Toyota Camry registered 6.1 percent negative YoY growth as customers prefer SUV models instead of traditional body styles
Toyota Camry was the best selling car in the US market for 16 years, but things are looking different for the future. Globally, sales of sedan and small cars are coming down as customers prefer high riding SUV models instead of traditional body styles, as they offer good ground clearance and space inside the cabin.
We have seen many automakers taking the hard decision to discontinue sedans and instead focus on SUV models to continue growth. This shift in momentum has affected Camry also as sales are coming down each month and the sedan registered 6.1 per cent negative growth. But its not all bad news for Toyota as RAV4 SUV has taken the title of best selling car in the US from Camry, so its a win-win situation for the company.
Toyota is manufacturing the Camry at its Kentucky plant and the automaker has decided to slow one of the three assembly lines, even though it won’t make a dent in Camry sales or lose job of any employers, as it’s a normal process to plan months in advance for volume adjustments according to Rick Hesterberg, a spokesman of Toyota said.
But the company is not giving an exact number of production cut and they were expecting sales to creep up after the introduction of eight generation model last year as the new Camry is completely different from the outgoing model with sporty design theme, which will appeal to young customers.
Toyota’s premium brand Lexus’ ES models are also manufactured at the same plant as the company has confirmed that production of these models won’t be affected. The Camry is not the only model to register lower sales figures as arch-rival Honda Accord is also following the same path even after the launch of the new model.
The company is going to discontinue the Yaris as customers prefer compact crossovers and a replacement model is expected to be introduced soon in the US. The Japanese manufacturer is planning to introduce more variants of Camry like the recently announced sporty TRD models to improve sales of the premium sedan.