The case has already been made, by none other than Our Editor, that this is one of the most important Toyotas ever. Road & Track also hinted at this in their 1983 review, saying that Toyota “Joined the FWD family fray.” Given how important the Camry became for Toyota’s presence in North America, this is entirely true from a North American point of view. But from the Japanese perspective, things are a little more muddled. I mean, they even switched the name of this one to Vista!
There are surprisingly few Camrys in Japan, even nowadays. They do exist, but they were never big sellers. Toyota’s JDM range was always so plethoric that it seems some models were drowned out by the sheer numbers of nameplates. The Camry name came about in 1980 as the Celica Camry, which was an A40 Carina saloon with a remodeled nose. Some models eventually got an IRS setup, but the somewhat ill-defined nature of the car led to its cancellation by 1982.
The Camry name was then recycled as a stand-alone nameplate for the V10 platform, Toyota’s newest and biggest FWD effort, launched in the spring of 1982. At the same time, Toyota launched the Vista as the Camry’s twin model. This was standard operating procedure for many JDM nameplates, as Toyota had different dealership channels (Toyopet Store, Corolla Store, Diesel Store, etc.) selling differently-named models. Corolla Stores carried the Camry nameplate, but the Auto Stores, gradually renamed Vista Stores starting in 1980, carried the Vista.
Strangely enough, the V10 hatchback (or, to use contemporary Toyota parlance, the “Liftback”) was only available as a Vista. Notchbacks. On the other hand, were available as either Vista or Camry. The Liftback is probably the more interesting one of the two, as it was a bit more aerodynamic, spacious and practical, yet this body style was not carried forward to the V20 generation. Instead, Toyota opted for style over content and went for a “pillared hardtop” saloon.
Obviously, Toyota thought the Vista was the stronger of the two nameplates – on the JDM, anyway. The dealership network was renamed Vista (renamed Netz since 2005) and the Camry was only available in a single body variant. However, probably because the word “vista” had already been used by the likes of GM (and eventually Chrysler as well), export markets only received the Camry. And in the end, that’s the name that really stuck.
As Toyota’s first transverse-engined FWD model, the V10 Vista/Camry was primarily aimed at foreign markets. The Corona was still going strong in Japan and Asia-Pacific countries, but other markets needed something a bit more contemporary. In Japan, these cars were advertised as being roomier than the (higher grade) Toyota Crown, thanks to the FWD configuration. The Japanese market was never fully convinced that more space was such a hot thing, apparently.
This is reflected in the sales numbers: Toyota sold just over 100,000 first-generation Vistas between 1982 and 1986. This is less than what they usually sold in a single year on the US market alone in the mid-‘80s. It’s also far from the sales numbers of the Mark II, the Crown or the Corona. This is despite the fact that Japanese customers were offered many more variants than any other market. Our 5-door 1.8 Ci VF feature car is but one of 20-odd different flavours of Vista on offer in 1984-86, as we can see in the table above taken from a Toyota press release announcing the V10 platform’s 1984 facelift.
The rest is history: the Camry kept gaining ground in North American and Asia-Pacific markets, becoming one of Toyota’s greatest global hits. The only folks who never really got the point were some European markets and the JDM, but you can’t please everyone all the time. It seems Toyota never really minded about the Vista/Camry’s lack of domestic success, as it would only have cannibalized other big Toyota saloons if it had been popular.
Now that the Mark X has left the range, Camrys might now be set to become more popular on the JDM as one of Toyota’s bigger saloons, positioned between the Prius and the Crown. It all came too late for the Vista though: that nameplate was pensioned off in 2003 when the V50 stopped production, having been consciously uncoupled from both the North American and the Asian versions of the Camry. Nice to see where it all began though – especially in this Liftback shape.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1986 Toyota Camry – Toyota Builds A Better Citation; Forever, by PN
Vintage R&T Review: 1983 Toyota Camry – Toyota Joins The FWD Family Fray, And Comes To Dominate It, by PN
COAL: 1985 Toyota Camry – All Grown Up, by RichP
US buyers only had a brief and shallow fling with the large(r) 5-door hatchback. I think the SAAB 99 was about the first in the late 1970s, although they were never a trendsetter. But when the Citation came out in this body style for ’80, I think many other manufacturers felt like they needed to play along. I don’t think there were too many choices left by the end of the 1980s.
Weird thing was that Saab dropped the 900 5-door in the U.S. in 1981 after only two years on the market, never to reappear until the GM/Opel-based model replaced it in 1994. I’ve read elsewhere that the Citation (which was hugely popular the first year or two) motivated Toyota to offer the Camry as a 5-door in North America. I think they were surprised the liftbacks didn’t sell all that well. In part, that’s because it had a lower roofline and lower seats, harming the roominess, easy ingress/egress, and good seating position that were Camry strengths in the 4-door sedan. I recall Consumer Reports gave a much lower score to the Camry hatchback than sedan.
The larger hatchbacks I remember from the late ’80s were all from oddball brands (in the U.S. anyway) – remember the Merkur Scorpio or Rover Sterling? The Saab 9000 was arguably the most mainstream choice.
Mazda 626 kept the hatch version through the ’91 model year, but I suspect sales were minimal.
Both the ’83-87 and ’88-91 generations of 626 4-door hatchbacks had the same issue I mentioned above as with the Camry – a lower roofline and lower seats to compensate. This was especially a problem in the 83-87 generation, as the hatchback’s (and coupe’s) roof was two inches lower than the sedan’s, and headroom was tight despite lowered front and rear seats, especially with a sunroof. Do 4-door hatchback buyers really care about sleek roofs?
Other Camry-sized hatchbacks included the Dodge Lancer/Chrysler LeBaron GTS, Chevy Corsica (which added a hatchback a few years into its run), the slightly smaller Nissan Stanza (first two generations) and Acura Integra (first gen only).
I’m glad to see larger hatchbacks making a comeback, and their onetime association with cheapness gone. BMW, Audi, Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche now all offer 4 door hatchbacks in the US. Too bad I can’t afford any of them 🙁
I remember a few of the Mazda 626 5 doors; in fact I knew two people that had them. BMW and Audi have offered 5 doors more recently but they seem to have few takers in the US. It’s interesting that this Vista has a manual transmission. Not uncommon here, but even in the mid-eighties I would have expected AT in this class of car in Japan.
The lack of success seems to validate how conservative the Japanese market was, at least back then. And that space efficiency was not a priority for buyers in the larger sedan categories.
Those look just like the US market 1986 Celica GT alloy wheels, except that those were 4-lug and this Vista sports five. Weird/interesting (to some).
And that’s a nice leather wrapped steering wheel too, something our Camry I don’t think ever had. And the velour seats are that lovely thick stuff.
As bland as the car is, it (along with the regular sedan) has that interesting rear wheel well/fender line (surfline?) that went away after just this one generation. That could have been an interesting Gandini-esque Camry signature feature, alas not to be for the sake of conformity in the midsize wars.
I wonder, what car carries the most attractive 5-door liftback shape? My vote might be the Sterling (Rover) 827 SLI but there are plenty of others in the genre.
I noticed the wheels as well seeing as they weren’t factory until the following generation Vista, but never that there were four and five lug versions of the same design before. Had to look further into it, and sure enough, not some weird anomaly. Toyota in this era was really about familial resemblance in their lineup back home, almost to a fault if you didn’t care for the look in the first place, but the wheel detail you picked up on makes that even more blatant than I first realized…
For example, this 1986 Carina ED hardtop (basically a four door Celica):
And a 1987 Vista hardtop: