Is Toyota Banking On A "Forgettable" Cornerstone?

Common 009 ... at least try ... at least try, whats so difficult in trying

Actually for as much riding on the success of this vehicle they did a rather uninspired attempt.

Just look at the iterations of the Sonata. HUGE leaps in the last two redesigns. You would EXPECT a leader to do the same.

would you expect Porsche to mess with their tried and tested formula because its competitors are trying to gain market share?

Wow, Joe. Spot on analysis, and I never agree with you. :)

In terms of looks, it is hard to distinguish the new camry from the ford fusion or chevy malibu. I don't really see anything else separating it from the two domestic manufacturers. Quality and refinement are equal or maybe even better in the fusion and malibu.

kpaxx, you are overly misguided and lacking... Have you checked the resale values of the Ford Fusion or Chevy Malibu and compare it to Camry? The Camry's resale value is higher than the other two because people desire the Camry more. Any why? Because the Camry is higher quality and more reliable than Fusion or Malibu. You are kidding when you say Fusion and Malibu are more highly refined than Camry, right? Give me a break!!! Have you driven or ridden in a Camry? The Fusion and Malibu will also NEVER out-sell the Camry, because of quality, reliability and refinement.

after selling 2300 fewer prii last month then the year before, that won't be happening any time soon.

I thought my argument was that all manufacturers would have been affected by it.

And now back to disagreeing with Joe. All is right in the world again. Prius inventory levels and sales continue to climb every month. And no, not all manufacturers were affected equally. Toyota and Honda, as was said from day one, had more production affected than any other make.

I have never stated that they would be affected equally. But if Toyota and Honda experienced major delays, all of the other major manufacturers would have experienced at least minor delays in at least a few of their model lines.

While it may have been a factor, to apply all blame in sales drops to purely be tsunami related is quite naive.

Here are some numbers, now the tsunami happened half way through March, so it's safe to assume all cars sold in March were unaffected by the Tsunami. The 5 months after the Tsunami averaged a -17.84% year over year sales decline. Compare that to the 5 months before the Tsunami and you have an averaged -17.24% year over year sales decline.

Further, the two months with the largest year over year losses happened in February and last November!

ah poop there goes my numbers, accidentally got a 2009 number in there

The Prius is almost completely manufactured from Japanese components, therefore, it is affected to a greater extent by the Tsunami. Go to any Lexus dealer also, stock is just starting to be replenished this month. About 3 weeks ago, my local Lexus dealer had almost no Japanese made models, they only had a few RX350's in stock, which are made in Canada. And even the RX350 stock was way less than stock they had approx. the time of the Tsunami. Toyota has also continues to be hurt by the Camry fiasco from a couple of years ago, but it's right now more from factories just starting to come back online in Japan.

Stop the presses. The Detroit News doens't like a Toyota.

I almost bought a Sonata Turbo a few months ago. Glad I didn't. I think it's starting to look a bit stale and overwrought in the styling department, mostly the front headlights, grille, and the chrome strip above the front wheelwells. A bit too much exaggeration.

The Camry is conservative and that is what sells in this class! As the Sonata ages in this iteration, it's sales will sag and the new Camry's will grow again. I think the Camry is a nice evolution of the current. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's not polarizing either.

My only complaint is the rear tailights. kinda weird looking. The interior looks great though for a change. It's been like 4 generations since the Camry has had a nice interior.

how many design cues are they going to conglomerate from other vehicles into this wedge-shaped overstuffed generic waste. time to scrap the name and start over after a year to palette cleanse this bad taste out. sick of all toyota models. ford has got it going

I like a nice looking car as much as anyone, but substance is more important....

Considering the state of the US economy, it could do better than average.
If times were better, it's a fail.

Did anyone actually read the article? It basically stated the Camry is a good car, its just boring as hell. And its the truth. The days of Camry vs. Accord are over. Quite a few other mid size competitors have caught up (and can be argued) surpassed the Camry. But I can agree that some people just prefer vanilla and nothing more.

Everything Toyota makes is painful to look at. I don't care how reliable they are, a buyer can get equal or better reliability elsewhere while finding a car that actually makes you happy that a large chunk of your salary isn't reaching your pocket. I hate this car, I hated the previous one too. My wife has a 2011 and I nearly had a fit when she pulled up outside the house in it. I could feel my blood pressure going up. I still hate it and I've told her as much. I can't wait for her to get rid of it and never make a purchase like that again. Ill-fitting panels, an auto transmission that selects 4th gear whenever it's placed in "S" mode no matter the speed (when at a full stop or doing 70mph). The list goes on. Is that quality? No thank you. Cheap and ugly I can do without.

I must agree with you and the author of this article, boring as my Civic,lol, but my Civic is reliable, Toyota fans would still stand up for Toyota even if it had the worst reliability of any manufacturer.

Most people here are car enthusiasts. Therefore every criticism of the Camry comes from that point of view. Toyota built it's reputation building boring reliable cars. This is quite an anomaly really because most other car makers have been able to get away with this. Nissan struggled in the 90's and finally joined forces with Renault. They came out with more aggresive designs and this helped them.Honda/Acura has been struggling as of late,I think, due to their same as usual design. VW is another anomaly because it is a "European" car. It has a certain cache that has allowed it to stay in the US even though they have has lot's of reliabilty issues.The Jetta is selling well even with it's cheap plastic interior and conservative design. The Passat should sell like hotcakes as well,again a conservative design. Look I think Toyota's big mistake with the Camry is not that it's conservative. Rather too me it looks too much like a bloated Corolla.Previous Camry's have looked more upscale even if they've been dull to look at. But I could be proven wrong. Toyota knows its customer base and designed the Camry to solidify this base.The Camry could sell like hotcakes.