豐田加快推出款新凱美瑞

Since introducing its Camry family sedan in 1983, Toyota Motor Corp. has brought out an all-new version of the model every five or six years, making slighter modifications and enhancements in the interim.

This time, Toyota is accelerating the pace of change. Just three years after the seventh generation Camry was introduced, Toyota is revamping the car extensively, in keeping with an exhortation from CEO Akio Toyoda to “make better cars.” While not quite a complete makeover, Toyota has replaced about a third of the Camry’s 6,000 parts and restyled the exterior and interior to make it more eye-catching and less bland.

Though Toyota won’t disclose how much it invested, the sum is likely in the neighborhood of $500 million, an unexpectedly large investment to keep Camry at the front of a pack of midsize sedans that includes Honda Accord, Nissan Altima, Chevrolet Malibu, Hyundai Sonata and Ford Fusion.

“The midsize family sedan segment is three million units a year,” said Bill Fay, group vice president of Toyota’s U.S. sales organization. “It’s still the biggest segment in the U.S. market and very important to us.”

Twelve years running Camry has been the No. 1 best-selling car in the U.S. In 2014 it leads the segment again and likely will reign as top-seller for a thirteenth year in a row. Toyota’s decision to invest half a billion dollars in Camry just two years ahead of its likely next full-model change is an aggressive move, difficult to justify on financial grounds alone, yet reflective of the automaker’s determination not to cede leadership.

Last April, at the New York Auto Show when the Camry prototype was unveiled, Fay said Toyota knew the car had to be far more visually expressive to compete with bolder styling from Ford’s new Fusion and Hyundai’s new Sonata. The midsize family segment also faces new competition from lower-priced sedans by Mercedes-Benz and other luxury manufacturers.

The most noticeable styling change is Camry’s new fascia, which is bold, open and forceful, like a mouth about to devour whatever is in front of it. Except for the roof, the entire exterior is new. Toyota engineers also added to the rigidity of the car’s body with more spot welds, as well as more insulation to make the cabin quieter.

Following Akio Toyoda’s ascension to chief executive in 2009 in the midst of the automaker’s sudden-acceleration troubles, his mandate to subordinates was clear: shake up the company and improve the products. Among the organizational changes in the U.S. is a move for the company’s headquarters to Plano, Texas from Torrance, California.

Toyota’s impressive financial strength gives it the latitude to embark on a costly mid-cycle upgrade for a key model like Camry. The goal isn’t just to sell more cars and at higher prices: Executives know Volkswagen AG and General Motors are gunning for Toyota’s title of No. 1 globally in sales.

The new Camry symbolizes Toyota’s determination to maintain a lofty status with consumers, reviewers, credit ratings agencies and others who assigned high grades to the company’s vehicles and financial performance

That won’t be easy: As many big, successful companies have discovered, complacency can be the subtlest and deadliest of enemies.

自1983年凱美瑞（Camry）系列轎車誕生以來，豐田汽車公司（Toyota Motor Corp.）每隔五六年就會做一些微小改動和增強，在此基礎上推出一款全新車型。

不過這一次，豐田加快了更新的步伐。爲了響應社長豐田章男的訓誡：“做更好的汽車”，第七代凱美瑞推出不過三年，豐田就對其進行了大規模的改進。儘管這並非一次徹底的改造，但豐田替換了凱美瑞6,000個部件中的大約三分之一，改變了汽車的內外風格，讓它變得更加吸引眼球，而不是平淡無奇。

儘管豐田並未透露具體的投資額，但這次改造的花費很可能在5億美元左右，這是一筆出人意料的大投資，目的是爲了讓凱美瑞在包括本田（Honda）雅閣（Accord）、日產（Nissan）Altima、雪佛蘭（Chevrolet）邁銳寶（Malibu）和福特（Ford）Fusion在內的中型轎車市場保持領先地位。

美國豐田銷售公司副總裁比爾•費伊表示：“美國每年要賣出300萬輛中型家用轎車，這仍然是美國汽車市場中最大的一塊，對我們而言十分重要。”

凱美瑞已經連續12年成爲全美最暢銷汽車。2014年，它再次在該領域名列前茅，很可能將連續第13次摘得銷量桂冠。豐田決定在凱美瑞上投資5億美元，並將可能進行的下一次產品更新提前兩年，可謂是進取心十足的舉動。我們很難單從經濟效益的角度對其做出判斷，但此舉體現出了豐田不願意將領先優勢拱手讓人的決心。

在今年4月的紐約國際汽車展（New York Auto Show）上，豐田展示了新款凱美瑞的原型。費伊表示，豐田清楚這款汽車在外型上還需要更具視覺衝擊力，才能與風格鮮明的新款福特Fusion和新款現代（Hyundai）索納塔（Sonata）抗衡。中型家用轎車市場也面臨着來自梅賽德斯-奔馳（Mercedes-Benz）和其他豪華汽車廠商低價車的競爭。

最引人注目的風格改變出現在凱美瑞的新儀表板上，它的設計大膽開放，充滿力度，就像一張將要吞噬面前一切的大嘴。除了車頂以外，汽車的外表有了徹底的變化。豐田的工程師增加了車身的焊點，使得車身硬度增強，此外還強化了其隔音效果，使車內環境更加安靜。

在2009年豐田深陷汽車突然加速的麻煩時，豐田章男接任社長。此後，他對下屬的指令就十分明確：重組公司，改進產品。而豐田在美國進行的重組中，有一項就是把總部從加利福尼亞州託倫斯遷到德克薩斯州普萊諾。

豐田強大的財力讓他們有能力對凱美瑞這樣的關鍵車型進行價值不菲的中期升級。公司的目的不僅是以更高的價格賣出更多的汽車：高管們都知道，大衆汽車（Volkswagen AG）和通用汽車（General Motors）都在努力從豐田手中奪取全球銷量第一的寶座。

新款凱美瑞象徵着豐田的決心：維持公司在顧客、評論員、信用評級機構和其他對豐田汽車及其財務業績讚譽有加的人士心中的崇高地位。

這點並不簡單：正如許多成功的大型企業發現的那樣，自滿可能是最隱蔽卻最致命的敵人。