Toyota will not restart production of Camry Solara convertible

Posted: Jun 11, 2009
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Toyota Camry Solara Convertible

Toyota has confirmed that it will not restart production of the Camry Solara convertible, which it actually stopped building in December 2008.

Toyota last summer nixed output of the Camry Solara coupe due to record-high fuel prices. At that time, Toyota said that the convertible Solara will remain in production for at least two years since Toyota didn’t have another convertible in its lineup.

“It was a car that our customers demanded; they wanted it,” Steve St. Angelo, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America Inc. senior vice president, said last summer .

However, when the U.S. automotive market started its historic downturn in December 2008, Toyota decided to stop building the convertible and had been considering restarting production.

“Certainly, since December, looking at the state of the industry, there is no indication there would be strong enough demand to warrant (that action),” Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. spokesman Mike Michels told WardsAuto.

Michels says that the Toyota Venza crossover has been filling the void left by the Solara at Toyota’s Georgetown, KY, facility.

- By: The Daily Auto Editor

Source: WardsAuto


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  • Steedpub

    And……….Lexus is launching the new IS convertible which while more expensive is surely seen as a sales canibalizer.

  • Ebirah

    Good. That car was unpretty.

  • Jack H

    As one of the “gray hair” new owners of a toyota solara convertible I can share with you that I got 29 mpg on a recent trip, can fit 4 sets of golf clubs (yes us old foggies are still the ones keeping golf courses in business!) in the trunk and comfortably fit 4 overweight old foggies in the car. My sisters' BMW 3 series convertible got 30 MPG on a recent rip, can't fit any golf clubs in the trunk, and only holds two old foggies–the back seat is useless (that is unless you use it as a BMW saleman told me once–you can pile sets of golfs clubs there! ) Also some of the preliminary reviews I've seen for the new Lexus ISC have the same criticism as the BMW—no trunk space and a useless back seat. I was a BMW owner–yes, you guessed it, a 5 series us old foggies like to drive– for the past 10 years. My wife wanted a convertible and although I love the 6 series BMW convertible, 85K seems sort of ludicrous. So after much looking I was very pleasantly surprised by the Solara—-very smooth riding and very comfortable seats (yes us old foggies like comfort over design!). It isn't a drivers car like a BMW but for half the price of a loaded 3 series convertible I haven't seen anything that can beat it!

  • Jack H

    As one of the “gray hair” new owners of a toyota solara convertible I can share with you that I got 29 mpg on a recent trip, can fit 4 sets of golf clubs (yes us old foggies are still the ones keeping golf courses in business!) in the trunk and comfortably fit 4 overweight old foggies in the car. My sisters' BMW 3 series convertible got 30 MPG on a recent rip, can't fit any golf clubs in the trunk, and only holds two old foggies–the back seat is useless (that is unless you use it as a BMW saleman told me once–you can pile sets of golfs clubs there! ) Also some of the preliminary reviews I've seen for the new Lexus ISC have the same criticism as the BMW—no trunk space and a useless back seat. I was a BMW owner–yes, you guessed it, a 5 series us old foggies like to drive– for the past 10 years. My wife wanted a convertible and although I love the 6 series BMW convertible, 85K seems sort of ludicrous. So after much looking I was very pleasantly surprised by the Solara—-very smooth riding and very comfortable seats (yes us old foggies like comfort over design!). It isn't a drivers car like a BMW but for half the price of a loaded 3 series convertible I haven't seen anything that can beat it!