The Toyota Camry is the automobile someone buys when they just need “a car.” It’s got enough size to fit people and things, it has for years gotten enough fuel economy to get you at least 30 freeway miles on a single gallon of gas, it’s got good enough crash test ratings to carry your children, it’s cheap enough to justify to your accountant/spouse/self, it looks fine, and decades worth of people you know who have owned one tell you the thing will never die. While it may not sound exciting, that combination of attributes is enticing to a lot of people, which is why the Camry has outsold every other car for 19 years, and why this 2025 model — which has an electric motor solely for the rear wheels — is so important.
The current 2024 model Toyota Camry — you know, the car that your Uber driver picked you up with — comes with either a 200-ish horsepower highly efficient 2.5-liter Atkinson Cycle four cylinder engine (thermal efficiency of over 40 percent!) or a 301 horsepower 3.5-liter V6, with the former offering a hybrid variant that makes 176 horsepower from the engine and 208 horsepower as a total system. Fuel economy on some hybrids reaches MPGs as high as 51 city, 53 highway, 52 combined, but none of those hybrid trims offer all-wheel drive. That changes now.
The 2025 Toyota Camry is powered solely by a hybridized 2.5-liter inline-four, making 225 horsepower in front-drive guise or 232 ponies with all-wheel drive, which is available on all trims and adds an electric motor to power the rear axle. Here’s what Toyota has to say about the new powertrain/drivetrain:
Combining the engine’s power with two electric motors, this dynamic new HEV has a standard 225 net combined horsepower on Front Wheel Drive (FWD) models and 232HP on Electronic On-Demand All-Wheel Drive (AWD) equipped models. Toyota engineers have also tuned the new HEV system at lower speeds to reduce engine RPMs and increase power from the traction battery to provide satisfying acceleration and torque feel. T
For the first time ever on a Camry Hybrid, Toyota’s Electronic On-Demand All-Wheel Drive (AWD) system will be available on all grades. For added peace of mind, the AWD system provides additional traction when needed, like during inclement weather or while cornering. The AWD system’s capability comes from a dedicated rear electric drive motor generator that automatically supplies power to the rear wheels when needed.
Here’s a look at that rear drive unit:
It’s not mentioned in the press release, but I’m fairly certain the front wheels will receive torque via an electronic Continuously Variable Transmission (eCVT), not dissimilar to the one in the outgoing Camry Hybrid.
As you can see by the images, there have been some changes (subtle ones if you ask me) to the styling, as well, with Toyota touting:
The ninth generation Camry, designed by CALTY’s Newport Beach, California and Ann Arbor, Michigan studios, delivers a sleeker, athletic look to the popular sedan’s design. The distinctive hammerhead front fascia adds a fresh clean look that is sure to turn heads. All grades will feature slim LED headlights, daytime running lights and taillights.
The SE and XSE grades have sporty exterior styling with a sleek roofline and a chiseled body. The sport grades feature racing-inspired functional aerodynamic air ducts, front-side canards and a rear diffuser. The rear also has an exposed dual-tip exhaust as well as a rear lip spoiler. The XSE will further the sporty style with a unique color matched front grille and black trunk garnish. With standard 18-inch multi-spoke black-finished alloy wheels on SE grades and standard 19-inch multispoke black and smoke gray-finished alloy wheels on the XSE, these models will be a sure standout amongst its peers.
Here’s the outgoing model, for the record:
Toyota also talks about the Camry’s new interior, especially its new seats, saying:
The Camry will also have enhanced seat comfortability. Toyota engineers achieved this by changing the shape and density of the seat cushion and by increasing the cushion length. The headrest was also softened and moved rearward to enhance seat and ride comfort. That comfort can be extended on the XLE and XSE grades with available front heated and ventilated seats that can be adjusted to three levels. These higher-end grades will also have a quieter cabin thanks to the standard front-side acoustic laminated glass to help reduce wind noise and harshness.
Here’s the outgoing Camry’s interior:
The 2025 model’s main infotainment screen is more nicely integrated into the dash. Plus, whereas the outgoing model came with either a seven or nine inch screen, the new Camry comes with either an eight or 12.3 inch screen.
Humble Beginnings
Let’s talk about why this new Camry is so important.
The year is 1983. The best-selling car in America is the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, a traditional body-on-frame embodiment of American family car ideals. Six-cylinder or eight-cylinder engine up front, drive to the back, available with acres of velour. It’s in this model year that the first official Toyota Camry came to America. Sure, there was technically the Celica Camry before that, but this is the start of something great. However, instead of going after the midsize market, the first-generation V10 Camry was sized to compete with the Pontiac Sunbird and Chevrolet Citation. Needless to say, compared to the domestic competition, the Camry was aces. As per Car And Driver:
If you’re wondering what in the name of Bonzo the Toyota Motor Company is going to do to our nation’s automakers next, the answer just rolled into your friendly dealer’s showroom. It’s not enough that Toyota has already bombed us with the poor man’s BMW 633CSi (the Supra), the world’s best Chevette-class econobox (the Starlet), and one of the niftiest mudslingers in captivity (the Tercel 4WD wagon). No, this car company keeps trying harder, as if it were struggling to survive or something.
It was the start of something great, but Toyota wasn’t done trying. It wasn’t content to merely compete with J-Cars and X-Cars, it wanted global domination. A few years later, it would get it.
The Big Break
While the first-generation Camry was followed up by the V20, the really big move came in 1991 for the 1992 model year, with the first wide-body U.S.-specific Camry. This car was incredible, a feat of engineering that hit Detroit like a sucker punch. It was no longer a small sedan designed for the Japanese market, it was now a mid-size sedan designed specific for the U.S., and it took the Toyota to the next level, which is why Road & Track refers to it as “The Most Toyota of All Toyotas,” writing:
It has earned no racing glory, appeared in no iconic movie roles, and the guys wearing big watches at the Barrett-Jackson auction aren’t outbidding each other to obtain one. It is, however, the ultimate Toyota; the Toyota that embodies and exemplifies all the virtues that keep Americans buying Toyotas. It was overbuilt but affordable when it was new. And since then has become one of the greatest used cars of all time. No, scratch that, it IS the greatest used car of all time. It’s the Camry XV10 sold during the 1992 to 1996 model years.
As the article points out, the XV10 teed up the XV20 successor to make the Camry — for the very first time — the best selling car in America.
The Camry Hasn’t Fallen Off Its Perch Since
Ever since the XV20, the Camry has remained the sales king, thanks in part to incremental — and not sweeping — changes. The 2025 Toyota Camry, which will hit Toyota Dealerships in the Spring of 2024, seems to be following the same formula.
More official Toyota pics:
This story is breaking news and is therefore being updated. Additional writing by Thomas Hundal.
Images: Toyota or Thomas Hundal
It’s a very appealing package except when you look underneath the headlights and grille to see that shit show of a front bumper which instantly makes it hard no for me.
Im just waiting to see the NASCAR version
Over the last seven-ish years, my biggest complaint about Toyota has been their inexplicable refusal to commit to the hybrid technology they popularized.
Credit where credit is due, going hybrid-only for the Camry is exactly the sort of movement I’ve wanted to see.
Now let’s hope they do the same with the RAV4, Highlander, and Tacoma.
What are you talking about, exactly? Toyota sells more hybrids than any other manufacturer.
Holy crap! A new car where the screen is actually MORE integrated into the dash!
Black pillars and headliner finally! LETS GO!
I spend a ton of time in Lyfts when travellng for work, to the tune of 100+ rides a year. As a result, I have gotten a pretty extensive cross section on backseat comfort and ride quality. The Toyota Camry is objectively the most comfortable and best riding vehicle available for under $100k. The Acura MDX, Honda Accord EX-L, Lexus ES and Chevy Suburban are close contenders. The Hyundai Ioniq and Tesla Model 3 are absolutely the worst.
If you regularly ferry passengers or work with a ride share company, I’d pick Camry as the car of choice.
My folks are likely to replace their car in the next year. CX-5 currently. They have been looking at a Corolla, but I won’t be shocked if they go Camry (again).
2025 Toyota Camry – Now with 50% more grill!
Honestly the grill looks smaller on this new one than the old one, especially in the XSE trim
Sad to see the V6 and TRD go, it was just so silly it was fun. But this all makes sense. Grill is too big, no surprises there. Easy to keep recommending it to non-car people that ask what car they should buy.
Yikes! What an uggo!
I like the updates compared to the outgoing model, which was the definition of dated.
Interesting how both the Accord and now the Camry have dropped the high HP versions. Guess the attitude is you want more power, go to Acura/Lexus.
Makes sense. Both Lexus’s and Acura’s (to a greater extent in my opinion) biggest competitors have been well-trimmed Toyotas and Hondas.
I’m pretty certain I will never own one as it is just not for me. With that said, the Camry is a really good car. It accelerates well (will easily stomp my Fiesta ST from a stop light), has enough “grounded to the ground”-ness to cope with aggressive driving in urban and suburban areas, more than adequate interior and trunk space, excellent gas mileage for the segment, and Toyota reliability.
There are a few drawbacks: the crap infotainment system and occasional annoying features like a badly designed rear seat weight sensor constantly setting off seat belt warnings detract a bit, but overall it’s a car that will provide years of faithful service for those who need exactly that and frankly, it’s a pretty fair distance beyond “good enough”.
Let’s not damn the Camry with faint praise.
(Notes on the car are from a 2023 Camry owned by a good friend and one in which I have spent a good amount of time)
That grille is outright hideous. So many lines and creases that the baroque rivals the Würzburg Residence.
I’d have made this thing clean and smooth with the smallest grille necessary, with smaller wheels, and tires with meatier sidewalls. Perhaps it would have looked like a swollen Ford Probe IV, GM Precept or a Dodge Intrepid ESX2 in shape, but ended up with a drag reduction of 30% or more vs the current Camry, saving the operator thousands of dollars over the life of the vehicle. Which is the entire point of this sort of car.
The last few generations of Camry have already been hideous, and people kept buying them. If they were exceptionally aero, thus more efficient, and still hieous, I think people would still buy them.
Agree – there is nothing “subtle” about the face of this car – it’s just awful. It looks like the elephant man from the front.
I’m convinced most car buyers don’t actually look at the car to see if it’s a good looking car, they look at the door sticker to make sure it’s a 2024, because looking new is what matters, not looking good.
Which is why it’s time for an auto maker to go all-in on drag reduction with a sedan. Target a Cd value in the 0.14-0.16 range, and say “screw it” to appearances to get there. The advantages will immediately make themselves known. We could have hybrid midsized cars approaching 70 mpg highway, EV sedans that use less than 150 Wh/mile on the highway, mundane 200 horsepower 4-cylinder cars with top speeds approaching 180 mph, or muscle cars with big V8s exceeding 40 mpg highway.
If done on a mass-produced car, it wouldn’t add much to the manufacturing cost, and it appears people will still buy them as long as they were new. It is hard to out-ugly the offerings of the last decade to the present, and such an aero car might look beautiful by comparison.
I think Tesla and especially Lucid already are going nearly as aero as practical, if you’re going for a 0.15Cd now you’re getting into impractically low ground clearance, boattails that preclude a useful hatchback, ect.
I am constantly surprised by how little many manufacturers seem to try to reduce drag. Things like Ford pickups having rounded edges on the back of the cab instead of sharp corners. It kind of seems like they haven’t made much effort to improve drag since the 1993 Aeronose pickups.
Really we already aren’t far from 70mpg midsize cars, a 20 year old TDI can totally achieve 55-60mpg highway with 4 people in it. Not gonna take crazy aero to improve that.
The limits haven’t been approached yet. Ground clearance doesn’t help as much as one would think, and below a certain height extra lowering can worsen drag, and above a certain height, raising the height could also reduce drag.
Economy-oriented sedans are already at a ground clearance that is very close to being a sweet spot for drag. A lot of the drag of modern autos is caused by massive oversized wheels, oversized grilles, ornamental creases/styling elements everywhere, and by the shape of the cars themselves not being optimized for drag reduction and all instead pushing air everywhere. The average new car has just barely caught up with the 1921 Rumpler Tropfenwagen with a 0.28 Cd, which is also the value of the current Toyota Prius.
As for boat tailing, here’s a 90s Civic that has retained a functional hatchback and increased its storage space, having had its Cd value halved to 0.17 with aero mods:
https://aerocivic.com/
The above car was not professionally sculpted for drag reduction with millions of dollars of wind tunnel work, moreso than it was a hobbyist effort that yielded great results by a builder that knew what they were doing. The major automakers with billions of dollars at their disposal can certainly do much better.
I was referring to 70 mpg midsized cars powered by gasoline ICE + electricity. Even today’s Prius is a bit far off from that. A TDI powering such a thing could end up north of 80 mpg highway as a hybrid.
I mean, it’s ugly. Sure.
But it’s still better looking than a Model 3.
I disagree. I think the 1st gen Model 3 looks much better, and is aging better than anything Toyota has made since the late 2000s. The 1st gen Model 3 looks clean and smooth. The 2ng gen Model 3 is a step backward with that angry slit-eye bullshit though.
Didn’t even realize Teslas had multiple gens yet. Guess they just kept adding balsa wood until the car looked different.
I think the new Model 3 they just announced is a huge upgrade in appearance, personally…
:shrug:
I don’t know why every automaker is trying so hard to put 2 tone painting in every possible car. It doesn’t look good in most cases, this is no exception.
Now bring back the Camry wagon!
Maybe that’s the Crown Signia post I haven’t read yet.
That would make it a contender to replace my volvo xc60 T8 when the lease is up! Cheaper and (likely) with a bigger trunk FTW
Double rear wipers at least!
I’d rather have an Accord. Honestly, the problem is that all new cars are stupid expensive and just getting more so. Gone are the days of getting a nice sized, roomy family hauler for less than $30k. These days, a bone stock Civic LX will set you back $25k or more, where my 2008 Civic was $18k, and that was with upgrades. I realize $7k in increased cost over 16 years may not seem like much to some, but the industry is starting to price most Americans out of buying new cars. I’ll be driving my 2011 CR-V until David finishes restoring all of his jeeps and gets cured of his rust addiction.
I mean, you’re just wrong. $18k in 2008 = $26K in 2023 dollars. So you’re complaining that cars are cheaper?
It sounds to me like the complaint is regarding the staggering inflation that’s going on.
I agree.
But hourly wages for most people haven’t gone up the same amount and/or other costs of living have increased so much that there is less money left over after other expenses to afford a car.
Then the complaint isn’t cars are expensive, the complaint is we don’t make enough money. Two different things, same outcome.
18k was a lot for a Civic in 2008. A better example would be an 18k Fit in 2018 vs a 25k civic in 2023.
I was comparing my $18k for a sport tuned civic coupe vs 25k for a base LX sedan today. MSRP of a civic coupe in 08 was $17k +/- fees
Which is still a marginal increase relative to inflation, especially considering a 2023 civic comes standard with lots of things an 08 did not. Not sure what you’re complaining about.
My spouse and teenage child hated the seats in the Accord trims. I was okay with them. Driving the Accord Hybrid Touring reminded me of my Gen1 SHO. I thought that was good, but I was over-ruled.
I’ve always enjoyed the Accord. Maybe that’s because I grew up riding in them.