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By Ntsako Mthethwa

Journalist


2018 Toyota Camry lends its design to new Nascar race car

The company won its first manufacturer’s title last year after winning 16 of 36 races – including the Daytona 500.


Toyota unveiled its latest Camry at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday. Its motorsports match will debut in competition next month during Daytona Speedweeks.

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“The 2018 Toyota Camry Nascar race car has been years in the making, and to unveil it simultaneously with our new production Camry is a milestone moment for our organisation,” said Ed Laukes, Vice President of Integrated Marketing Operations for Toyota Motor Sales, US. “The collaboration between Calty Design Group and TRD has produced a Nascar Camry that showcases aggressive styling that is sure to turn heads on the race track and among our fans in Toyota showrooms across the country.

“Reimagining both the Camry race car and its production counterpart has been a tremendous undertaking and our goal has been to maintain parallel design characteristics so our fans can enjoy driving a Camry that closely resembles the one their favorite Nascar driver races each weekend.”

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Camry chief designer Masato Katsumata oversaw the project with engineers from Calty Design Research, Toyota’s North American design studio and Toyota Racing Development (TRD). TRD and Calty worked with Nascar to assure the same character lines from the showroom model transferred to the race car.

Calty aligned with TRD in the evolution of Camrys during Nascar’s Gen6 project in 2013 as well as the 2015 Cup and XFINITY Series redesign, the 2014 Toyota Tundra in the Camping World Truck Series and the current NHRA Funny Car Camry.

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Toyota made its Nascar Cup debut in 2007. The company won its first manufacturer’s title last year after winning 16 of 36 races – including the Daytona 500. In the past decade, Toyota drivers have amassed 95 victories in Nascar’s premier division.

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