|
The Toyota Camry is a mid-size car manufactured by Toyota in Georgetown, Kentucky, USA, as well as Australia, and in Japan. The Camry has been the best selling car in the United States for eight of the last nine years starting in 1997. The United States is the Camry's largest consumer market, where it mainly competes with the Honda Accord, Mazda6 and the Nissan Altima. The Camry also sells very well in Australia and a number of Asian markets, in particular Cambodia where the vast majority of cars are Camrys. It has not sold as well in Europe and Japan—many criticize its design as ill-suited for European and Japanese tastes. In Japan and Asia, its main rivals are the Nissan Teana and the Honda Accord.
An upbranded luxury version of the Camry is sold under the Lexus ES nameplate in the United States also known as the Windom in Japan.
The Camry name was first launched in 1980 with the Toyota Celica Camry. The first model line independently named the Toyota Camry was launched in 1982 for the 1983 model year. It is primarily configured as a four-door sedan but at different times has also been available as a five-door hatchback, two-door coupé, and a station wagon. An offshoot of the Camry, the Toyota Camry Solara, has been available as a coupe and a convertible.
The Camry underwent major redesigns and upgrades in model years 1987, 1992 (1990 in Japan), 1997, 2002 and most recently in 2007.
Other than the original Celica Camry, the Toyota Camry has always been an FF layout vehicle. This means the engine is transversely mounted to drive the front wheels. Some models have been offered with all-wheel drive.
The second and third-generation Camrys were rebadged to be sold as the Holden Apollo in Australia. The Holden equivalents were not successful even though they came from the same factory as the Camry. Since 2000, Daihatsu has sold a Camry twin named the Altis.
The name "Camry" comes from a phonetic transcription of the Japanese word kanmuri, which means "crown," as do the names of the Toyota Crown, Toyota Corona. | 
