The most popular mid-size sedan in the North American market is the Toyota Camry, and later this year we should see an all-new model.

The seventh generation model is set to debut this fall, as indicated by Toyota’s vice-president and general manager Bob Carter.

Toyota sold 327,804 Camry’s last year, and while that would be a huge and successful number for any automaker, it was in fact the lowest tally in Camry’s history since 1994. The current model had been in the market since March 2006.

No details have been given about the new Camry, but expect more of the same with some new clothing. It’s not yet clear if Toyota plans to continue to offer a V6 model, or switch to 4-cylinders only, like Hyundai has done with the new Sonata and Chevy is planning with the Malibu. A new Camry Hybrid will certainly be a part of the model mix.

[Source: Wards Auto]

Toyota is taking Honda’s Insight threat seriously… very seriously. In fact, the world’s largest automaker will price the new (third-generation) Prius directly in competition with the Honda’s Insight in the Japanese market.

Set to go on sale on May 18th, the new Prius will cost just $20,750 (2.05 million yen). The number isn’t official from Toyota, but that is the price that dealerships have been given.

The Insight has a starting MSRP of $20,470 ($19,800 before delivery), which is well below the expected Prius price of $24,000.

If the Prius does in fact get it’s U.S. pricing set at just over $20,000, it will be an attractive package as it is not only a larger vehicle than the Insight (with more interior room) but it also gets significantly better fuel mileage with 51/48 mpg (city/highway) compared to the Insight at 40/43.

Higher trim levels of the Prius will, however, raise the price significantly with the top level model coming in at 3.27 million yen (or $33,100). The fully-loaded Insight, on the other hand, will still only cost 2.21 million yen (or $22,370) in Japan.

Meanwhile Toyota, which has sad that it will keep selling the current Prius model in Japan, is discounting its MSRP to 1.89 million yen ( or $19,130).

[Source: AutoWeek]