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CAMRY: ON TOP AGAIN
Written by Richard Bellikoff
Welcome, everyone.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all our Toyota dealerships for their outstanding Camry sales performance this year. Thanks to their efforts, Camry has regained the title of best-selling passenger car in America.
Our great results in the face of Honda’s competitive charge would never have been possible without the strength of our sales organization.
There was a lot of anticipation and some concern about the all-new Accord before it was launched. Make no mistake about it, Accord’s a tough competitor and a very good car. But Camry’s a great car.
As you saw in our competitive comparison presentation, Camry has advantages over Accord in every category.
And when you look at the overall package, Camry still comes out ahead in what has always been its strongest selling point — Value.
Now, with exciting new mid-year enhancements, Camry is an even bigger value.
The SE gets a standard power driver’s seat and a moonroof.
A power driver’s seat comes standard on the LE.
And a moonroof is standard on the XLE V6.
And all these standard features come with no price increase. This is big-time value, the kind that today’s car buyers are looking for.
These Camry enhancements will help us hit the ground running, and keep us going strong right through spring and summer.
As you know, both Toyota and Honda have always had reputations as quality manufacturers.
I wanted to see for myself, so I took a look at the fit-and-finish on the new Accord LX. Frankly, I was disappointed in what I found.
For example, it’s got black rocker panels, not color-keyed like Camry’s.
The seat fabric and the floor carpeting look cheap.
There’s an old-fashioned hand-crank lever for the seat height adjustment.
And the trunk doesn’t close evenly — it shuts tighter on one side than the other.
When I see fit-and-finish problems like these, I have to ask myself, what was Honda thinking?
They’d better clean up their act if they want to challenge us for the title — because Toyota never lets up on quality. We sweat the details.
That’s what makes Camry the envy of the industry and the benchmark for midsize sedans.
When you’re the best car in America, with the best customer loyalty record, everybody wants a piece of you — especially Honda. Accord may try to copy us but they can’t match us.
Honda would love to take the number-one spot away from us. We won’t let them do that. We’re going to keep Camry on top, where it belongs.
Thanks for coming.