Much like a parent of an honor roll elementary school student, Toyota cannot be more excited about the 2012 Camry. Toyota is very keen on focusing on the success of the Camry as a whole,and It’s hard to blame them. Very few companies can really tout the “Best Selling Car in America” card, and Toyota aims to capitalize and build upon that reputation.
To celebrate and announce the new Camry 2012, Toyota held an event at Citi Field, here in NY, as well as local events in LA, Detroit and online via live webcast. Prior to attending the event, I was unaware that simultaneous events were happening in either state, which was interesting, especially when lives feeds to Kentucky were introduced, but more on that later.
The event was relatively small-scale. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda at Citi Field supplied a small amount of chairs, space for a shiny new red Camry LE, a podium, an Entune system trial, and a TV screen for live broadcasts.
Toyota began the presentation reenforcing their proud stance of Camry’s success in the United States, as well as acknowledging thier strong loyal customer base. This quickly lead to how the 2012 models will exceed these aspects in every way.
Driver safety is obviously a major concentration point for Toyota. The new 2012 Camry’s will up the ante of earlier models by featuring 10 total airbags as well as rear view monitors, and blind spot monitors, which they are very proud of. This does have the potential to reduce the number of “whoops” accidents, which I am all for.
Focus also turned to the new Entune Media System, offered with the 2012 models. It is akin to Ford’s Sync program, as the system can sync up with mobile phones and allow access to phone apps via a touch screen built into the dashboard. My time with the Entune system didn’t leave me floored, but it seems to be a solid system to get access to phone apps such as OpenTable, iHeartRadio, Pandora, weather and Bing searches, without having to take your eyes off the road.
In addition to revealing the new models, Toyota was also proud to announce their planned superbowl ad campaign, as well as the Camry being the new Pace Car for the upcoming Indy 500. It’s a surprisingly slick-looking pace car that Toyota hopes to use as a tool to expand their demographic beyond the average consumer shopping solely for economy. With several model levels available, including multiple hybrids, Toyota is looking to accommodate everyone from the average consumer to the more performance focused.
As mentioned before, the presentation proudly shifted to a live stream to Georgetown, Kentucky, where the longest running Toyota Manufacturing plant in North America Exists. Will James, President of Toyota Manufacturing Company in Kentucky, emphatically spoke about the new 2012 model in front of a crowd of overjoyed factory employees. The plant has cranked out Toyota’s for 25 years, since the day it was built. Toyota is exceptionally proud that over 80% of the Camry’s parts come from American suppliers, aiding in the current economic crisis as well as the high unemployment rate.
This was quickly bolstered by a brand new 2012 Camry coming of the production line, driven by Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyoda-san could not be more excited about the new Camry models, as well as the continued success of the Kentucky factory which is father built 25 years ago, as he pointed out the new slick body, safety features, Entue system and fuel economy. In his own words, he is very confident that the new Camry models will out-perform any competitors and will uphold the proud reputation of being a main symbol of Toyota.
The presentation opened up to some Q&A, touching upon Toyota’s current market share, the recall, natural disasters to their plans for the future and general recovery. In short, Toyota says the recall didn’t have a large impact on their consumer base and are very proud of their loyal customers who believed they would bounce back to right the wrongs. The natural disasters in Japan slightly set back manufacturing, but due to the large amount of production in North America, everything will be up to speed by spring. They expect their market share to start a healthy recovery due to the new 2012 models, customer service and the full recovery of manufacturing. With leasing making up 20%-25% as well as new and improved features, Toyota seems very confident in their future.
When invited to test drive the new Camry, I got my hands on an XLE and took it around a 9 mile designated course that included a substantial amount of highway time since we were in queens. The XLE is available with the 3.5L V6 as standard, producing 268 hp @ 6,200 rpm and 248 lb-ft of torque. This is channeled to the front wheels through the 6-speed ECT-i automatic transmission. The Camry rides on an independent Macpherson strut front suspension, and an independent dual link with stabilizer bar in the rear.
Handling was nice and smooth while navigating the simple cone set up in the parking lot, leading to the highway. As I made my way onto the Cross Island Parkway, I started to take notice of the interior. The Dash set up wasn’t bad and the seats, steering wheel and general feel of the interior was aiming for the luxurious feel, without costing and arm and a leg, and does a nice job pulling it off. The interior was generally uncluttered, however the steering wheel had a lot going on. It felt like an overloaded video game controller, trying to make every aspect of the multimedia system accessible via thumbs. I appreciate the effort for convenience, but for me, it seemed a little crowded. With that said, the engine did not disappoint. Even in the XLE, pushing the revs a bit higher, via the sequential shift, was very responsive and quick to speed. Almost a necessity on any local queens highway.
Arriving back at Citi Field after the test run, I was generally pleased and surprised with my Camry experience. For the price, the 2012 Camry delivers a nice ride, reliable performance and top-notch safety features.
I also apparently drove the Camry through an earthquake spanning the entire northeast without noticing. That’s gotta add some bonus points, right?
MSRP for the base L model starts at $21,955 , and goes up to $27,400 for the XLE. The 2012 Toyota Camry will be available in dealerships across the country this October.
Words By – Victor Kalogiannis
I would like to start out by saying that I clearly understand why you had to tell us that the picture was not in Queens. I know that often I confuse beautiful mountain vistas with running brooks of clean water with the smoke fill concrete cacophony of shit that is Queens. lol
Now on to business. It’s a Camry. I feel like you could find a way to hide a Audi A8L under that sheet metal and I still would not be interested. It styling, as always, makes you want to take a long nap after a strong afternoon of watching soap operas and drinking water with “infused fiber”. I think that Toyota is really attempting an interesting marking strategy. It is one that could pay off in great dividends in the near future or back fire incredibly.
The strategy seems to be based around the 57% of remaining employed American’s that can still afford this car. They know that the rescission hit hard, and they also know that people would LOVE a “new car” if they could afford it. As with most economic downfalls, the American people that are still in a position to buy will often resort to “buy local” or “direct’. Soon enough, (thanks the Occupy movement) the people will begin to turn to domestically produced goods, The idea is “made in America” mean made by China, india or somewhere in sweatshop in thailand. They idea is that if a they can get people believe that this car is as American as Apple pie.