"Frank Sinatra Has A Cold" is widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of journalism ever, thanks largely to the fact that writer Gay Talese created an insightful portrait of the great crooner by chronicling the circumstances that conspired to keep him from actually interviewing the subject of his story.
The Toyota Camry isn't the Frank Sinatra of the auto market (Perry Como's more like it), but it is possible to write about the best-selling car in the U.S. without actually driving it, or seeing it, or even knowing anything about the latest version that is just now coming onto the market.
Partly this is because the Japanese firm's intent with Camry hasn't changed through six iterations now, but mostly it's because the people (Boomers, for the most part) who converted to Camryism 20 years ago aren't interested in what anyone has to say about it.
By and large, the people who buy the Camry (and most other Toyota models) do so because they don't really like cars but they know they have to own one. They want an appliance that will serve their needs with maximum reliability and minimum angst, and Camry has served them well for decades. The blandness of the car and the changes in the auto industry that have pushed many other products up to or even beyond Camry's level matter not to these folks. Camry and Toyota have served them well enough so far, so why should they spend any time thinking about another model or even another brand?
As you can imagine, this attitude to Camry and Toyota by large parts of the auto buying public tends to frustrate other car companies, but what's really interesting is that it increasingly tends to concern the people at Toyota.
Right now, the surface picture for Toyota is rosy, as it recently reported US$12.1 billion in profits for the last fiscal year, largely because Japan keeps the yen low against competing currencies and that allows its auto industry to suck billions out of American and Canadian consumers. The fly in this ointment is that its customer base for Camry and most of its other products is aging and a replacement crowd is proving intensely difficult to locate.
When people starting moving to Toyota and Honda 30 or even 20 years ago it made a lot of sense, since the Japanese firms were offering reliable, fuel-efficient products when the U.S. brands were offering mostly junk, or demi-junk. These buyers stayed loyal to Toyota because there was no usually no compelling reason to risk some other brand.
But the folks who weren't forced into Camrys and Corollas have a different view of Toyota's product line, and it isn't enthusiastic. They find Camry and most of the rest of the Toyota lineup boring, and if you scratch below the polite surface they will tell you that the people who buy Camry and most other Toyota models are just as boring as the cars they drive.
True or not, fair or not, this is the impression that Toyota has to battle as it works relentlessly to put a cool, hip face on every new model it launches. The latest Camry is no different, except that the effort to turn it into something desirable for people who know and love cars is a little more forced because Toyota knows that time is running out, that Boomers are coming to the end of their new car buying lives. Unfortunately for the giant Japanese auto company, working hard to look cool essentially kills any chance of that happening. The golden rule of cool is that you're not cool if you say you are.
These are the circumstances that make it unnecessary to actually drive a new Camry before commenting on it. If you want to know, I bet the new Camry is an excellent piece of work that will delight its devotees and cause the rest of us to stay out of Toyota stores in droves.
If I can paraphrase a singer that appeals to a different crowd: "You don't have to drive a Camry to see which way the wind's blowing."
photo:Toyota Canada
The Toyota Camry isn't the Frank Sinatra of the auto market (Perry Como's more like it), but it is possible to write about the best-selling car in the U.S. without actually driving it, or seeing it, or even knowing anything about the latest version that is just now coming onto the market.
Partly this is because the Japanese firm's intent with Camry hasn't changed through six iterations now, but mostly it's because the people (Boomers, for the most part) who converted to Camryism 20 years ago aren't interested in what anyone has to say about it.
By and large, the people who buy the Camry (and most other Toyota models) do so because they don't really like cars but they know they have to own one. They want an appliance that will serve their needs with maximum reliability and minimum angst, and Camry has served them well for decades. The blandness of the car and the changes in the auto industry that have pushed many other products up to or even beyond Camry's level matter not to these folks. Camry and Toyota have served them well enough so far, so why should they spend any time thinking about another model or even another brand?
As you can imagine, this attitude to Camry and Toyota by large parts of the auto buying public tends to frustrate other car companies, but what's really interesting is that it increasingly tends to concern the people at Toyota.
Right now, the surface picture for Toyota is rosy, as it recently reported US$12.1 billion in profits for the last fiscal year, largely because Japan keeps the yen low against competing currencies and that allows its auto industry to suck billions out of American and Canadian consumers. The fly in this ointment is that its customer base for Camry and most of its other products is aging and a replacement crowd is proving intensely difficult to locate.
When people starting moving to Toyota and Honda 30 or even 20 years ago it made a lot of sense, since the Japanese firms were offering reliable, fuel-efficient products when the U.S. brands were offering mostly junk, or demi-junk. These buyers stayed loyal to Toyota because there was no usually no compelling reason to risk some other brand.
But the folks who weren't forced into Camrys and Corollas have a different view of Toyota's product line, and it isn't enthusiastic. They find Camry and most of the rest of the Toyota lineup boring, and if you scratch below the polite surface they will tell you that the people who buy Camry and most other Toyota models are just as boring as the cars they drive.
True or not, fair or not, this is the impression that Toyota has to battle as it works relentlessly to put a cool, hip face on every new model it launches. The latest Camry is no different, except that the effort to turn it into something desirable for people who know and love cars is a little more forced because Toyota knows that time is running out, that Boomers are coming to the end of their new car buying lives. Unfortunately for the giant Japanese auto company, working hard to look cool essentially kills any chance of that happening. The golden rule of cool is that you're not cool if you say you are.
These are the circumstances that make it unnecessary to actually drive a new Camry before commenting on it. If you want to know, I bet the new Camry is an excellent piece of work that will delight its devotees and cause the rest of us to stay out of Toyota stores in droves.
If I can paraphrase a singer that appeals to a different crowd: "You don't have to drive a Camry to see which way the wind's blowing."
photo:Toyota Canada