Toyota Camry Stripped Nude, Given New Clothes for 2015

For 2015, Toyota is peeling away all the sheet metal below the roof to keep it’s perennial cash cow in the top spot.

Bowing at the 2014 New York Auto Show, this is one of Toyota’s most important vehicle debuts if not one of its least exciting. The all-important guts are exactly the same, meaning a 2.5-liter four cylinder, 3.5-liter V6 and 2.5-liter Atkinson cycle hybrid are still at the heart of what makes a Camry, well, a Camry. It’s a proven formula that Toyota counts on for consistent sales like McDonald’s does the Big Mac.

Unlike the sandwich made of “two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions on a sesame seed bun,” the 2015 Toyota Camry requires regular rejuvenation to maintain its sales dominance. Since launching the current generation in 2011, Toyota can lay claim to almost one million Camry sales. For a single nameplate in the auto industry, that arguably does make this car the auto industry’s Big Mac.

Seeking to spice up its bread-and-butter product, Toyota revised all the body panels for 2015 save the roof. The end result looks an awful lot like a scaled up version of the new Corolla: angrier in appearance, but appreciably the same to drive. Or at least that’s the tempting assumption, but Toyota claims otherwise.

The company says it added spot welds to the chassis, adding stiffness for an improved ride quality. Revisions to the suspension also supposedly improve its handling. Toyota also increased track width by almost half an inch and added 1.8 inches to the body’s overall length.

Cabin updates include more soft touch materials and 30 percent more sound insulation for a quieter ride. There’s a new 4.2-inch screen in the gauge cluster. There’s also a redesigned center console tray.

Toyota says its sportier SE grade Camry – which comes with a stiffer suspension and differently calibrated electric power steering – will continue beside a more premium “XSE” trim. Toyota will also offer its hybrid model with the sportier SE adjustments starting in 2015 when the new models begin arriving in dealerships this fall.

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