Does this make you feel old, too? The Toyota Camry – in Japanese, the nameplate roughly translates to “crown,” which also used to be a Toyota model moniker – will turn 37 in 2021, capping an amazing run in the global automotive universe that saw the car start out as a home-market, four-door version of the Celica sports coupe before blossoming into the United States’ top-selling passenger car from 1997 through 2016. That’s an amazing record, covering a time span that saw the Camry evolve into a strongly equipped midsize sedan for those interested in much more than basic transportation. The Camry will come into 2021 with dramatic styling that accents the car’s broadest and most diverse model lineup in its long history. How so? The 2021 lineup will offer five trim levels with four-cylinder power, five more with four cylinders and all-wheel drive, three trim levels for V-6 models, and four when hybrid powertrains are specified. Among them will be the Camry XSE Hybrid, the first-ever version of the car to mate electric power with the Camry’s highest level of appointments.
Every new 2021 Camry will debut Toyota Safety Sense 2.5+, the manufacturer’s array of driver-assist technology that will include automatic emergency braking. The interior will feature new seven- and nine-inch floating multimedia displays. What gets our attention most forcefully, however, is the line’s first-ever performance variant, the Camry TRD, which will mate Toyota’s direct-injected, 301hp V-6 with an eight-speed automatic transmission and, heavens, a cat-back performance exhaust system. A front splitter, rear spoiler and side skirts will be part of the go-fast visuals. The TRD-tuned chassis adds stiffer coil springs that drop the Camry TRD’s ride height by more than half an inch. Its front brakes will have 12.9-inch rotors with dual-piston calipers. Just the ticket for all the Kyle Busch fans out there.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 