After debuting its new generation at the last New York Auto Show, Avalon now receives its new price list. This means Toyota is about to start selling one of their most important vehicles of the latest times, considering the changes that were applied and the market category in which this car competes. While some competitors focus at their tradition, like Chevrolet Impala, this sedan wants to prove that it’s possible to please the wealthier families offering the luxury they’re used to have with a style that never had followed it before.
Avalon could achieve all that mentioned boldness without big limitations only because it was time to receive a whole new generation. This comes from the fact that even though the brand decides do change their style rules at some time, those updates will always take some time to be effectively seen. They can start them by releasing one new model as a symbol of what to expect from the next years, but there’s always the fact that a big automaker’s cars are always each one at a particular moment of its lifecycle. This means that some already need a new project, but others can have only a half-life face-lift and others don’t even need to change at all, and all those conditions need to be respected not only to avoid the financial losses from making big investments without the previous ones being satisfactorily recovered, but also to avoid a massive customer complaint, since they would see their cars becoming outdated in much less time than what’s expected. That’s the reason why the North-American Toyota’s showroom (to restrict this text to the market where Avalon is sold) has received Camry’s current generation one year ago while the Prius family (started in 2010) will remain unchanged for some years and Corolla will receive its new generation soon, since the current one arrived in 2009.
In fact, the biggest Toyota sedan of that market was so acclaimed that it was said it’ll be the visual inspiration for the next Corolla, planned to be revealed in 2013. This approval starts with the stylish exterior, composed of modern lines who follow Toyota’s nice idea of applying the most recent trends in car design without forgetting the typical Japanese cars’ ones. This explains why Avalon brings European ideas such as a much shorter third volume to remind the coupe rear (like Mercedes-Benz does with CLS) but also the design of the lights and air intakes, with visually aggressive cuts like most of the Eastern cars of the past few years. This “recipe” is common among the latest Honda, Hyundai, Kia or Mitsubishi cars, for example, but usually at compacts, crossover or sports cars because those categories tend to attract young customers, and because of that focus at emotional appeals. However, a family sedan, specially at the US, deals with the strong traditions built around them. Their main public are older couples, who twenty years ago used to drive Chevrolet Impala, Chrysler Concorde and Ford Taurus, therefore used to much more classical cars.
As its compatriot Honda Accord, Avalon’s previous generations actually followed those rules because of the Japanese automakers’ decision of starting North America’s operations with more neutral cars in order to achieve better sales at that first time. Today they all are much more than popular around there, but if the eighth Accord still offers a classical style, Toyota’s sedan seems to want to revolutionize this category. Sharing platform with its “richer cousin” Lexus ES, it not only has a sophisticated construction as brings lots of comfort and technology items: the interior’s wooden details come with three-zone air-conditioner, heated leather seats, GPS navigation, sunroof and the multimedia system with a 7” touchscreen at the central console. The basic Avalon had a 6,6% price reduction from the previous generation and now starts at US$ 30.990. Its trim levels will be XLE, XLE Premium, XLE Touring and Limited, but the engine options will be the V6 3.5 with 268 hp with automatic six-speed transmission and the hybrid one, an Atkinson 2.5 along with the electric engine and a 244 volt battery, to achieve the final 200 hp using a CVT transmission. With the last option and the most expensive trim level, Avalon reaches US$ 41.400.