Hybrid Camry's Now Kentucky-Made

The first Kentucky-made hybrid Camry, which is based from the most famous family sedan, rolled off the assembly line last Thursday. This move, which serves as a great milestone to the Japanese automaker, is made to amass a bigger slice in the U.S. automotive market share.

Toyota Camry Hybrid was introduced in May 2006. It is equipped with potent Toyota Camry parts like the four-cylinder gasoline engine combined with electric motors to generate a peak of 187 horsepower (140 kW). Toyota Camry A/C condenser, and the entire heater/air conditioning unit, brakes and power steering used in the vehicle are all electric. Moreover, the car can run just by using the electric motors.

Production of Camry hybrid in Georgetown Toyota plant is fixed at 48,000 for this year. This will entitle customers the option of a midsize hybrid that offers better gas mileage than other compact vehicles. Camry hybrid is given a rating of 43/37 miles per gallon on highway/city. 2007 Camry hybrid is given a base price of $25,900.

Toyota expended $10 million to modify equipment and train workers to generate Camry hybrid at the Georgetown plant. Said plant employs approximately 7,000 workers to work on Solara and Avalon models, aside from Camry.

Toyota Camry hybrid is powered with a 147 horsepower four-cylinder engine and a 40 horsepower electric motor. The automaker revealed that the gasoline engines for the hybrid will now be manufactured at Georgetown plant. However, special components of the car will be transported from Japan.

As of last month, there are 21,430 units of Japan-made Camry hybrid sold in the United States. Toyota Prius, on one hand, outsells other hybrids that are gas-electric models. Toyota will be relying on car enthusiasts moving to fuel-saving cars. Furthermore, critics are saying that there is already an apparent big switch in favor of hybrids. This will redound to the benefit of automakers banking on said vehicles.

Mark Clarkson is a 35 year old marketing consultant for a leading auto parts store. This native of Denver is also an offroad enthusiast.