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Camry our first green car

  • By Paul Gover
  • Herald Sun
  • 08 February 2010
  • image

    The $36,990 pricetag for the Camry hybrid compares to $29,990 for a basic Camry Altise, or $39,990 for a Prius hybrid. Photo Gallery

The starting price for Australia's first green car is $36,990.

That's the showroom tag for the Toyota Camry hybrid, which finally hits the road today.  The hybrid is being pitched as the flagship in the Camry range, from the way it looks to a cabin that is claimed to set a new standard for quietness in a locally-made car.

The hybrid bottom line is fuel economy of 6 litres/100km, with performance that trims a full second from the petrol-powered Camry's 0-100km/h time.  The $36,990 pricetag compares to $29,990 for a basic Camry Altise, or $39,990 for a Prius hybrid.

The basic details of the Camry hybrid have been public since the car was introduced in 2006 in the USA, but there has been a lot of work on 'Australianising' the car, both for production and driving.  "Right from day one we knew that the American version wasn't going to work," says Phil King, who headed local chassis tuning work.

The result is a car which is more responsive, as well as packing a full suite of safety gear.  The Camry hybrid picks up the vast majority of its mechanical package from the third-generation Prius, which went on sale last year, although it has a 2.4-litre engine (up from 1.8) and still has a drive belt for the water pump, unlike the Prius.

Full details of the pricing, equipment and sales plan will be revealed later today. But Toyota Australia is already trumpeting six airbags, ESP stability control, active steering assistance and a special power cut-off.  But the boot has taken a hit to fit the onboard battery system.

"This hybrid can walk, and chew gum," says Peter Evans, technical chief for Toyota's imported cars.  More details later, together with a first driving impression.

Comments on this story

Displaying 3 of 28 comments

  • One word: "greenwash".

    Holden Caulfield Posted on 17 February 2010 4:16pm

  • Finally a hybrid that can be taken seriously. It is actually powerful!

    alex of brisbane Posted on 16 February 2010 12:01am

  • I am only 22, but will be looking for a new replacement car in the next 12 months. I refuse to but anything other than australian made and the camry hybrid looks the best of both worlds in terms of practicality and economy. I am a holden man, but find even the new 3.0L SIDI commodores fuel usage rubbish. In an RACV magazine they recorded approx 8.2L/100kms as thier best. My 1997 VT regularly does 8.4L/100 and its got 270Kms on it. I just dont see the reason to spend 40 grand just to get the new model commodore considering they just keep geting more expensive and less rugged. Its well known you'd be trying hard to kill a camry.

    Cuddy of Central Vic Posted on 11 February 2010 2:33pm

  • How exciting.

    Memphis Posted on 11 February 2010 12:57pm

  • There's and elephant in the room

    Alan Watson of Sydney Posted on 10 February 2010 9:13pm

  • Gee now a new camry with a hybrid system so that drivers can hog the road at 45kph on a 60 zone and 60kph on a 100 zone.

    camrydriversrslugs Posted on 10 February 2010 4:42pm

  • any you stupid boy. yes Toyota sell alot of cars, but in case you have been hiding under a rock but there are MILLIONS going back. You also talk about concept cars, mate we live in a world of reality. the concepts I have seen over the years from Holden and the ones they are bring through would run rings around all cars, check the COTY awards. Wipe the water from behind your ears. Holden voted best stability control on the planet oh year 5 STAR not 4 like your Toyota. We will go E85 by the end of the year with a great new Commodore. As for Shaun, you talk to taxi drivers do you, you sound like one.

    MR VVVVVV888888 of Brighton Vic Posted on 10 February 2010 3:12pm

  • My 10yo LPG Falcon gets the equivalent of 6L/100km of unleaded when the cost of LPG is converted to petrol cost/litre for the same distance travelled. Where are the savings of hybrid technology?

    Tony of NSW Posted on 10 February 2010 2:50pm

  • This " hybrid stuff " will go the same way as the Wankel and Orbital engine.

    Fred of Canberra Posted on 10 February 2010 2:03pm

  • Andrew of Malvern - $7,000 for the hybrid system over the regular Camry... Also @shaun - Toyota is currently in a massive crisis over unintended acceleration (to the point where the CEO apoligised and that rarely happens for a Japanese firm) and also a worldwide Prius recall over a malfunctioning ABS system. They're reliability will take a complete battering in the next year.

    michael of trentham, vic Posted on 10 February 2010 10:24am

  • Hybrids are a joke - a joke on us. We're paying Toyota to make them here so the government can buy them for their fleets and maintain a facade of greenery.

    Holden Caulfield Posted on 10 February 2010 9:58am

  • @MR VVVVVV888888 of Brighton after talking to many taxi drivers 90% of them prefer to drive the Avalon and falcon taxis over the Commodores anyday. And sorry... Toyotas are recognised as one of the most reliable cars in the world.. Also over 70% of the battery is recycable.

    shaun Posted on 10 February 2010 7:27am

  • Unfortunately, the whole hybrid thing is a triumph of marketing over fact. The batteries are full of nickel, which is one of the dirtiest metals to obtain, and the things are hard to recycle, and much of the car is built overseas, and imported before being assembled locally. Take the entire footprint into account, including manufacture and disposal at the end of life, and a straight gas Falcon is the smartest choice, as well as looking a thousand times better, and providing jobs for more Victorians. Plus the Falcon is cheaper, and will have lower maintainance costs, particularly when the batteries in the hybrid start to fail

    Soren of Wantirna Posted on 10 February 2010 6:44am

  • Sounds to me that the Prius is overpriced! Me think that all cars should be hybrids, even if (especially if) they're mild ones like on the new MB. At least the issue of batteries won't be so bad. I'd buy a V8 hybrid.

    Amup Posted on 09 February 2010 8:44pm

  • Drive at your own risk

    Alan Watson of Sydney Posted on 09 February 2010 8:34pm

  • Gee, I hope Toyota have sorted all their quality issues of late by the time they launch this...

    Patrick of Sydney Posted on 09 February 2010 8:17pm

  • the lemon of 2010

    big toxic battery of melbourne Posted on 09 February 2010 6:29pm

  • HAHA if Toyota wasn't such a good brand...then why are most cars sold in EVERY MAJOR COUNTRY OF THE WORLD a toyota??? why did GM motors go bankrupt?? why have ford stocks continously dropped in the last few years? Just by looking at the concepts out now it is easy to see that Toyota are miles ahead of all competitors.

    Andy of melbourne Posted on 09 February 2010 5:18pm

  • I'm pretty sure my grandfather's cortina was green before this thing was.

    kato of Sydney Posted on 09 February 2010 3:51pm

  • there are two types of people that drive Toyota's, the first type are they don't like cars and the second type do not like to drive cars.

    ivan of Australia Posted on 09 February 2010 12:31pm

  • Michael of Trentham, with the Civic Hybrid it was so much more expensive than a normal Civic that the customer demanded it look totally different so that people could tell they had paid a premium for it. The Camry Hybrid is priced a lot closer to the normal Camry that appearance shouldn't be an issue, it will come down more to efficiency than feel good factor.

    Andrew of Malvern Posted on 09 February 2010 10:18am

  • Bye bye holden and ford AS IF. It's a cheap waste of time, look for welds in the doors and the stability control dosn't work as reported by many web sites. Good luck, just remember all you toyota buyers that have kids, they leave safty to parents when choosing the car. Ask your selves what are you going to do with all those batteries when there finished being used???????????. I would own a rear wheel drive car over a front wheel any day. Ask your self Mr if I was a taxi driver Why are there only fords and holden taxis???? Because they don't break down.

    MR VVVVVV888888 of Brighton Vic Posted on 09 February 2010 8:27am

  • The hybrid is going to be more disastrous than Toyota's recalls. Toyota selling the most cars in Aus will greatly decline if they keep this garbage up. People who buy hybrids are posers, people who buy a diesel ford fiesta or equivalent, actually walking the walk instead of talking the talk that Toyota does. Where will the thousands of Massive toxic hybrid batteries end up in 15 years, i wonder?

    kaygas of melbourne Posted on 08 February 2010 11:39pm

  • Why take a quote from the technical chief for *imported* cars, when such hype is being created that it's Strayan?

    BH of SA Posted on 08 February 2010 6:36pm

  • I wonder if the camry hybrid will face the same challenges as the civic hybrid. I remember reading something that the reasons consumers didn't particularly gel to the civic hybrid is that it didn't look like a hybrid enough. Consumers were expecting something that looked a bit different. As this basically is a stock standard camry. You have to wonder really.

    Michael of trentham, vic Posted on 08 February 2010 5:27pm

  • Actually, the camry hybrid has a normal raking system as compared to the hydraulic pumping used by the prius. Cant wait to get mine

    Mega car Nut (WILL) of qld Posted on 08 February 2010 3:01pm

  • Bye bye Holden and Ford commercial sales. I know what I'd buy if I was also a taxi driver...

    Pava of Sydney Posted on 08 February 2010 2:50pm

  • Is it gonna be so efficient that it "won't stop". This hybrid car has the same braking system as the Prius, which is being recalled as of Feb 5.

    Boleh of Tasmania Posted on 08 February 2010 12:10pm
Read all 28 comments

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