Toyota updates hybrid branding

Toyota will no longer fit blue badges to its hybrid vehicles, with hybrid technology becoming more commonplace across the company's line-up.

US automotive publication Motor Trend reports the blue badging distinguishing hybrid models since 2009 has been dropped with the introduction of the new Toyota Camry, due in Australian showrooms in the second half of 2024.

Every model in the new Camry range will use a hybrid powertrain – but will not wear the customary hybrid-blue Toyota badges.

The blue-coloured hybrid signifier was first used on the 2009 Toyota Prius, which introduced blue ‘glow’ shading within its Toyota logos.

It matched the blue ‘s’ on its ‘Hybrid Synergy Drive’ badges used on the second-generation Prius from 2005.

The 2024 Camry will be the first hybrid vehicle from the company to revert to conventional Toyota badges instead.

A Toyota spokesperson told Motor Trend the move away from the blue hybrid badges comes as the car maker focuses on its 'Beyond Zero' branding – the name of its line of electric models.

The company’s first electric car – as opposed to a hybrid – the BZ4X (for Beyond Zero) is due on sale in Australia in early 2024, after multiple delays to its arrival.

Existing hybrid Toyotas will continue with the blue badging until their next update the same way they were phased in on model updates.

The first Camry Hybrid – made at Toyota’s now-defunct Altona, Victoria plant – missed out on the blue badges, which did not appear until the 2012 Camry Hybrid. 

The 2024 Toyota Camry will use a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and the brand’s fifth-generation hybrid system.

Its exterior design was inspired, says Toyota, by the original Prius.

The first-generation Toyota Prius was the world’s first mass-produced hybrid car, although it didn’t arrive in Australia until 2001, pipped by the Honda Insight in November 2000.

Toyota has been heavily criticised by electric-vehicle lobby groups for being a slow mover towards electrification, despite its pioneering hybrid efforts.