The best-selling car in America, the Toyota Camry, will only be available as a hybrid.
The 2025 Camry will only be marketed as a hybrid car, combining an electric motor and gasoline engine. The Camry is already available in a hybrid version.
It will become one of several other Toyota models to be only offered as a hybrid, including the Sequoia full-sized SUV, the Sienna minivan, and the Venza SUV. Naturally, there is still the Prius.
The Camry’s decision to go entirely hybrid demonstrates how well accepted the technology has grown. It was formerly a novelty available on very few models, and it was particularly interesting during periods of high petrol prices. However, it is now much more common. So much so that Toyota, a business not renowned for taking large risks, believes consumers are prepared for this very popular sedan to only run on hybrid power.
Group vice president for Toyota marketing Mike Tripp told “We’ve been putting electric motors and batteries in vehicles since the first Prius back in 2000, so it’s a space that we know and love.”
Every car in Toyota’s lineup will have a hybrid variant available, the company has stated. There are just three Toyota models that do not have a hybrid option or that have not yet been announced: the 4Runner SUV, the GR86 and Supra sports cars.
It’s a major step to make the Camry a hybrid exclusively. For the previous 22 years, the Camry has been the best-selling non-SUV or truck car in America. It’s arguably the model most connected to the Toyota brand, along with the Prius.
Since 2007, a hybrid version has been offered; however, with the redesign of the 2025 model, that will no longer be an option.
When the Prius went on sale in the US in 2001, it was both futuristic and a simultaneously cutting edge.
After a few years of redesign, it became the first truly popular hybrid automobile. It was one of the first hybrid cars marketed here. Toyota soon began to integrate the feature into other cars.
Since the Prius’ release twenty years ago, Toyota has seen enormous growth with their hybrid vehicles. Customers are still paying up to 2.5% more for Toyota’s hybrid cars than the manufacturer’s sticker price, despite recent decreases in car prices overall, according to new data.
This is true even though buyers of all-electric cars are receiving substantial tax credits that aren’t available for most hybrid cars, and even though they are paying drastically reduced prices for these cars.
It’s not like the market for electric vehicles isn’t expanding, according to Jominy. Currently, they account for 9% of all sales of new cars. However, he notes that dealers are forced to offer discounts because there are just too many EVs in the same price range of roughly $50,000 to $60,000.
According to Jominy, hybrid cars don’t need owners to alter their daily routines, making them far simpler for consumers to understand. Simply fill them with petrol, which they consume less of, and they won’t need to be charged.
What’s crazy for me, demand on Sienna, demand on hybrid Corolla, demand on our new Grand Highlander hybrid, we added hybrid in June of this year to Corolla Cross, so yeah, demand continues to outstrip supply at this point,” Tripp said.
Comparatively speaking, Toyota has been far more careful with all-electric vehicles than other automakers. There are just two SUVs that Toyota sells in the US: the BZ4X and the Lexus RZ 450e. Executives at Toyota have long voiced doubts about consumers’ desire to adopt completely electric cars. Additionally, they claim that when it comes to genuinely lowering the overall carbon emissions from automobiles, hybrids are a more efficient use of pricey batteries. The business has stated that it intends to expand its lineup of electric cars while also pursuing EVs with greater vigour in recent times.
Like the majority of Toyota’s other hybrid vehicles, the new Camry won’t be a plug-in hybrid. Its four-cylinder engine will not only propel the car but also recharge batteries to run two electric motors. With front-wheel drive models and all-wheel drive variants taken together, this system can generate up to 225 horsepower and 232 horsepower, respectively. The batteries will be charged while the vehicle brakes, just like in other hybrids.
Along with the new Camry, Toyota unveiled the Crown Signia, a new SUV model that is exclusively hybrid, on Tuesday night. It will resemble Toyota’s hybrid-only Crown sedan in terms of appearance, being a luxury crossover SUV with all-wheel drive.