First look: Toyota reveals supercharged Camry!

TOYOTA Australia has made clear its intention to build high-performance sports versions of its mainstream Altona-built vehicles with the supercharged Camry TS-01 unveiled this morning at the Melbourne International Motor Show.

With a new-generation Camry due within 12 months, and an all-new, sportier Avalon following late in 2006, this near-production show car is not expected to hit Australian streets in its current form.

However, it does signal that from a technical standpoint Toyota Australia now has the nous and know-how to build such a car as it draws near to establishing a performance division to rival Holden Special Vehicles, Ford Performance Vehicles and Subaru’s STi brand.

"We are clearly moving in a new direction with this product," said Toyota Australia’s chief designer, Paul Beranger. "We’re looking at developing a range of sports models for a number of market segments. And this is, as you say, a step towards that.

"The Japanese are very supportive of what we’re trying to do – they know that we’ve got a pretty unique market here where we’ve got to do a lot of things with a smaller number of products than they have in Japan, so the sports range for Australia is a big growth area for Toyota.

"From a technical point of view, we could build this car tomorrow and be very comfortable that it would work."Mr Berangar said Toyota was now in a position to exploit the market awareness and interest in performance cars that HSV and FPV have established – but with vehicles which have "the design quality, engineering finesse and sophistication that Holden and Ford don’t offer.""We feel that we’ve got the combination of ingredients that will attract a new customer to Toyota and certainly draw from the existing customer base that Holden and Ford have," he said.

"There are certain people who will always want to buy Holdens and Fords ... (but) we are looking to broaden our market. We’re certainly looking closely at a lot of the European product that’s coming into Australia and we believe there is potential in Australia for vehicles like this (TS-01).

"We’d also like to look at exporting vehicles like this."Built over the past nine months with a $600,000 budget, the Camry Sportivo-based TS-01 has a Roots-style supercharger – sourced from Toyota Racing Development in the United States – added to the venerable 3.0-litre V6 engine, which with 0.5bar of boost lifts maximum output to 185kW (up 40kW) at 6000rpm and 320Nm (up 36Nm) at 4000rpm.

More than a parts-sourcing, add-on-bits exercise, the TS-01 also led to collaboration between Japanese and Australian engineers to ensure the supercharger was fully calibrated with the engine’s electronic control unit (ECU).

"This has been the first time we’ve really been able to get into the ECU, with TMC’s (Toyota Motor Corp’s) assistance, and that’s really quite a milestone as far as our engineering here in Australia is concerned," said Toyota Australia new business development manager, Robert Allen. "We’ve taken some big steps."Mated to the same five-speed manual transmission used in Sportivo – this one using a shorter, notchier throw but the same gear ratios – and using a beefier clutch derived from the Celica GT4 race car, the TS-01 is claimed to reach 100km/h from standstill in 7.2 seconds.

The exhaust is all-new rearwards from the catalytic converter, with a pair of two-inch stainless steel pipes running through custom-built mufflers and tuned to impart a distinctive – though nothing too outrageous – note. Not bad for a platform which was never designed to take a twin exhaust.

Sitting 20mm lower than Sportivo, the front-drive TS-01 received considerable attention to deal with the blown engine and to increase driver involvement – in essence, to get as close as possible to a neutral chassis.

While the front brace bar was removed, and the steering modified with 100 per cent stiffer steering bushes and 14 per cent faster rack ratio, reinforcements were added to the rear suspension mounting points to increase rigidity.

The front spring rate was raised seven per cent, the rear spring rate 3.5 per cent and front and rear shocks retuned in accordance. High-stiffness drop links on the front and rear stabiliser bars were used to reduce roll, and rear toe angles were dropped to almost zero degrees – close to race-car spec – with design parameters all the while ensuring road comfort and compliance.

The latter is still to be verified, of course, however massive wheels and ultra-low profile rubber were eschewed for a more practical combination in 18-inch rims and 225/40 ZR18 Michelin Pilot Sports.

Set in a stunning open-spoke pattern, the wheels give onlookers a good view of the brakes, which at each front corner show a black PBR C5 two-spot calliper. Ferodo performance brake pads were used front and rear, the front disc diameter was increased from 280mm to 325mm (rear discs were not touched) and the brake booster was retuned.

Weight distribution remains around the same at an estimated 65/35 front/rear, and while neither the show car nor the test mule built alongside it has been plonked on a set of scales, kerb weight is believed to be around the current circa-1400kg Sportivo mark.

The question to ask now is: Is it any good? Mr Allen said the development car outperformed several benchmark cars including HSV and FPV cars and Subaru’s Liberty GT.

"In terms of overall refinement, it’s a more refined package and in handling and feel it’s a point-to-point car and probably just as quick," he said of its performance against the local muscle cars.

"It doesn’t have the outright cred in a drag strip sense – (but) we’re only a little bit behind in that regard.

"We took the development car and the Subaru (Liberty GT) and a couple of other vehicles up to Winton, we drove them around and came home and thought the package we’ve got here is a better-handling package … and performance is equal or better as well. Even though that’s an all-wheel drive, performance-oriented car.

"So we felt that that was our target – and we’d over-achieved."The exterior has received a subtle workout from Toyota Australia’s in-house design team, with carbon fibre skirting around the vehicle and some fine attention to detail with modular front and rear skirts, brake cooling slots, bonnet holes, a deflector on the grille (which sends more air under the bonnet), little air splitters on the wing mirrors and flared wheel arches.

A large rear wing with a Formula One-inspired centre-mounted LED brake light and provision for an adjustable rear flap is also used.

Inside, there’s little write home about save for increased driver’s seat bolstering, tan suede trim, backlit instruments and some more use of carbon fibre trim.

"What we’ve tried to do with this car is take the family Camry and give it some character," Mr Beranger said. "One of the things that we feel is important is to be able to communicate the technology to the customer, because the package the engineering group put together is pretty impressive for a car like this.

"We haven’t rushed out and built a car that is dramatic in terms of design. We feel that we want to maintain the credibility of Camry as the product base for it … (and) it really is an integration of engineering and styling brought together in a sophisticated but very sporty package."

Also on the Toyota stand

TOYOTA has also shown in Melbourne its CS&S (Compact Sports & Specialty) hybrid sports car concept and the WelCab concept, which can be driven by people with a range of mobility impairments including partial quadriplegia.

The first new HiLux range since 1997 will be there, featuring improvements in interior space, payload area, performance, economy, safety and comfort and equipment levels. It also mates DOHC direct-injection turbo-diesel power with an auto transmission in 4x4 for the first time.

Toyota has also unveiled a restyled 2005 Corolla Sportivo featuring new headlights, grille, front bumper, skirts, tail-lights and badges, plus a six-CD, MP3-compatible sound system and new-look grey leather trim.