Toyota vendor error gets internet aflutter
Automaker confirms this is not the new Camry
Did Toyota just leak the next-generation Camry early? Did it snag a rendering from an internet artist without telling? Or is it all just a coincidence and we still have no idea what to expect from Toyota? We think it might be the former.
Toyota put a video on YouTube (first spotted by CarBuzz) that gave you suggestions as to your best option when it comes to buying or leasing. Just shy of a minute into that video, Toyota shows a book titled “The Amazing Toyota.” On the cover of that book is what looks to be a new Prius front end on a four-door sedan body.
It looks like the new Toyota Camry, or at least what we expect the new 2025 Toyota Camry to look like when it gets revealed later this year. Yes, it’s similar to some of the Japan-only versions of the Crown, but none that use that nose also use the sedan body.
But then things got really interesting. Wheels Australia posted that the car in the video looked familiar. The magazine got renderings from an artist named Theo in July of last year that look to show exactly the same car. Those renderings were the artist’s look at what the new Camry might look like.
The artist, who posts under the tag Theottle, told Wheels that he had not been asked by Toyota for permission to use the work.
Whatever is going on here, it’s certainly going to get interesting. Toyota USA has since made the video private, so we’re not able to share it.
Update: we’ve since heard back from Toyota Financial, who says this was a mistake from a vendor.
“I wanted to reach out and let you know that the referenced video 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,” said TFS Senior Manager – Corporate Communications Vincent Bray.
So this isn’t the new Camry, and the video will be updated. But hey, if the design isn’t done, this looks like a good one.
