Camry Hybrid Details

[outback_ute]

Steve do you know how many of those are built in the US? FWIW our market has been at ~1mill for the last few years, "crashed" to 980k or so from memory. Still on a per capita basis fewer sales.

I have actually ridden in a Hybrid Camry a couple of times in the last week - from the back seat there is no difference (amazing I know). The car is still too new to have any fuel mileage figures though, but given most km will be accumulated within 5km of the CBD it is the perfect environment for it.

[ltd]

Originally Posted by The Monty

So its $7000 more then a bsae model camry. You save $400 a year, It will pay back the difference in only 17.5years. Take into account batteries and being a new model where things are bound to go wrong, and you have yourself a bargain....

But, but, but....... It's about saving the poley bears from drowning. God knows the poor little cuddly and gentle poley bears can't swim.
Just last week a gentle and cuddly poley bear walked onto the mine site in Canada where they extract the nickel for the batteries and gave everyone a hug for saving him from drowning.

[vztrt]

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...727-10ty3.html

Toyota defends Camry Hybrid
BRUCE NEWTON
July 27, 2010 - 4:40PM

Toyota says misconceptions about hybrids are hampering local sales.

Toyota will launch a marketing campaign to dispel “myths” that it says are discouraging private buyers from considering the Australian-built Hybrid Camry.

The company says some buyers still think the car has to be plugged in, while others are concerned about battery life, performance and reliability.

Launched in February with much fanfare as the first Australian-built petrol-electric hybrid, the Camry has sold about 3000 examples in its first four months on sale, according to Toyota. That figure is about 10 per cent less than forecast.

Toyota senior executive director sales and marketing David Buttner admits private buyers haven’t embraced the car as much as the company had forecast. Private buyers make up 25 per cent of total sales, rather than the forecast 40 per cent.

“We are not panicking or concerned about the (sales) performance of the car,” said Buttner.

“We recognise we have to keep promoting the car and supporting it in the marketplace.”

Buttner said the marketing campaign would be “sophisticated” and focus on the “features and benefits” of the car. It will launch in August.

The marketing campaign will back up a 2.9 per cent financing offer Toyota has already launched for the Hybrid Camry private buyers.

Buttner says the myths Toyota will seek to dispel include: the belief the Hybrid Camry requires plugging in to recharge; concerns about battery performance deterioration; that the technology has reliability issues; and that power levels from the hybrid drivetrain are poor.

“We do have to keep educating, and you never dispel myths overnight,” said Buttner.

“There is still more education we need to do and we are doing research month over month to understand if the myths are being dispelled.

“They slowly are, but I reckon it could take another 12 months.”

Buttner said Toyota’s global recall issues, now involving close to 10 million vehicles, had briefly been an issue keeping private buyers away from the Hybrid Camry.

But he said research Toyota had access to indicated Australians had quickly overcome concerns about the quality of the brand, after losing some faith when the recall issue was at its height earlier in 2010.

“For the months of February, March and half of April a lot of the brand desirability, reputation for safety, thoughts about hybrid… a lot of those things dropped off. But now they are pretty much back where they were.”

The Hybrid Camry is offered in two models grades with pricing starting from $36,990. Its petrol-electric drivetrain produces more power and torque than the orthodox Camry while consuming less fuel (claimed).

Buttner confirmed Toyota intends to continue manufacturing the Hybrid Camry alongside the four-cylinder Camry and Aurion V6 when the next generation starts rolling out late in late 2011.

Toyota has denied it stopped publishing individual sales figures on the hybrid Camry because of slow sales. The company published hybrid model sales figures for the first two months the car was on sale, before incorporating them into overall Camry sales in May and June.

The company says it was a mistake the car was listed separately in the first place. Hybrid Camry sales were initially well below target, with just 944 units sold in the first two months against a target of more than 1600.

But since the figures went private, the company says it has sold more than 2000 vehicles in just two months. That brings the monthly average to 750, still below the initial target of 833 a month, or 10,000.

[vztrt]

Toyota confirms next-gen Camry Hybrid

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25776D002A7B69

Next Toyota Camry to get a new engine, but it might not be built in Australia

27 July 2010

By BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS

TOYOTA Australia remains committed to a hybrid version of its next-generation Camry due on sale in 18 months, but mainstream versions might no longer be powered by a locally made engine.

The fate of Toyota’s Australian engine plant will be decided by November this year at the latest, GoAuto can reveal.

The decision rests on whether the Japanese company chooses to invest in local production of its all-new ‘AR’ 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine at the Altona plant in Melbourne for the new Camry.

Toyota Australia’s senior executive director of sales and marketing David Buttner confirmed that Toyota Australia would again market and build a hybrid version of the future Camry in Australia, despite sluggish sales of the current-generation model.

“We will continue with the Camry Hybrid,” he told GoAuto at a Camry Hybrid performance evaluation drive in Victoria yesterday.

As it already has in many other overseas markets, Toyota’s larger and more efficient new four-cylinder powerplant will replace the current 2.4-litre ‘AZ’ unit, which has been a fixture in the Australian-built mid-sized sedan since 2002, because the engine does not meet the future Euro 5 emissions standards due around 2013.

If Toyota decides to import the AZ engine from another source – such as from Thailand or Japan – to slot into the Melbourne-made Camry, it will almost certainly spell the end of the 32-year-old Altona engine plant, as well as the 300 manufacturing jobs it supports.

However, according to Mr Buttner, a decision on the Camry engine either way would not necessarily mean a factory shutdown.

“I’d like to think that it’s still safe,” he told GoAuto.

“It has been a lengthy process for what has been the future of that plant, but I certainly believe that the plant has a very strong future.

“Discussions are still underway, but it is still very positive for the engine plant ... with the decision still about four months away.”

The next Camry – the seventh generation since the model debuted in Australia in 1983 – is on track to be launched late next year or in early 2012.

It again will spawn a subtly modified V6 petrol version under the Aurion moniker, Toyota has said, to take on the locally manufactured Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.

Asked if there was discussion about discontinuing the Aurion after its less than stellar sales performance in its four years on sale in Australia, Mr Buttner said Toyota was committed to continuing with the series.

“The car’s travelled well,” he said. “You have to look at the combined volumes.

“We have a plant that builds volume for the local market and substantial volumes for the export markets.

“We have to make sure that we have a good balance between export and domestic, and with Camry and Aurion – providing that we are achieving the units per day – then you’ve got that flexibility in the models.

“(So) we have been comfortable with the Aurion’s (sales) performance ... and we still see that segment as a very important segment to compete in.”

However, Mr Buttner refused to comment on Toyota Australia’s long-mooted third model line, but suggested any additional Altona model alongside the Camry and Aurion would depend on exports.

“There is nothing currently on the drawing board, but as I have explained with this generation Camry, when we put in a global bodyline in our body shop, we do have that flexibility,” he said.

“But whether you avail yourself to that flexibility depends on a whole host of things – export destinations, domestic demand.

“And when you put in a third product in a plant in Australia you have to have pretty good volume to really justify the capital expense, and you’ve got to be able to see whether you can sustain that volume.

“Now with something that was only suitable for the domestic market, you are not going to get that sort of volume.”

Mr Buttner was speaking at a drive day designed to highlight the dynamic capabilities of the current-generation Camry Hybrid against a range of similarly priced competitors.

Toyota said that it was keen for the Australian media and public to see the Camry Hybrid as a safe and dynamic driver’s car, with abilities to match what it calls ‘Level Two’ mid-sized passenger cars such as the Mazda6 Classic, Subaru Liberty and Honda Accord VTi-L.

But the company refutes claims that the current Camry Hybrid is a sales failure.

Camry Hybrid sales are no longer listed separately from Camry sales by official industry statistician VFACTS, but Toyota said it sold about 680 Camry Hybrids in June.

That is still well down on the 830 or so the company forecast it would need to shift each month to reach its 10,000-unit annual sales target and in its five months on sale this year Toyota says it has sold just over 3000 Camry Hybrids.

“We are comfortable with its performance,” Mr Buttner said, adding that the company was still in the throes of educating Australian buyers on the benefits of going hybrid.

Part of that program will be a new national marketing campaign from August 1, focusing on the car’s feature benefits.

Toyota hopes to lift the private sales up from today’s 25 per cent to 40 per cent, but admits it remains well short of that target too.

“We still need to go through an education process. Prior to the launch of the car we used the third-generation Prius to help dispel (hybrid) myths, and we continued that with our early launch campaign.

“But we are going totally away from that now … with a much more sophisticated campaign that suits the car.

“We are also trotting out more cars out in the business world than we have had previously, and dealers have really gotten behind the car.

“It’s only the first Australian-built hybrid and only the second mainstream hybrid out in the Australian marketplace, and we are getting grip. And we’re getting bigger fleet orders – and by that I mean for more than 100 cars (at a time).

“We’re not panicking (but) we recognise that we have to keep supporting the car in the marketplace.

“And you have to remember that we got this product mid-model lifecycle, and that hasn’t ever happened in my 24 years at Toyota, and that gives us two solid years before the next-generation car, to really build the kudos of hybrid, to understand the technology, and to understand the benefits.”

Mr Buttner said that there had been some consumer resistance to the Camry Hybrid because of basic misinformation about the series-parallel hybrid technology – such as bad reliability, short battery life and even concerns about the availability of plug-in electricity points.

“We’re doing research month after month to understand how (hybrid) myths should be dispelled – and I reckon it may take another 12 months,” he said.

One change that Mr Buttner mooted for the next-generation Camry Hybrid is the introduction of an entry-level model based on the volume-selling Altise grade, as today’s car is offered only in grades equivalent to the mid-spec Ateva and luxury Grande.

“That is something that we will canvas,” Mr Buttner said.

[kpcart]

Guys, new technology is always expensive. remember vhs? dvd? they were expensive when new. but people bought it, and then it went down in price. but if they hadnt bought it then it would have failed. we need people to buy these cars, it will be better for everyone in the long run.

If you can afford to buy it, then you dont care about how long it will take you to get the difference back. i want all people on 150k saleries in Australia to buy hybrids and electrics, they will do their part in pushing technology further and bring down prices of technology and then poor people like me can buy their car in a few years second hand and thats when we will see start seeing results in savings for the planet.

[vztrt]

Toyota set to go local on hybrid parts

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...2577760013BF2C

Camry Hybrid to get more local content as Toyota gears up for 2012 model

5 August 2010

By IAN PORTER

TOYOTA Australia has signalled its long-term confidence in the Camry Hybrid by planning to source as much as half of the hybrid drivetrain for the second-generation model from local suppliers.

Currently, the whole Hybrid Synergy Drive system, including the four-cylinder engine, is imported for installation into the locally-made body at the Altona plant.

In an exclusive interview, Toyota Australia president and chief executive officer Max Yasuda told GoAuto that replacing imported parts was a high priority for the company.

“We want to localise the car as much as possible,” he said.

“We have to do that to avoid the fluctuations of the currency as much as possible. Currency can affect the costs very much.”

Mr Yasuda was speaking at a ceremony to recognise the nomination of the first Toyota dealership to achieve Five- Star Toyota Environmental Dealer status.

The dealership, Patterson Cheney Toyota in Dandenong, Victoria, has cut energy use by 15 per cent, saves 70,000 litres of water a year with rainwater tanks and has slashed its waste disposal costs by 40 per cent.

Mr Yasuda said Toyota Australia had not yet finalised sourcing arrangements for the next model, which is expected to be launched late in 2012, some time after the petrol-only Camry goes on sale.

“We are still making decisions about which parts can be sourced locally for the hybrid drivetrain,” he said.

When asked what level of local content would be achieved, he said “50 per cent is a good number”.

The current hybrid drivetrain import arrangements reflect the rushed timetable that Toyota Australia had to work under to bring the hybrid to production to Australia.

It was only the last-minute intervention of the Australian government, in the form of a $35 million clean-car industry grant, that persuaded Toyota head office to introduce the Camry hybrid to Altona.

Previously, Toyota had planned to make all its Camry hybrids for south-east Asia at its Thai plant.

The decision to localise the drivetrain also suggests Toyota Australia is more optimistic about the second-generation model.

At the initial line-off ceremony for the Camry Hybrid earlier this year, senior executive sales and marketing Dave Buttner said localisation would be considered if the company thought it could sell “35,000 to 40,000” Camry hybrids.

The production rate for the first model was set at just 10,000 a year, although it has yet to reach that level due, in part, to the reticence of retail buyers.

A Toyota spokesman said yesterday the hybrid model was taking around 35 per cent of all Camry sales , which means there were about 730 hybrids sold in July, in a total of 2100 Camrys. That would equate to about 9000 Camry hybrids a year.

Camry sales were up 22 per cent in July versus the same month last year and were up 33 per cent for the first seven months of 2010, suggesting that the hybrid has added to Camry sales.

However, sales of the six cylinder Aurion model were down 11.5 per cent to 7072 for the seven months, which could indicate the hybrid may be cannabalising the Aurion.

[bobthebilda]

The current hybrid drivetrain import arrangements reflect the rushed timetable that Toyota Australia had to work under to bring the hybrid to production to Australia.

It was only the last-minute intervention of the Australian government, in the form of a $35 million clean-car industry grant, that persuaded Toyota head office to introduce the Camry hybrid to Altona.
Previously, Toyota had planned to make all its Camry hybrids for south-east Asia at its Thai plant.

Dont let the facts get in the way of a good story. Toyota had previously said they had decided to do it, before they got the money, as per the following article:

http://www.news.com.au/business/hybr...-1111116595853

But the funding promise has been undermined by local Toyota chiefs, who told The Australian the decision to make petrol-electric hybrid Camrys in Australia had already been made and was due to be announced "within months".

[vztrt]

Most people know that (well should) there was a thread on it.

[Resurrection]

Yesterday I had my first opportunity to drive a hybrid Camry. Before I start, I will admit I am an engineer and therefore am a supporter of new technology in automotive applications. However the test drive left me unimpressed as the driving sensation is bizzare.

The positives
- good brakes aided by the regenerative braking
- no noise when on electric power
- fantastic for stop-start driving in crawling traffic

The neutrals
- up to 80km/hr the rate of acceleration is almost linear which is due to the combined efforts of the two motors. Good for a 4cyl but nothing spectacular.

The negatives
- I was expecting the car to be quicker off the mark when using the electric motor due to the torque characteristics at low revs
- the odd sensation that the transmission is slipping badly when the petrol engine kicks in. There is no direct relationship between vehicle acceleration and engine noise. No matter how fast the car is accelerating or moving the engine always sounds like it is in the same (wrong and too high) rev range. This is obviously due to the CVT transmission.

The last item would "do my head in" if I had to drive this vehicle on a daily basis. I'd be continually waiting for the transmission to grab the next gear and the petrol engine revs to drop but this would never occur.

Verdict is this car is OK for those who use vehicles to commute but definately not for those of us who like to drive.

[Poetic Justice]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Yesterday I had my first opportunity to drive a hybrid Camry. Before I start, I will admit I am an engineer and therefore am a supporter of new technology in automotive applications. However the test drive left me unimpressed as the driving sensation is bizzare.

The positives
- good brakes aided by the regenerative braking
- no noise when on electric power
- fantastic for stop-start driving in crawling traffic

The neutrals
- up to 80km/hr the rate of acceleration is almost linear which is due to the combined efforts of the two motors. Good for a 4cyl but nothing spectacular.

The negatives
- I was expecting the car to be quicker off the mark when using the electric motor due to the torque characteristics at low revs
- the odd sensation that the transmission is slipping badly when the petrol engine kicks in. There is no direct relationship between vehicle acceleration and engine noise. No matter how fast the car is accelerating or moving the engine always sounds like it is in the same (wrong and too high) rev range. This is obviously due to the CVT transmission.

The last item would "do my head in" if I had to drive this vehicle on a daily basis. I'd be continually waiting for the transmission to grab the next gear and the petrol engine revs to drop but this would never occur.

Verdict is this car is OK for those who use vehicles to commute but definately not for those of us who like to drive.

CVT, however, is not something you relate to the Hybrid vehicles. From what I know, and there is probably more of them, CVT's are used in Nissan's Maxima, X-trail and Murano as well as other models too.

[HLC]

Originally Posted by nitro xr

I do wonder the environmental effects of both the manufacture and disposal of these batteries. Considering also the number of these hybrids worldwide.
.

I wrote a paper on this while i was at Uni.

I was using the Prius as an example, and data from a European company, where fuel is dearer, and the Prius more popular.


Basically, in terms of Ecological Footprint, it costs the environment LESS to put a Hummer on the road, compared to a Prius.

To quantify that, at the time, the batteries were only made in one location and flown all around the world at various stages of assembly before hitting the streets.

Also, due to the chemicals in the batteries, there is now a 'dead zone' around the plant making them. So dead in fact that NASA test their space equipment there because it is so devoid of life that it is basically a replica of anything out in space.


Getting back to the costings, in this European country, if you bought a Prius, or another similarly sized small economical non-hybrid car, it would take 160 000 km's travelled in the Prius, to make up the $$$ saved to justify the price hike over the small 4-banger.

How many people hang onto a brand new car for 160 000 kays? especially in Europe where the distances are far shorter?




Food for thought everyone

[kpcart]

Originally Posted by davway

WOW - a whole $400 a YEAR in fuel savings.
I can finally do that round the world trip now.


For less than $10000 (if you were buying purely to use as a run about to save fuel), you could get yourself a Diesel Peugeot that is a few years older with fuel economy ranging from 4l - 5.6l per hundred Km.

you miss the point entirely, people who would buy this car for this money would not want some piece of crap small ugly clattery diesel second hand French car, and the more people that buy this car the better, as in a few years people like yourself can own it for $10000 second hand and you wont have to own a crap ugly small pug, and it will be cheaper to service too.

[sxckevo]

Originally Posted by HLC

I wrote a paper on this while i was at Uni.

I was using the Prius as an example, and data from a European company, where fuel is dearer, and the Prius more popular.


Basically, in terms of Ecological Footprint, it costs the environment LESS to put a Hummer on the road, compared to a Prius.

To quantify that, at the time, the batteries were only made in one location and flown all around the world at various stages of assembly before hitting the streets.

Also, due to the chemicals in the batteries, there is now a 'dead zone' around the plant making them. So dead in fact that NASA test their space equipment there because it is so devoid of life that it is basically a replica of anything out in space.


Getting back to the costings, in this European country, if you bought a Prius, or another similarly sized small economical non-hybrid car, it would take 160 000 km's travelled in the Prius, to make up the $$$ saved to justify the price hike over the small 4-banger.

How many people hang onto a brand new car for 160 000 kays? especially in Europe where the distances are far shorter?




Food for thought everyone

the things the shield the public from

[trippytaka]

I have to say that they are bloody good cars to drive.

And also, when you factor in the TSA (Toyota Service Advantage) your services are capped at like $140 or something for the first 60,000km because Toyota subsidises the dealers. Works out to save you a lot of hassle and money.

[bobthebilda]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226004678377

So the breakdown for Camry hybrid sales last year come to: 7106 Sales.
Governments = 1841 (probably at cost price)
Hertz =600 (heavy discount)
Toyota demo or used by staff = approx 1400
Taxis =200
Which leaves about 3000 going to other fleets and private buyers

And then Jan 2011 sales = 273.

[Bossxr8]

How far off the sales target are they?

I don't even think they have gone near it except for the first month or 2 on sale.

Its a bit of a flop.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

How far off the sales target are they?

I don't even think they have gone near it except for the first month or 2 on sale.

Its a bit of a flop.

They were hoping for 10,000 in the first year. But even at 7106 Sales, it looks like they have tried to milk that too as approx 1400 of those were actually used "inhouse". So they reached approx 50% of its total (But even alot of those were no/low profit gov and fleet sales).

But 273 in Jan 2011. Although Toyota are stingent on the old Just in Time, you have to assume there are a few thousand hybrid camry's floating around somewhere, just waiting for oil prices to hit $300 a barrel.

[Poetic Justice]

They will eventually come into their own.

But my opinion is they missed the mark with advertising.

[Brazen]

They are also just a plain sedan, private buyers I assume prefer hatches and wagons. I cant think of one sedan which sells well anymore in this country.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by SCUD

They will eventually come into their own.

But my opinion is they missed the mark with advertising.

Not sure if you are referring to advertising quantity or quality there SCUD, but

from memory, I thought they threw alot of money into the advertising, and the actual adds played alot on the greeness of the vehicle and not too much on the camryness of it (as everyone already knew what a camry entailed).

I think the problem was that it was/ is a camry. If you have a new / different propulsion system, people want to see it inside a new car. Just like when they started the hybrids, they put it in a new model called the prius.

Just like GM have done with the Volt and Nissan with the Leaf.

Anyhow, maybe the Vic government should buy them all up for the security guards patrolling the desal plant that will sit idle for 25 years. A truely green inituative.

[tezxr8man]

I got picked up by one as a taxi a few weeks ago and was having a yarn to the driver about them, they don't seem to be fans of them too much, they only keep them for a certain time them flogg them off so the battery isn't an issue but in the real world like the prius they really aren't that great on fuel, apparently lineball with the LPG Falcon. Which he couldn't wait to go back in
Is it because of the extra weight or what's the go there??