TOYOTA CAMRY HYBRID AWARDED AS A FAMILY FAVOURITE

Toyota's latest generation Camry Ascent Sport Hybrid has been named Australia's Best Family Car winning the category title in the annual Drive Car of the Year awards.

This is the second major award for the current generation Camry after the Camry Ascent Hybrid won the Best Medium Car under $50,000 in the 2018 Australia's Best Cars (ABC) awards.

In winning the prestigious, consumer-focused Drive award, the judges praised the car for its value for money, efficient hybrid powertrain, spaciousness and engaging yet comfortable on-road manners.

Toyota Australia's Vice President, National Sales & Marketing, Sean Hanley, said Toyota was proud that the Camry Hybrid had impressed the judges so much, especially in the area of value for money.

"The Drive Car of the Year judging criteria and exhaustive evaluation really does provide a fantastic vindication of the value of our hybrid powertrains," Mr Hanley said.

"In Camry, hybrid not only delivers smooth and powerful performance, but it does so, with the potential to save significant money on fuel costs and therefore, whole of life motoring costs.

"For Toyota, hybrid is a proven but continually-evolving technology that we will be bringing to a whole raft of vehicles over the next two and a half years, starting with the all-new RAV4 next year.

"This award recognises not only the excellence of the hybrid powertrain but also the space, refinement, improved driving dynamics and comfort provided by the latest generation Camry.

"These are all attributes appreciated by our customers too. Since being launched late last year, the powerful yet efficient hybrid versions have accounted for 48 per cent of Camry orders - a level unprecedented for Toyota hybrids in Australia."

Drive.com.au Editor in Chief, Andrew Maclean said Toyota had transformed the new-generation Camry into a car with a surprisingly broad depth of dynamism.

"It also improves on all the attributes that have made it Australia's favourite mid-size family car for more than 25 years with a spacious, comfortable and well-equipped cabin, an efficient, smooth and quiet hybrid powertrain and the dependability Toyota is renowned for," Mr Maclean said. 

"More than anything, its value for money and cost of ownership cannot be matched in this class, making it a clear winner as Drive's Best Family Car of 2018."

The Drive Car of the Year awards program selects winners in 14 categories following a week-long assessment of finalists in real-world driving on urban and rural roads as well as a series of simulated exercises on the circuit to test vehicle safety in a controlled environment. 

The judges also take into account value, space, features, cost of ownership, economy and quality as part of the strict testing criteria.