Toyota Camry - Narrow-body

Narrow-body

Toyota's Camry originated in January 1980 as a four-door sedan approximate to the Toyota Celica coupe and liftback. Known as the "Celica Camry" and sold only in Japan at Toyota Corolla Store retail dealerships, the four-door shared few components with the model from which its name derives. Instead, Toyota elongated the front-end of the Carina (A40, A50), incorporating styling cues to resemble the 1978–1981 Celica XX (known as the Celica Supra in export markets).

Camry became an independent model line in 1982 with the V10 series, available in four-door sedan and five-door liftback body styles. At this point, Camry, now an international model line, was positioned above the Carina and Corona, two other similar-sized vehicles manufactured by Toyota at the time. The Camry V10 also spawned a badge engineered equivalent, the Vista V10, a more luxurious version of the Camry sold in the Japanese market.

The Camry V20 model debuted in 1986, following much the same formula as its predecessor. Although the liftback body variant was substituted with a station wagon, the Vista derivative continued. When Toyota replaced the V20 in 1990 with the V30, the model series was exclusive to Japan. Automotive tax regulations in that country dictated the retention of a narrower body as utilized in the previous Camry generations. However, overseas demand for a larger Camry resulted in the development of a "wide-body" XV10 model, introduced to North America in 1991. Japan also received this wider model, although it was sold under the "Toyota Scepter" name there.

The Japanese market received a new narrow-body V40 series Camry in 1994 to replace V30, yet the wide-body XV10 Camry continued unchanged. The XV10 replacement, the XV20 Camry, arrived in 1996. This new model ceased the era of separate Camrys—a global Camry—and a smaller Japanese-only version. In Japan, the smaller Vista V50 took up the former V40 Camry role after 1998.