Toyota Camry axed in Japan after 43-year run, safe for Australia

Toyota has announced it will discontinue the Camry sedan in its Japanese home market in late 2023, after a 43-year run.

However, as reported by Nikkei Asia, production in Japan will continue for export markets.

A spokesperson for Toyota Australia told Wheels there are "categorically no plans to stop selling Camry in Australia", as it “remains as incredibly popular as ever.”

The report states “new Camry models under development will be sold exclusively to foreign markets”, with rumours suggesting the ninth-generation Camry will launch in the next two to three years.

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In its 43-year history, Toyota has shifted over 21 million Camrys worldwide, with around 1.3 million sales in Japan since 1980.

But while the Camry remains popular globally – particularly in the United States – sales fell to less than 6000 units in Japan last year, partly due to the semiconductor chip shortage.

In Australia, the Camry is the most-popular mid-size passenger vehicle, with 9538 examples registered last year – more than six times the amount of the second-placed Mazda 6.

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It was outsold by the more-expensive Tesla Model 3 in 2022, however, with 10,877 sales of the all-electric sedan – and plenty more expected this year.

In Japan, the Camry also faces competition within Toyota’s range, with all-new versions of the Prius hybrid and the Crown – available in sedan, estate, SUV, and crossover form – launched in the past 12 months. Both are off-limits for Australia.

The current-generation, Japanese-built Toyota Camry, launched in 2017, returned to being an imported model in Australia – the first in 30 years after Toyota’s manufacturing facility in Melbourne closed.

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2024 Toyota Camry speculative rendering by Theottle

It remains popular with fleet, taxi and ride-share buyers, in addition to private customers – but the RAV4 mid-size SUV is Toyota’s top-selling passenger vehicle in Australia, with 34,845 registrations in 2022 and a 12-month-plus wait list for the most-popular hybrid variants.

The next-generation Camry, depicted above in our speculative renderings, is expected to take cues from Toyota’s latest vehicles – such as the Crown and Prius – with hybrid-only powertrains and similar underpinnings to the current model.

Inside, new technology is tipped to include a larger widescreen running Toyota’s latest infotainment system, a digital instrument cluster, and a smartphone-based digital key.