The Toyota Camry has its roots in the Toyota Celica when the Celica Camry was introduced 30 years ago as a four-door version of the Toyota Celica which was meant exclusively for the domestic Japanese market. The original Celica Camry was essentially a restyled Toyota Carina with styling cues taken from the 1978 Celica Supra. The popularity of the four doors Celica Camry encouraged Toyota to think of a new separate model line for the Camry.

So in 1982 the Camry became a separate model line available in two versions, a four door sedan and a fastback version, this original lineup was known as the V10 version and was followed by the V20 model line in 1986 which included an additional station wagon variant. In 1990 when Toyota introduced the V30 series of Toyota Camry it was a Japan only model series to cope with the newly introduced Japanese Automotive Tax regulations, this model line featured a slimmer body than that featured in the past Camry model lineups. For the overseas market however a “wide-body” model the XV10 was introduced. In 1996 the XV20 replaced the XV10 and this model line finally ended the era of separate Camry’s with similar Camry’s sold worldwide

The XV40 Camry was first introduced in 2006. Then in 2007 Toyota saw fit to completely redesign the Camry by giving it a more modern and sleeker design. This iteration of the Camry is the basis of the present model of the Toyota Camry with a minor facelifts and changes for the current model.

The current Toyota Camry is driven by either a four (2.5 CC) or six cylinder engine(3.5CC) depending on the model. Starting from 2010, the engine was tweaked to produce a higher power output of 169, as compared to the previous 158 power output for the 2007 to 2009 Camry’s. Starting 2010.power locks and traction was also included as standard items. The latest Toyota Camry features a five-speed manual or five-speed automatic gearbox. The current Camry was face lifted in 2009 and features a restyled fascia and new headlights and taillights. For 2011 Toyota introduced a brand new 2.5-liter 2AR-FE four-cylinder engine coupled to a new six-speed automatic gearbox. The 2.5-liter engine is more powerful than the previous 2.4 liter power plant and churns out 169 horsepower (126 kW) for the basic model and 179 horsepower (133 kW) for the higher spec 4 cylinder Toyota Camry. Other than the standard gasoline engine Camry’s the XV40 model lineup is also the first to feature a gasoline electric hybrid version which combines a four cylinder 2AZ-FXE engine mated to a 40 horsepower electric motor. The hybrid version is only available in selected markets including North America and Japan.

From its introduction 31 years ago till today Toyota’s Camry model continues to give users comfortable, efficient and dependable transportation. Toyota has continued to develop its Camry to be excellent though somewhat bland in this area and thanks to continued development the Toyota Camry has become one of the best selling mid sized cars for the past twenty five years.

More information on Toyota vehicle and Toyota Camry available at Toyota Malaysia’s website.