2008 Toyota Camry Hybrid Price: Less for Less
July 24, 2007

Toyota announced it has dropped the price of its 2008 Camry Hybrid by $1,000 to $25,860, apparently to boost sales in an intensifying midsize car market with a growing number of hybrids in the category.

Toyota’s move on the Camry Hybrid echoes a similar one on the Prius in April. But there's a big difference between the two.

Toyota achieved the Camry Hybrid markdown through removing standard equipment from the base model to lower the base MSRP; it accomplished the Prius’ price reduction by lowering option prices, not dropping equipment, noted Alex Rosten, Edmunds.com’s manager of pricing and market analysis.

“This move makes the starting price of a Camry Hybrid more affordable and decreases the perceived premium of a hybrid over the non-hybrid counterpart, but because of the de-content of standard equipment, it leaves the transaction price virtually unchanged,” Rosten said.

The 2008 Camry Hybrid will no longer have standard alloy wheels, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, a JBL audio system and an electrochromatic rearview mirror with HomeLink for opening garage doors and security gates. Instead, the 2008 Camry Hybrid gets steel wheels, a single CD-player system, urethane steering wheel and shifter, and a manual mirror.

“The JBL system alone is a $750 option, and the wheels are another $300 when ordered as options on the 2007 Camry LE V6, the closest non-hybrid style to the Camry Hybrid,” said Rosten.

At the same time, Toyota increased the price of the non-hybrid Camry, the best-selling car in America for several years, by $100 across the board, with no changes in content, putting its starting price of the 2008 Camry LE V6 at $24,260.

This fall, the huge midsize car segment intensifies as Honda introduces a new Accord, although it will no longer include a hybrid version, and General Motors’ launches a completely new Chevrolet Malibu, that eventually goes hybrid.

Toyota isn’t exactly hurting for Camry sales. Sales in June were up nearly 9 percent for the model’s best-ever June. Of the 46,630 Camrys sold, only 5,530 were the hybrid.

In fact, Toyota as well as the rest of the industry has discovered that consumers favor hybrids, like the Prius, that are at the low end of the price range and focus on high fuel-efficiency instead of performance or luxury. They also seem to favor hybrids, like the Prius, that look like a hybrid.

The Camry Hybrid also got some new competition this year. Nissan began selling its first hybrid in the Altima earlier this year, though its distribution is limited to a handful of states. Nearly identical to the Camry, the Altima hybrid starts at around $25,500 for 2008.

At the same time, Honda announced it was dropping its 2007 Accord Hybrid and not producing a hybrid at all on its 2008 model.

Overall, the huge midsize-car segment intensifies further this fall as Honda introduces a new Accord and General Motors launches a completely new Chevrolet Malibu that eventually goes hybrid.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:06 PM under Analysis , Technology , Toyota | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine