New Camry: Toyota's local hero

TOYOTA says its new fifth generation Camry is the most Australian, the safest and the strongest ever, thanks to its unique locally-developed body.

Due to go on sale in September, the 380N Camry has cost Toyota Australia $350 million to develop and is a vital weapon in its fight against the significantly revised Barra Falcon and facelifted VY Commodore due in October.

It is also the key to its return to profitability as the current car has proved a huge export earner for the company, with a record 59,200 660T Camrys sent overseas in 2001.

While the new Camry looks identical to versions already on sale in the US and Japan, it uses a different platform and modified bodyshell.

Instead of taking the international design in total, Toyota Australia has adapted the existing platform underpinning the locally-built Avalon family car and mated it to the new bodyshell.

That is because the new Camry and the Avalon will be built on the same production line at Toyota's Altona assembly plant in Victoria.

"We needed to be able to take away all the discrepancies through that production line to make sure we get the correct build of car," said Toyota Australia body design engineer Maurie Laherty.

"We can't make it too complicated ... otherwise it's just too hard to control through manufacture, so that was one of the main driving points of why we were trying to come up with a common platform."A challenging spin-off for Toyota of this decision is that the Avalon and Camry now have an identical 2720mm wheelbase, as well as sharing V6 drivelines. Toyota intends to market the Camry as a sporting and dynamic car, and aim it at a younger market than Avalon.

The Toyota Modular Platform (TMP) is predominantly modified in the front-end compared to the Avalon. That platform, in turn, is a stretched version of the one underpinning the current 660T Camry which went on sale in September, 1997. That traces its history back to the first wide-bodied Camry, the 786, sold here between 1993 and 1997.

Unique features of TMP compared to the Avalon include:* New radiator upper
* New apron and front spring towers
* New dash sub-assembly
* New front quarter inner members
* New front floor in the parking brake area - flows on into Avalon
* New front reinforcement on the front floor which mates up to the all-new dashboard
* New hole under the rear-seat for the fuel tank pump mounting - introduced into Avalon as well
* Centre floor bracketry which mounts up to strainers that go up to the package tray
* New panel roof and sides at the rear which mate up to the new side members.

The body has also been significantly altered so it can be mated to the TMP. In fact, Mr Laherty says that while the local Camry looks identical to overseas versions, the two bodies are not interchangeable.

Changes have also been made to the platform and body to improve safety performance.

Toyota says 380N will achieve four-star crash performance, making that judgment based on its own Global Outstanding Assessment (GOA) tests which subject the car to a 55km/h side impact, 64km/h offset deformable barrier, 50km/h rear moving barrier and a low speed rear pole test.

The current Camry is a three-star NCAP performer and Toyota says the new generation will achieve four stars without side airbags, which will be available with 380N.

Toyota is also claiming improvements to strength and reductions in weight for the new bodyshell, but has yet to provide data to back that up.

Nintey-five per cent of the 380N's body panels will be pressed locally, including all-new one-piece side members which will be stamped out on new $18 million press at Altona.

The plan is to push that level closer to 100 per cent over the next 12 months, reflecting a drive to increase local content of the Camry range overall.

Toyota wants to make the new Camry a much more dynamic drive. Find out how it plans to do it here next Tuesday when we detail the car's chassis development.