Toyota is really honing its teaser game. The latest one is shrouded in mystery as much as the shaded parts of the photo. The company didn’t give any dates, names or anything. In fact, it was a one-sentence release: “Can you guess what’s on the horizon?” The headline was “A New Dawn is Coming.” Not a lot to go on.
Toyota also made sure that most of the car was blacked out to prevent any photo editing shenanigans. But looking closely, it seems like it has a relatively low nose and roof, and it looks like the rear pillars are close to the rear headrests. That all seems in line with a sedan shape, and there’s only two left in the Toyota line that haven’t been updated in a while: the Corolla and Camry.
We’re placing our bets on this being a new Camry. The current generation is older than even the Corolla, having been introduced for the 2018 model year. It also hasn’t received much in the way of updates for a couple years, whereas the Corolla has seen some hybrid updates and the addition of all-wheel drive via said hybrid updates, and of course the amazing GR Corolla.
And we have an outside, roundabout theory that could could support our Camry theory. Thinking about “horizon” and “new dawn” had us thinking about possible names that could be associated with them. Maybe something about the sun. Certainly there was the Toyota Corona nameplate from long ago, but no company would touch that name with a 50-foot pole for reasons that should be obvious post-pandemic. Then we thought of Solara, which was a coupe based on the Camry, which would make sense as a new Toyota to be teased. Yeah, it’s a stretch, but you saw what little we had to work with.
If it’s a new Camry, we’re expecting it to be completely redesigned from the ground up. It will probably have hybrid options and some kind of all-wheel drive available. We would expect the V6 to be replaced by the increasingly available turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder found in the Highlander and more. We’d also be happy to see a TRD version return, but that seems more like a mid-cycle update to keep things fresh. Also, with how Toyota’s teasers have gone, a reveal is probably not far away. The L.A. Auto Show is where we would expect to see this possible new Camry revealed. Stay tuned for more details later, and probably more teasers in the meantime.
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