Why Does The Toyota Camry Look Like This?

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The Toyota Camry is the fourth best-selling vehicle in America. Toyota sold more than a third of a million of these sedans in 2016. So why does its face look like that?

Why does it look like a war mask? Why is the grille made out of chainlink fence? What is Toyota trying to tell us?

Buy this terror-scream, America. It is your shield as you hurtle down the interstate. Your horror is writ upon its savage visage.

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A Camry wasn’t always this aggressive. Look back to the 1990s. A Camry (like the one I learned to drive on) had a plain face, open, welcoming. It was sleek, well-trimmed, but neutral. It had nothing to prove. It had nothing to puff up against.

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Meanwhile, in 2017, we have a Camry that looks like it was made out of sharpened hatchets.

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Back in 2014, Toyota said it wanted its next Camry to have “heart-racing design.” Sure, but what is making anyone’s heart race about this Camry? Horror? Revulsion?