New Camry set for July 22 release date

[Cosmo]

Camry leads the charge

Coming soon: new-look Camry will hit Australian showrooms this year, ahead of the launch of the VE Commodore

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The all-new Toyota Camry will be the first of the homegrown heavyweights to hit showrooms in 2006. The new Camry, which is already on the road in the US and going through final on-road trials in Victoria, will beat the VE Holden Commodore, Holden Statesman and Toyota's own V6 Aurion.

The official on-sale date for the four-cylinder Camry, just confirmed by the boss of the company, is July 22.

"We'll be doing the first deliveries in early August. Aurion will be later, about three months," says the executive chairman of Toyota Australia, John Conomos.

"Aurion is [coming in] November. I cannot tell you the exact date."

The Toyota news sets up the major confrontation of 2006, as Mitsubishi already has its 380 – with the starter price down to $27,990 – and GM Holden is still expected to wait until late August or early September before the start of its VE roll-out.

Ford will not have its next new Falcon, with an $1.8 billion investment from head office in Detroit, until late 2007 or early in 2008. Conomos is hoping the petrol price will stabilise by the time the Camry and Aurion are both in showrooms, but says Toyota has more flexibility than its rivals.

The 380 is only built with a V6, although there is an investigation into a possible four-powered model. And Holden will have its Global V6 as the starter motor in the VE.

"Is this the wrong time for the V6 Aurion? We don't think so," Conomos says.

"We can change relatively quickly. We have that capability. The salvation is the massive resources of Toyota and the product flexibility. The global line at Altona has been upgraded to go from 110,000 to 140,000 cars and was completely gutted over Christmas."

According to Conomos, the flexibility at Altona will allow Toyota Australia to mix the match of Camry four with Aurion V6, as well as boosting production for overseas sales – mostly to the Middle East – if the large-car downturn in Australia continues.

He feels it's a crucial advantage, although he believes Toyota Australia has made the right move into the Aurion V6 program to challenge the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.

"Is it the wrong time? Maybe if $US100-a-barrel oil is coming," Conomos says.

"But we can switch to Camry four. What can Ford switch to? What can Holden switch to?" Conomos is hopeful that the drop in big-six sales has ended and believes the new product offensive this year will bring people back to the local heroes. "Where do large cars settle? About now," he says.

"We will force the market. I think we'll arrest the decline for a period of time."

The growing energy crisis could play in Toyota's favour, but he says there's no plan to introduce the Camry hybrid, which is just going on the road in the US, to Australia.

According to Conomos, it would be far too costly, without suitable local suppliers for many of the key components, to add it to the production line at Altona. "We cannot justify the expense and the investment," he says.

"If we could justify it we'd do it, just like that. Australia is the only market raising its hand for a right-hand drive Camry hybrid."

Conomos has also ruled out a return of fuel-miser Daihatsu vehicles, after closing the brand this year, even under the Toyota brand. "First of all, we need products," Conomos says. "At the moment, the cars are too expensive."

Toyota will base its new special vehicle division, pitched as a competitor to Holden Special Vehicles and Ford Performance Racing, in Sydney. While the timing of the creation of Toyota Racing Developments (TRD) is all about brand building for the upcoming Aurion V6 car, the whole brand will be touched by it. In fact, the company will use its Corolla rally team as the spearhead.

The TRD operation will be under the direction of engineering guru Greg Gardner.

Toyota knows it needs something extra-special to give the Aurion a performance halo and so it is pushing TRD ahead.

It will be able to plug into the TRD products created and produced in both Japan and the US, although details are still being finalised. The intention is that all Toyota owners will eventually have access to go-faster and styling gear which fits the TRD profile, as well as clothing, stickers and all the other merchandising items. That is why Toyota Australia has begun the roll-out of the TRD program by re-branding its Corolla Sportivo rally cars, driven by Neal Bates and Simon Evans, under the TRD umbrella.

But the Aurion V6 is still the priority.

"We now have a product, with Aurion, where we can produce a TRD-based product," Toyota Australia executive chairman John Conomos says. "The opportunity presented itself with that car. We have the platform to do it, as opposed to a product that people were not happy to accept."

Toyota has already previewed the TRD Aurion with a life-sized styling model at the Melbourne Motor Show, and confirms it will have a supercharged V6 engine with a whole range of brake, suspension and cabin upgrades. It is the first time Toyota has gone remotely close to the cars from Holden Special Vehicles and Ford Performance

Vehicles, although the company admits it will not convince some people.

"We cannot compete with those famous brands. We cannot do massive conversions," Conomos says. "We only have the ability to do one car, at one time, with one specification." He admits the rear-drive V8s still have a special place here. "We'll never overcome the rear-wheel-drive resistance because we don't have a rear-wheel-drive car. We think that, over time, consumers will accept it."