Toyota Camry Hybrid

Toyota Camry Hybrid Review

Camry Hybrid shown in Blue Ribbon Metallic

The Toyota Camry Hybrid is a hybrid version of Toyota's popular Camry sedan, introduced for the 2007 model year in May 2006. The Camry Hybrid utilizes a four-cylinder gasoline engine together with electric motors to produce a peak of 187-hp (140 kW). Estimated U.S. sales are

 60,000 per year or 15% of total Camry sales.

The Toyota Camry is a mid-

size car that has been the best selling car in the United States for eight of the last nine years starting in 1997. The Camry name comes from the English phonetic of the Japanese word "Kammuri," which means "Crown." Over 400,000 American families buy Camrys each year because of its roominess and reliability, in addition to a good value to cost ratio. The Camry also sells very well in Australia and a number of Asian markets, in particular Cambodia where the vast majority of cars are Camrys, but it has not sold as well in Europe. Related luxury models which share major chassis components with the Toyota Camry are the Lexus ES, sold in the United States, and the Toyota Windom, sold in Japan until 2006.

The Camry is primarily configured as a four-door sedan but at different times has also been available as a five-door hatchback, two-door coupé, and a station wagon. The Camry name was first launched in 1980 with the Toyota Celica Camry. The first model line independently named the Toyota Camry was launched in 1982 for the 1983 model year. An offshoot of the Camry, the Toyota Camry Solara, has been available as a coupe and a convertible.

The Camry underwent major redesigns and upgrades in model years 1987, 1992 (1990 in Japan), 1997, 2002 and most recently in 2007. Other than the original Celica Camry, the Toyota Camry has always been an FF layout vehicle. This means the engine is transversely mounted to drive the front wheels. Some models have been offered with all-wheel drive.

The second and third-generation Camrys were rebadged to be sold as the Holden Apollo in Australia. The Holden equivalents were not successful even though they came from the same factory as the Camry. Since 2000, Daihatsu has sold a Camry twin named the Altis.