Toyota has officially lost it . . .

The newest Camry commercial just described it as having "an exciting racing pedigree".  

As a current Toyota owner, I'm embarrassed.  Just stop it.

Cultural change takes time when you're a huge company and your marketing kids are from the iPhone era.  If they really want to appeal to car guys/gals, then they need to hire some.  I applaud the effort to move the needle off 'beige.'

Saw a new Camry XSE the other day and it looked ok.  The fake vents in the rear bumper cover of the SE made me cringe.  Still a lot of Toyota DNA in there that they need to shake off.

The average Camry buyer has no idea the NASCAR car isn’t an actual Camry. They don’t make commercials for car people. 

Well, duh, it's grounded to the ground. 

I dunno what you guys are talking about.  I saw them racin' that NASCAR Camry.  Said "CAMRY" all over it.  I think the anouncer even mentioned that it was a Camry.  That's good enough for me.

Toyota said:  "XSE and SE models push the limits of the new, wider stance with unique catamaran-inspired accents and a black sport mesh grille that demand to be seen."

Ok...maybe you're right.    

It's faster than most of our cars

GCrites80s said:

It's faster than most of our cars

Who invited this guy in? 

Same appeal as the horrible Nissan Altima commercials where they put people in stock cars made to look like race cars.  

Remember, in advertising the louder and more often they say something "is" the less likely it really "is".  

Camry is faster than a FRS off the lights.

Course, so is pretty much anything above a Moped.

NOHOME said:

Camry is faster than a FRS off the lights.

And a Sonic is faster through the cones...

John Welsh said:

Remember, in advertising the louder and more often they say something "is" the less likely it really "is".  

And the more likely people will believe it.

Dr. Hess said:

I dunno what you guys are talking about.  I saw them racin' that NASCAR Camry.  Said "CAMRY" all over it.  I think the anouncer even mentioned that it was a Camry.  That's good enough for me.

Wasn't there a recent discussion about race oil, and it was deemed that NASCAR isn't racing? 

Well since the Camry has such a racing pedigree Toyota should offer its biggest Camry engine as a plug and play crate motor.


Mostly since a 300 hp toyota v6 would likely end up in some interesting places.

NOHOME said:

Camry is faster than a FRS off the lights.

Course, so is pretty much anything above a Moped.

Shut your dirty mouth!!!

OK, I admit that I couldn't pull a 2.5 Altima sedan (probably an autotragic) 0 to 60 mph where I dropped off and let him by so I could get over and make my turn...

I dunno...I haven't driven the newest Camry.  I only got to look at them and sit in them at SEMA, they had a whole bunch of them there.  I've heard that this newest one is far better than the previous ones for driving "excitement".  Though considering how milquetoast the previous several generations were, they can only go up.

I’ll never understand the marketing. “Here’s a huge family sedan, we make it go faster than Our sports cars so you won’t feel like a depressed dad that’s been mowed down by his wife’s incessant control issues” 

and then marketing idiot A says “hey, let’s build a sports car, but let’s make it the slowest car in the line up!”

marketing idiot B replies “hey! That’s a great way to piss everyone off! Sure! Get the green light on that ASAP!”

Senior marketing guy “I quit.”

I checked out a new Camry XSE in pearl white with black top and red interior yesterday and it was friggin fantastic for a Camry. I loved the interior design. I'd really like to drive one. It was at the big new-car annual auto show here in San Antonio and it was sort of the most exciting thing i saw there. It really exceeded my expectations.  Also got to check out the Lexus LC which only hit about 95% of my expectations, mostly due to complaints about navigating infotainment. 

Also, the new Prius is great (but i saw that last year). Every time i touch one i spare a thought for buying one, financing, depreciation and everything. 

Toyota makes some boring cars but so do a lot of other manufacturers and overall i think Toyota is one of the brands that's moving in a direction i like. 

Trackmouse said:

I’ll never understand the marketing. “Here’s a huge family sedan, we make it go faster than Our sports cars so you won’t feel like a depressed dad that’s been mowed down by his wife’s incessant control issues”

That's why they put the V8s in the SUVs.

Vigo said:

and it was friggin fantastic for a Camry

But, that is a "qualifier".  It's not a "fantastic" car it's "fantastic for a Camry"... so we lower our expectations and accept a mediocre car because it is better than previous versions of a turd.

Don't forget about the Camry's long history of competing in NHRA.

Is it possible to resize hotlinked images?  In the image properties I am able to tell it how big I want the picture, it started at 2000 x 1335 so I resized it to 400 x 267 but that seems to have gone out the window when I posted.  I can go in and edit the properties and the size will change in the preview but once I hit 'post' it's always enormous.

Schmidlap said:

Don't forget about the Camry's long history of competing in NHRA.

 

Is it possible to resize hotlinked images?  In the image properties I am able to tell it how big I want the picture, it started at 2000 x 1335 so I resized it to 400 x 267 but that seems to have gone out the window when I posted.  I can go in and edit the properties and the size will change in the preview but once I hit 'post' it's always enormous.

I wouldn't worry about resizing pics any more than I worry about Toyota's advertising. Is this thread the "Grassroots Motorsports" thread version of "Off Topic's" Minor Rant thread?

My 80 year-old dad LOVES his Camry.

secretariata said:

Vigo said:

and it was friggin fantastic for a Camry

But, that is a "qualifier".  It's not a "fantastic" car it's "fantastic for a Camry"... so we lower our expectations and accept a mediocre car because it is better than previous versions of a turd.

That all comes down to how you measure it. Are you grading it on how excited you are when you see one in person? Then it fails. How fast it is? I dont know, I havent checked it out, but i bet its not slow. But if you grade it the way 98% of the population does, which is "when i need to go somewhere it gets me there without any grief" then they are an overwhelming success. Yeah, advertising it as a race car for the streets is a stretch, but the 9 bajillion units they have sold usually means a car is far from a turd. 

But, that is a "qualifier".  It's not a "fantastic" car it's "fantastic for a Camry"... so we lower our expectations and accept a mediocre car because it is better than previous versions of a turd.

I think you and I have very different impressions of the Camry.  I also really liked the '11-14 models and the only thing that really stopped me from thinking about buying one was buying a same-size-better-everything 340HP Lexus GS450h.