How Often Does Toyota Change Body Styles?

Being the largest car company globally, Toyota needs to keep its vehicle designs fresh now and then to attract more audiences and keep itself on top. Therefore, we see various generations of its cars after a certain period of time. But how often does Toyota change body styles?

Well, it depends on each vehicle but on average, Toyota changes the body styles of its cars around every 5 – 6 years. We may see some minor tweaks to the visuals after a couple of years, though, also referred to as the Facelift model.

In this post, we will look into some of the most famous cars of the brand and their previous models to see how many body styles have come so far for the model and when they were changed.

Why do Car Companies Change Body Styles?

Car companies change their vehicles’ body styles after some time to refresh their design. This redesign is usually equipped with the latest design and technological features to attract the users. The better the car has an impact on the customer, the higher the chances of them going for it!

Of course, other features and clients’ requirements also matter but having a body style that stands out will surely attract many eyes.

Toyota Cars and Their Body Styles:

Toyota produces more than 100 car models and mentioning all of them would not be feasible. Hence, we will talk about some of their most famous cars and see how they have evolved over the years. Also see the outline below to check out the changes in body styles of various Toyota models during this century:

Car Model	Model Years	Years Model Lasted
Toyota Corolla	2003	6
	2009	5
	2014	6
	2020	- Till present
Toyota Camry	2002	5
	2007	5
	2012	8
	2018	- Till present
Toyota Land Cruiser	2006	2
	2008	5
	2013	3
	2016	6
	2022	- Till present
Toyota Hilux	2004	11
	2015	- Till present

Toyota Corolla:

Almost everyone knows about Toyota Corolla, and why wouldn’t they? Corolla is the most selling car in the entire world! Since its launch in 1966, Corolla has sold over 50 million units to claim the top-selling position with 12 generations of the vehicle.

After the 1998s model, Toyota has launched four new versions of its best-selling vehicle. The next redesign came in 2003, and then after 6 years, in 2009, followed by the newer model in 2014 and then the most recent one in 2020.

This model has a starting price of just over US$20,000. Initially, it was launched as a sub-compact car but later changed to the compact category after 1991.

Corolla has a hybrid option as well hatchback and a compact crossover SUV launched under the name of Corolla Cross in 2021.

Toyota Camry:

Next in line is another famous compact car from Toyota, named the Toyota Camry. First launched in 1982, Camry has been selling extremely well, so much so that it has been the most selling passenger car in the US for over a decade now!

Similar to Toyota Corolla, we have seen four new models of Camry since the beginning of this century. Redesigned in 2002 and then in 2007, both of the next body styles for Toyota Camry were launched with a six-year gap in 2012 and 2018, respectively.

The Camry is a somewhat more ‘luxurious’ option than the Corolla and, therefore, starts at five thousand higher than the latter, but if you are looking for the fully-loaded model, it can cost you around more than US$40,000, close to the base model price of a Mercedes Benz C-class!

Toyota Land Cruiser:

When it comes to reliability, comfortable ride, and having some off-road experience, Toyota Land Cruiser is the vehicle that comes to mind. Land Cruiser is an off-road full-size SUV that provides an option for both five seats as well as eight. Due to its off-roading capabilities, Land Cruiser is very popular in the Middle East, specifically in UAE. It sold nearly 200,000 units in 2021, making it the most sold car in UAE that year.

Toyota launched the all-new model of Land Cruiser J300 in 2022. The previous version, Land Cruiser J200, came out in 2008 and had its body style changed twice in 2013 and 2016 before the launch of the newer model. The J100, launched in 1998, had a redesign in 2006, which only stayed for two years before the J200 was introduced.

Toyota also produces a Land Cruiser pickup which has been having the same body style for more than 35 years. And we also have another car under the name of Land Cruiser, namely the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which is an SUV as well.

Since 2001, we have seen five new body styles of Land Cruiser Prado. The Land Cruiser J300 is, however, the biggest in size as well as the more expensive option, which may cost you well above the US$100,000 mark if you are looking for more features.

Toyota Hilux:

Talking about pickups, we can’t forget Toyota Hilux.

Like Land Cruiser, Hilux is all about durability and reliability and is famous for its ability to move through tough terrains. This can be seen from the fact that Hilux was the first-ever car driven to the Magnetic North Pole of Earth in 2007. You can get a Toyota Hilux in both single and double cabin options.

It is a commercial pickup truck, but due to the comfortable interior features and drive, some families use it as well since it can carry tools and equipment while also providing enough seating space for the kids!

Introduced first in 1968, it’s been more than 50 years since its launch, and we currently have the 8^th generation of Toyota Hilux. The first few models had a redesigned relatively quickly. After 1988 however, we have seen only three major body style upgrades in more than 30 years. These changes were made in 1997, 2004, and 2015.

Toyota Hilus is a rather feasible option for its utility, costing you around only US$35,000 for the base version.

Conclusion:

As we can see, there are numerous types of cars Toyota manufactures. From compacts to full-size off-road SUVs and pickup trucks, their fleet carries many different options. The body styles of these vehicles change every few years, especially for the models that are in production continuously and have a large market worldwide.

Although we even saw a gap of more than ten years before a body style redesign for Toyota Hilux, from 2004 to 2015, there was also a small two-year gap between the facelift change for the Land Cruiser J100 between 2006 and 2008. Therefore, we can see that each model changes after a few years and the time varies from vehicle to vehicle.

But we can estimate that, on average, we can expect a major body style change from Toyota cars after 5 – 6 years!