Toyota Camry Hybrid taking a lead role

Get set to see Toyota Australia promoting the Camry Hybrid for all its worth.

Why? The reasons are various, starting with product planning issues. When you don't have a fuel-sipping diesel or downsized turbocharged petrol engine in your mid-size passenger car range, a hybrid is the next best thing, of course. Some would argue it's actually better than the other two drivetrain options.

According to Tony Cramb, Toyota Australia's executive director for sales and marketing, there are already signs of a movement away from the conventional four-cylinder Camry to the Hybrid – from fleets as well as private buyers. Promoting the Hybrid plays to Toyota's strength in the Camry range.

"What we're finding is Camry four-cylinder is being cannibalised by the Hybrid... We also see a big opportunity for the Hybrid Camry in private [sales]. That's why we think it will end up being the [volume seller]."

So Toyota is presenting this as a consumer-driven focus on variants that are cheaper to run and better for the environment, but there's also internal pressure building for Toyota Australia to stay in step with the rest of the Toyota world – and push buyers in the direction of greener variants like the Camry Hybrid.

"We have a 2025 vision, which we're all working towards," says Cramb. "That's what drives all these things: product, marketing, sales planning... all that stuff is aimed up at 2025.

"That's why Camry Hybrid is so important.

"We've got a stated goal of zero emissions by 2050. And Toyota doesn't go public and not deliver."

Questioned what percentage of Camry sales the Hybrid would have to achieve to be the volume seller in the new generation range, Cramb said he was unsure.

"It really depends on the mix between the four and the six. So the six is the one that's a little bit unknown."

Asked whether Toyota anticipated selling more Camry V6 variants in the new range than it was currently selling Aurions, Cramb simply replied: "Not sure."

Currently the Aurion is selling fewer than 15 per cent of the total Camry/Aurion sales for the year to date. On that basis it is already outsold by the Hybrid.

The V6 flagship model that replaces the Aurion will be perceived as a car for older buyers, as Cramb explained to motoring.com.au last week. It's a more conservative choice, and its performance will be considered essential for overtaking, so country buyers are more likely to choose it over the Hybrid or the four-cylinder. But the unknown-quantity factor implicit in the Camry V6 is its appeal as a muscular performance model.

"When the sports variant comes out, and when you drive that with the new eight-speed transmission, there's going to be some people who really want to drive that vehicle," Cramb indicated.

"That's going to be really appealing to motoring enthusiasts. I think that might open things up for us a bit."

That would be a return to the form of the first Aurion, if it pans out that way. Presumably Toyota believes it can pick up more V6 sales than before without the locally-built – and rear-wheel drive – Commodore SV6 or Falcon XR6 standing in the way. And that's why Toyota is uncertain in its reckoning of Camry V6 sales for next year.

If the V6 Camry thus achieves a higher percentage of Camry sales, that will likely have some impact on four-cylinder Camry as a percentage of total sales – but it won't necessarily have much impact on Camry Hybrid sales.

"We obviously have a plan," Cramb continued. "The other thing is initially it will be the four-cylinder Camry [as volume seller in the range].

"I'm not trying to say that from day one the Hybrid will be the best-selling vehicle of the three; what I'm trying to say is in time, this generation of product, we believe, given what's happening in Australia and where the government regulations could go, that the Hybrid could end up being the vehicle of choice for Australians."

Toyota Australia has actively promoted the Camry Hybrid since the car's launch here in 2010. At the time, Toyota stated it expected to sell about 10,000 hybrid Camrys a year. Last year, 25 per cent of Camrys sold in Australia were hybrids, Cramb says. But domestic sales of Camry in 2016 were fewer than 28,000 units, which would mean the Hybrid achieved roughly 7000 sales for the year – still some way off that stretch goal to sell 10,000 units back in 2008.

And that's despite the price reductions and improved packaging in the current model. The upcoming Camry Hybrid is better again than the current model for roominess and practicality.

Currently, just $4000 separates the Camry Hybrid Altise from its conventional four-cylinder counterpart. If the price between the new Hybrid and its conventional four-cylinder sibling narrows further, Toyota will have little excuse for the petrol/electric Camry failing to be the sales mainstay in the range.