America’s favorite sedan is getting a refresh for 2025 and Toyota has just dropped a major clue about what to expect when the covers come off on November 14. A single teaser image of a taillight hit our inbox accompanied by text telling us that “Toyota Camry raises to new heights with no compromises.”
Could that statement hint at a smidge of crossover infusion, perhaps? We’ll know soon enough but we’ve already seen spy shots of the next Camry and even through the heavy disguise (check out the gallery further down the page) we can see that it retains a traditional sedan shape and has a separate old-school sedan trunk rather than a liftback hatch.
Looking at those pictures again, though, the ride height does appear to be a bit more generous than before, and is that the outline of plastic wheelarch trims we can see bulging out from beneath the camo on the fenders?
Related: Toyota Crown Estate Reborn As “Crown SUV” For America, Debuts November 14
Perhaps, and we might be off the mark here, but it seems like Toyota could try to sustain the Camry’s popularity by pulling off some of the same tricks Subaru employed when reinventing the WRX. We’ll still get all the same Camry stuff that helped it become the fifth-best-selling vehicle in the U.S. last year, and the most popular that wasn’t a truck or SUV – that’s the “no compromises” bit Toyota mentions in its release. But a little more air between the floor and the road and a smattering of rugged-looking plastics could make it appear more modern and on-trend.
Toyota itself has already applied that same thinking to the Camry’s newer brother, the Crown, which might be 3.4-inches (86mm) longer than the Camry (196.1-in. / 4,980mm versus 192.7-in. / 4,894 mm), but features a liftback design, comes standard with all-wheel drive, and starts at $40k rather than $26k.
The Crown was new to the U.S. for the 2023 model year and rides on an updated version of the TNGA-K platform found under today’s 2024 Camry, which dates back to 2017. What we don’t know is whether Toyota will merely heavily update the current Camry, or if the new one is essentially a notchback version of the Crown that has a lower price point by starting with front-wheel drive powertrains.
Hybrid combined with AWD for the first time
We do already know from an earlier Camry teaser (seen above) that the new sedan will get DRLs that look like the LEDs on the new Prius. And this latest teaser shows a pair of badges that confirm the 2025 car will mate a hybrid system and all-wheel drive for the first time.
While the 2024 ICE Camry can be optioned with AWD, the hybrid can’t, though that combo is available on the Crown in either 236 hp (239 PS) 2.5-liter or 340 hp (345 PS) 2.4 turbo form. The Crown doesn’t offer a V6 engine at all, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the current Camry’s 301 hp (305 PS) 3.5-liter V6 was pensioned-off for 2025. We’ll find out next week when Toyota reveals all.
