The point about it being a saloon is that it then presents itself as a direct competitor to other D segment cars currently on sale. The majority are saloons, particularly those perceived to be ‘premium’ or aspiring to be premium.
In addition to that, i believe only one generation of Camry was actually available as a hatchback, back in the early to mid eighties. So going to a car which has, for by far the majority of its production history only ever been a saloon (or estate), and complaining about it not being a hatchback is a little unfair. Do you have the same complaint of a Mecedes E-Class?.
I for one won't be buying one and i think they will struggle to sell it at £32,000.
As for doubting that Toyota will shift 400 of them, really?, a very well equipped, good looking, likely to be very reliable, hybrid (98 or 101 g/km depending on whether Design or Excel trim) for £32k (and just to clarify, that is the higher of the two specs, the Design is under £30k). To put that into perspective, the cheapest diesel 5 series has an on the road price of just under £39k, and it has higher emissions. Not sure exaclty how this 'benefit in kind' tax thing works, but the BMW is 31% and the Toyota is 23%, which is a big difference for a company car user. While i do think Toyota will struggle to find private buyers in badge and image obsessed Britain, don't think they will have too much trouble finding 400 company car drivers wanting to both benefit from the low tax, and opt out of the Audi/BMW/Mercedes marry-go-round!.
If only 400 are coming in then I would be worried about getting spare parts for it in the future especially if you had an accident and needed body panels.
Regarding the spare parts situation, i'm not sure at all why you think the number Toyota expacts to sell will have any bearing at all on the ability to get parts?.
Edited by badbusdriver on 14/07/2019 at 11:21
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