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Buyers Flock To Newly Redesigned 2018 Toyota Camry - Accord Falls Back

Timing, they say, is everything. A quick look at the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord Sales proves the point.

The all-new 2018 Toyota Camry just had its best-ever November. With 34,991 units sold in the past month, the new Camry is up 24% over last year’s November sales of the 2017 model year car. By comparison, the Accord from Honda declined 15% in sales with a net total of 22,998 cars sold. The Camry thus outsold its arch nemesis by 36% on the month. With one month left to go in 2017, the Camry is again a shoe-in for top-selling mid-sized car in America and may well be the top-selling (non-truck) car of the year.

The Camry’s sales surge is due in part to its complete redesign. Everything changed for Camry this year. The car is on a new platform, has new engines, and is restyled inside and out. It is very rare for Toyota to handle a redesign in this fashion.

Typically, Toyota will change engines or a platform or an infotainment system in a given model year. For 2018, the whole car changed.
- Related: Safety Group's Conclusion On 2018 Toyota Camry Is Unusual

Buyers are clearly embracing the new 2018 Camry. We verified with Toyota that the 2018 was the model year on sale in November. Honda’s Accord was not entirely 2018 model year cars during the month. The 2.0-liter Accords which replaced the V6 models had not yet arrived at all and the base 1.5-liter 2018 Accords were only just starting to ship to dealers. Honda’s inventory was primarily, or entirely 2017 model year cars in November. In other words, “last year’s model.”

This is also unusual in automotive sales. Key competitors typically align their model year changes, or they are completely out of synch. Here, Honda’s new Accord design trailed the new Camry by about six to eight weeks. The results are almost stunning. A side-by-side comparison of both the 2018 Camry and 2018 Accord show that both models have improved dramatically.

Are you considering to buy or recently bought a 2018 Toyota Camry or Honda Accord? If yes, please share your experience in the comments section below for discussion. If you liked this article and think it may help your friends, consider sharing or tweeting it to your followers.

Comments

Graham (not verified)    December 5, 2017 - 1:51AM

I spent some time in a 2018 Camry XSE at a local dealership. I'm afraid Toyota has lost me as a potential customer over their refusal to support smartphone integration (Apple CarPlay / Android Auto). One of the reasons I wanted a new car was so I could see Google Maps on the dashboard display, but you can't do this with the new Toyotas. Toyota uses something called Scout GPS for navigation. I was not impressed with the user interface (and read the horrible reviews on the iTunes Store). So, it will be a 2018 Accord for me.