Toyota has ended UK sales of the Toyota Camry large saloon with immediate effect, just two months after launching the updated version.
The hybrid-only model still appears on Toyota's UK website but is unavailable to be configured, suggesting a sudden decision to cull the Skoda Superb rival from the UK range. It also doesn't feature on the brand's most recent price list, issued yesterday.
The Camry is a relative newcomer to the UK, having arrived in 2019 after a 14-year absence for the Camry name in this country. Toyota hoped it would improve on the low sales of its Avensis predecessor, but its withdrawal suggests that this hasn't been the case.
Toyota's most recent sales figures show that in the nine months to October 2021, the Camry accounted for just 271 of the 63,403 cars it sold in the UK, surpassing only the ageing Prius+ seven-seater, which was quietly discontinued earlier this year.
The updated Camry was announced in April with lightly reworked styling, new interior functions and upgraded driver-assistance functions, and Autocar drove it as recently as September. It's unclear how many facelifted cars had been sold and how much stock remains at dealerships.
The Highlander large SUV, which shares the Camry's platform and is similarly engineered to suit the US market in particular, remains on sale, as does the similarly sized Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell saloon.
It has yet to be confirmed if the Camry will continue to be offered in other European markets.
Autocar has contacted Toyota for an official comment.
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A non-premium car in this class was rarely going to succeed in today's market, especially one from Japan. The fact Nissan, Honda, Subaru and Mitsubishi haven't sold a rival in the UK for years now was a bit of a wake up call and if the Avensis was never directly replaced in the first place due to dwindling sales, you'd have thought Toyota would have taken note and not bother with the Camry.
The Avensis didn't sell because it was in company car territory and it's co2 emissions were too high and made the BIK uncompetitive. I compared one to an Octavia and the latter had something like 40 BHP more with lower emissions and thus tax bills. I liked the Camry but as a saloon only option I couldn't make a case for it.
Shame but not surprising. Lower priced models might have helped as would an estate version but even then it may not have been enough. I suspect most people would by a RAV4 instead.