All-New 2025 Toyota Camry Breaks Cover, Goes Hybrid Only
The midsize sedan market in Canada is crumbling. Last year, the 35,000 or so units accounted for just 2.4 percent of total new vehicle sales in the country. Driven by the Camry, Prius and Mirai, Toyota’s share was a whopping 40.6 percent.
Clearly, the Japanese automaker has bigger fish to fry, yet it’s not about to drop from the segment like others plan to do. The Chevrolet Malibu is entering its final year, while the days of the Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Altima and Subaru Legacy are numbered, as well.
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Sedans are still quite popular in the U.S., especially the Toyota Camry which has been leading the way for the past 21 years. In fact, it continues to outsell even the Corolla, Civic and Elantra, which are the top three best-selling cars in Canada. In 2022, as many as 295,000 Camrys were sold in Joe Biden’s land, or nearly one for 1,000 Americans. Incredible, isn’t it?
Introduced on Tuesday night at a special event in Los Angeles, the ninth generation of the U.S.-built Camry is critical for Toyota. Similar to its predecessors, there were will be plenty of models to choose from south of the border, but only four up north. Why? Toyota Canada will tell you the base LE model was a non-factor, so don’t be shocked that it’s not returning. The 2025 Camry will be available in SE FWD, SE AWD, XSE AWD and XLE AWD trim, with a few options that can be tacked on to some of them.
Hybrid Only
The most significant change about the new Toyota Camry is that the gasoline engines are gone. Not only the 2.5-litre four-cylinder mill, but also the 3.5-litre V6 that powered the sporty Camry TRD. The only powertrain available from now on is the hybrid, but it’s been revised in order to boost output to 225 horsepower in FWD application or 232 horsepower in AWD application.
That’s great, because the 2023-2024 Camry could not be specified with both hybrid tech and AWD. In addition to the 30-horsepower bump, Toyota says fuel economy is improved by at least 25 percent. Keep in mind that official fuel consumption ratings will be announced at a later date.
Built on the same TNGA-K platform as the outgoing sedan, the 2025 Toyota Camry is a few millimetres longer, yet stuck with the same wheelbase. Some of the body structure is unchanged, from the windshield to the rear window, but the car looks much more modern and sharper, particularly the SE and XSE models. In Canada, 18-inch wheels come standard, while the XSE rides on 19-inch alloys.
Completely Redesigned Interior
The updated interior marks a radical departure, that’s for sure. Check out the available 12.3-inch centre touchscreen powered by Toyota’s new multimedia system (base models get an 8-inch display).
Fit and finish is improved, while livelier colour combinations help create a more dynamic and more upscale cabin. Compared with the latest Honda Accord, we’d say attention to detail is more prominent.
Toyota Canada expects 50 percent of new Camry sales to be AWD models, while said Accord continues to settle for FWD. The Camry is also the only midsize sedan to combine AWD and a hybrid powertrain in the same package, giving it a clear edge over the Sonata, Altima, Legacy and Kia K5, whose AWD variants come with a gasoline engine only.
The 2025 Toyota Camry will go on sale in the spring of 2024, with pricing details to be announced closer to launch. The outgoing Camry Hybrid model has a base MSRP of about $37,000, just to give you an idea, while the conventionally powered 2024 Honda Accord starts at $37,500 (and $41,500 in hybrid configuration).