2024 Toyota Camry Facelift Seemingly Teased With Prius-Like Design [UPDATE]
The animated sedan made an appearance in a Toyota marketing video about buying versus leasing.
Over the weekend, Toyota USA shared a video on YouTube discussing the differences between leasing and financing in order to help customers decide which is best for them. The video uses stop-motion animation with model cars to break down the pros and cons, however, it also appeared to have shown the facelifted Toyota Camry set to debut in 2024. The vehicle in the rendering shares its front-end design with the new Prius, leading many to believe it was a leak of the upcoming sedan. Toyota has now debunked the rumor.
Update 9/25 4:30 pm ET: A Toyota spokesperson responded to The Drive's original inquiry with the following statement: “It was created by one of Toyota Financial Service’s vendors that mistakenly used an artist’s conceptual rendering of a Camry that was a meant as a placeholder during the production process. The vendor has no access to Toyota planned vehicle design images and the image is not a preview of a future Camry. Toyota Financial Services is removing the image from the video.” This story has been updated to reflect this change.
About 48 seconds into the video, you see a little book titled "The Amazing Toyota." On its cover is what looks to be a Toyota Camry, as it has the overall body shape of the current model including the same side mirrors and proportions. However, it has headlights very similar to that of the stylish new Prius. While the face isn't exactly the same, it has similar wraparound headlights at both ends and connects to the grille in between them.
Along with the new headlights, it gets a massive lower front grille and what looks to be a more sculpted hood.
The car in question is only on the screen for exactly two seconds, and it never returns, so it seems Toyota didn't want it up there for long. Plus, someone had to animate that exact car into the ad, which was then seen by countless internal eyeballs before making it to YouTube. It now appears that no one objected because it doesn't actually preview an upcoming product.
It was possible all along that it could be the Toyota Crown, an overseas model we don't have in the U.S., or some fictional car some graphic designer came up with. Even though we thought those were unlikely reasons, it now seems it was the latter.
There's no word on when the new Camry will be officially revealed but if Toyota is realizing how widely anticipated it is, it could be very soon.
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