Canadians Give Camry Hybrid Car of the Year Status

Impressed yet? Not only did Toyota’s new Camry take Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award late last year, but now the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) have voted to place itsversion of the award on the same car with its new hybrid drivetrain.

The Canadian organization felt that the hybrid version was new enough to garner it a place amongst new for 2007 rivals, which, in their separate categories included a shortlist of segment winners featuring the Honda Fit, Volkswagen Rabbit, Lexus ES 350, Audi S8, MazdaSpeed3, Volkswagen Eos and the BMW 3-Series Coupe. Lofty company indeed, but there has to be something said for delivering a high-quality sedan with good performance at an affordable price, not to mention a fuel efficient drivetrain.

“With manufacturers introducing an increasing number of new vehicles each year, consumers may find it harder to keep track of what’s available in the marketplace, and how one vehicle differs from another,” commented 2007 CCOTY chair, Paul Williams.“The AJAC Canadian Car of the Year program identifies and categorizes all the new vehicles each year, then subjects them to detailed testing in real-world situations. It’s not a popularity contest; it’s a thorough, objective and trustworthy process to help consumers make informed purchase decisions”.

Williams is hardly understating his point in saying that the process is “thorough”, although some Canadian consumers might be misled in believing that the process includes “all the new vehicles each year.” To clarify, the process only identifies all-new vehicles, meaning only those vehicles that have been thoroughly updated. For instance, Honda’s Accord Hybrid wouldn’t have qualified, not being all-new, and therefore wouldn’t be up against the new Camry Hybrid in the competition. Does this “help consumers make informed purchase decisions”? Yes and no. While there’s a good chance that any newer car is better than an older competitor, consumers are still left on their own when it comes to choosing a true competitor that goes up against another, in this case the Camry Hybrid, unless a segment rival was previously voted out. Honda won’t complain that its Accord Hybrid wasn’t included, of course, as it won both Car of the Year with the Civic and Truck of the Year with the Ridgeline in 2006, under the same pretense.In fairness to AJAC, it would be virtually impossible to be as exhaustive in its testing as it tries to be if every 2007 model was included, so its all-new policy is a good compromise.

Nevertheless, of the cars that qualified as all-new the Camry Hybrid was only up against the Kia Amanti, a larger car that normally would target the Toyota Avalon, the Nissan Maxima, also larger and once again targeting the Avalon, the new Saturn Aura which just won North American Car of the Year, and the Volkswagen Passat Wagon, which is not even in the same market segment.

Despite not having much direct competition in the AJAC CCOTY, the Camry Hybrid deserves great praise, as it mixes the benefits of a large, comfortable, luxuriously appointed sedan with a highly efficient drivetrain, delivering decent performance with exceptional fuel economy for the class.

“We are thrilled that AJAC’s members have endorsed the 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid with this important award, and would like to thank the membership for their support”, commented Tony Wearing, Managing Director for Toyota in Canada. “As you know, the Toyota Camry is the best selling car in North America. With the launch of the Camry Hybrid, we have brought hybrid technology into the mainstream”.