All-New 2018 Toyota Camry Sends Chills Down One's Back

Torque News’ senior editor was among a select group of media professionals at a Toyota event held in Detroit today at which the new 2018 Toyota Camry was first announced. This is not a refresh, but a clean-sheet Camry we are told and although the current Camry is still a sales leader in its class, it is well overdue for an update.

The update is worth waiting for according to Toyota insiders our team spoke with. Bob Carter, Toyota’s Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations, told our own Patrick Rall that the new Camry “Sends chills down his back,” it is so good. Carter has been with Toyota since 1981 and knows a winner when he sees it.

Information is very limited at this point about how the new 2018 Toyota Camry line will change. Torque News has long predicted a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine option for the Camry, and we would be surprised if a CVT transmission didn’t trickle down from the Camry Hybrid. Five or ten years ago we would have lamented changes such as these, but Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, and Honda have proven that high-torque, super-efficient turbocharged gasoline engines can be responsive and frugal. CVTs have gone from being a detriment to a benefit as automakers have learned to adapt them to drivers’ preferences.

With Akio Toyoda’s 2010 mandate that Toyota and Lexus vehicles be fun to drive, we expect that the Camry will be more interesting to commuters and family car buyers that are looking for something with more dynamic styling and driving characteristics. The mainstream and boy-racer press will pan the new Camry before it is out, after they test it, and once its sales numbers again put it on top of its class, but for actual buyers of affordable midsize sedans, the new Camry could soon be an exciting new development.

The current Camryis rated the most made-in-America car in the U.S. Toyota will unveil the new 2018 Camry at the Detroit Auto Show in early January.