Thai-built Hybrid ready for sale

Toyota Motor Thailand previewed the Hybrid on sale on July 27, and launched a new Camry sedan with minor changes.

The Thai-assembled Camry Hybrid is the first Camry Hybrid based on the Aurion-based Camry body. Around 47 per cent of its parts have been produced in Thailand.

As the Camry sold well in Thailand and ASEAN regions based on the Australian Toyota Aurion, it made sense for Toyota to base the Thai Camry Hybrid on the Aurion body. The Toyota Camry Hybrid features its own front grille and rear tail lamp design as well as a front bumper that looks similar to the old Camry, but there are some differences in the fog lamp area.

Toyota Motor Thailand President Mr. Mitsuhiro Sonoda said the Camry Hybrid would be priced closely to existing petrol-powered Camry models in Thailand, predicting a premium of not more than 100,000 Thai baht. This is because the Camry Hybrid is subject to an excise duty of only 10% instead of 35% in Thailand. Therefore, its price has been set at around 1.8 million baht.

The warranty for the Hybrid will be extended to five years or 150,000km, whichever is longer than the regular three-year warranty. This is to help ease public acceptance of the relatively new technology which many fear will be expensive to maintain. Toyota has also partnered with insurance firms selected by Toyota to offer the same premiums as the regular models, despite the Camry hybrid having more parts that are expensive.