Toyota Camry TS-01

Press Release

TS-01 Shows Camry Sports Capability

A newly formed development team within Toyota Australia has devised a sports Camry show car as a major statement of capability. The Camry TS-01 - which coincidentally uses the initials of Toyota's 2005 Formula One drivers Trulli and Schumacher - will never go on sale, but it will test enthusiast reaction.

The aggressive looking V6 Camry TS-01 develops 185kW - 28 per cent more than the for-sale Sportivo version, and 320Nm of torque - an increase of 12 percent.

The supercharged Toyota TS-01 uses locally developed body parts, and has sourced mechanical components from Toyota throughout the world.

The Electronic Control Unit which is at the heart of the engine's management system was mapped by Toyota Australia's engineering team in Japan.

The vehicle has been styled externally and internally by Toyota Style Australia, the in-house design team led by Paul Beranger.

The team last year devised the Sportivo Coupe Concept, built after consultation with teenagers about their ideal dream car.

TS-01 is a major step towards developing the capability of Toyota's Australian engineers and stylists and also to showcasing their skills to management locally and internationally.

Its goal was to develop a sports-enthusiast variant of Camry that met all Toyota's development requirements and also complied with Australian certification requirements.

TS-01 uses a Toyota Racing Developments (TRD) supercharger developing 0.5bar of boost, but returning reliability and quality equal to a Toyota production vehicle.

The additional power and torque is transmitted through a heavy duty sports clutch adapted from Toyota Team Racing's rally Corollas.

Gear ratios remain the same as used by the Camry V6 Sportivo five speed manual.

Engineers have made substantial yet subtle changes to suspension and steering geometry and the ride height of the vehicle has been reduced to the permitted limit.

TS-01 uses 225/40R18 Michelin Pilot Sports tyres mounted on specially cast 14 spoke wheels which share the same offset as the current Camry Sportivo.

Engineers set out to make the TS-01 responsive and tactile, and fun to drive. Wheel flares to accentuate the new larger wheel and tyre configuration, side skirts, a new rear bumper and a longer rear spoiler with a Formula 1 inspired centre mounted stop lamp were part of the external integration.