Camry saloon before order books open on 1 April.
It will be available in two trim levels The entry-level Design, priced from £29,995, comes with 17in alloy wheels, a leather interior, dual-zone air conditioning, keyless entry and ignition, parking sensors, a rear-view camera and heated seats as standard.
The Excel starts from £31,295 and adds LED fog lights, blindspot monitoring, wireless smartphone charging and lane-changing assistance.
Both variants will be available in five paint colours, including white and grey, from launch.
Each is also equipped with an 8.0in touchscreen infotainment system as standard, plus a 10.0in head-up display and 7.0in information display between the instrument dials.
Beige and black leather are the only interior options, and a power reclining function for the seat will be an option.
The Camry fills the void left by the Avensis and presents a new rival to the Ford Mondeo. It remained on sale in other markets during its UK absence, and in fact ranks as the world’s best-selling saloon.
It’s available exclusively with a hybrid powertrain, comprising a 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine and an electric motor, that provides 215bhp and 163lb ft of torque. Toyota says that 0-62mph passes in 8.3sec and the Camry will reach 112mph.
This hybrid system, already offered in the new RAV4, is self-charging and makes the Camry a rival to the likes of the Mondeo Hybrid and Volkswagen Passat GTE. Toyota said it expects vehicles fitted with this powertrain to operate exclusively on electric power for roughly 50% of the time in urban driving situations.
The Camry emits 98-101g/km of CO2, according to NEDC correlated data, with fuel consumption rated at between 50.5 and 53.3mpg on the WLTP combined cycle.
The latest Camry is underpinned by the Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA) platform, which is also used by the Prius, C-HR, and RAV4. This helps to make it 30% stiffer than the outgoing model.
Toyota previously said the Camry would be tuned for Europe, suggesting cars sold here will offer sharper handling.
At 4885mm long, 1845mm wide and 1445mm tall, the Camry is around the same length as the BMW 5 Series but slightly narrower and lower, plus it has a marginally smaller boot, at 524 litres.
Toyota pulled the Avensis from the UK market in August due to poor sales. They fell to just 3473 units in 2017 – 1660 fewer than in 2016. The larger and plusher Camry is predicted to be more popular with fleet buyers, suggesting it could dwarf those numbers.
The Camry was offered in the UK over several generations from 1983 until 2004, when it was removed due to falling sales. However, the model has remained a strong seller in other countries, primarily the US. It has sold in more than 700,000 units globally.
UK customer deliveries of the new model are scheduled to begin on 1 July.
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Source: Autocar
