Toyota has confirmed it’s ending production of its Camry for the Japanese market in December 2023.
The Japanese automaker has said, however, that it is committing to the Camry in Australia.
“There are categorically no plans to stop selling Camry in Australia,” a spokesperson for Toyota Australia told CarExpert late last month.
Daihatsu has also confirmed its Altis, a rebadged Camry sold in the Japanese market, is also exiting production in December.
Nikkei Asia reports Camry production will continue in Japan for export markets, which include Australia. The mid-sized sedan is also produced in the United States and China.
The current 10th generation Camry debuted in 2017 and received its latest facelift in 2021.
Based on its product lifecycle historically, a new Camry should appear in the next couple of years.
-
Toyota Camry -
Daihatsu Altis
According to automotive information provider MarkLines, the carmaker has sold more than 21 million Camrys globally since its introduction in the 1980s through to the end of 2022.
The US accounted for the lion’s share of these sales, with 13 million Camrys sold in that market.
Around 1.3 million Camrys have been sold in Japan alone since it debuted in 1980; the Japanese market was alone in receiving the first-generation model, a rear-wheel drive sedan officially called the Celica Camry.
Camry sales slumped in Japan last year with output affected by the semiconductor shortage, with Toyota selling fewer than 6000 units.
With the Camry being killed in Japan, Toyota will instead focus on the latest Crown which is no longer a sedan but a high-riding crossover liftback.
Sedans have spluttered in recent years in Japan, with long-running nameplates like the Nissan Fuga, Cima and Teana and Honda Legend being axed over the past few years.
In Australia the Camry held a 70.5 per cent share last year of the mainstream mid-sized sedan segment.
The company sold 9538 examples of the Camry, well above the second-place Mazda 6 (1511 sales, 11.2 per cent segment share).
The Tesla Model 3 managed to push past it overall as Australia’s best-selling sedan last year with 10,877 sales, accounting for a 44.2 per cent share of its segment.
The Hyundai i30, Kia Cerato and Toyota Corolla all outsold the larger Camry last year, though their sales figures also include hatchback models.
Toyota sold 15,269 examples of the current-generation Camry in 2018, its first full year on sale. That figure increased to 16,768 in 2019, but has declined every year since, not helped in recent years by supply chain issues.
MORE: Everything Toyota Camry
