Here’s How A Mid-Engine Toyota Camry Sports Car Could Shake Up The Auto Industry

The Camry nameplate helped make Toyota a household name, and this sedan continues to hold its ground against the SUV craze thanks to its legendary reliability, top safety ratings, and accessible pricing. Toyota keeps things fresh with sporty trims like the TRD and Nightshade that give the Camry extra visual appeal.

For 2025, Toyota made a dramatic shift by making every Camry a hybrid. The 2025 Camry’s hybrid powertrain combines a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with electric motors to produce 225 horsepower in front-wheel-drive models, or 232 horsepower when equipped with all-wheel drive. This setup delivers a 0-60 mph time of 6.9 seconds for front-wheel drive and 6.8 seconds for all-wheel drive. While these numbers represent solid performance for a family sedan, they still don’t put the Camry in sports car territory.

But what if we could combine the Toyota Camry with true race-day performance? While Toyota hasn’t announced such plans, this exclusive render by digital artist Rostislav Prokop shows how a mid-engine V8 Camry sports car might look. Though it seems like a far-fetched idea, Toyota actually has all the engineering pieces needed to make a V8 Camry sports car happen!

Can Toyota Actually Build A Mid-engine V8 Camry?

Pros And Cons Of A Mid-Engine Sports Car

Admittedly, Toyota hasn’t built a mid-engine sports car since the MR-2 went out of production in 2007. The little MX-5 rival had a fantastic chassis, and the engineering team in Nagoya has undeniable experience in building great handling sports cars.

Rostislav Prokop

The Toyota engineering team also has a wealth of motorsport partners to help with car development. Toyota Gazoo Racing has been running mid-engine, hybrid prototypes in the World Endurance Championship for over a decade now, while Japanese outfit, APR Racing, developed and continues to run a mid-engine V8 Prius GT300 car in the Super GT championship.

Rostislav Prokop

Toyota has also been in partnership with BMW, culminating in the revival of the iconic Supra with the A90 MK5. With the BMW i8 having gone out of production recently, Toyota could potentially develop an updated version of the i8’s chassis to make the project more financially viable. While borrowing a chassis from BMW might be the answer, it doesn’t appear that Toyota would need to re-use an engine from the Bavarians, as they did with the latest Supra.

Toyota Already Has A V8 Ready For A Mid-Engined Camry

via Rostislav Prokop

Toyota’s luxury division, Lexus, has been utilizing the naturally aspirated 2UR-GSE 5.0-liter V8 engine in all its top-range sports coupes and sedans for nearly a decade. The most powerful of which is found in the underrated Lexus LC500 coupe, producing 471 hp and almost 400 lb-ft of torque; an output that prompts a 0-60 mph time of 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 168 mph.

The Japanese automaker was also one of the first adopters of mainstream hybrid technology with the Prius (a nameplate whose current model boasts a stellar combined fuel economy of 57 MPG) and has continued its push for hybridity, with motorsport projects in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship and the World Rally Championship.

Rostislav Prokop

If Toyota were to put the V8 Camry into production, it is highly likely we would see a hybrid system – potentially sending the power to all four wheels through an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission. However, if Toyota really wanted a sales hit, a 6-speed manual option would send gearheads into a fever pitch.

The combination of an updated UR 5.0 liter V8 along with a state-of-the-art hybrid system would likely result in the Camry V8 hitting close to 650 HP and 550 lb. ft of torque – more than enough to take on potential rivals like the game-changing C8 Chevrolet Corvette and the now discontinued Acura NSX.

Specs

Could Toyota Make The V8 Camry Sports Car Affordable And Fun?

via Rostislav Prokop

Pricing

Unfortunately, hybrid and AWD systems do add weight, and one of the biggest complaints leveled at most modern sports cars – and most of the top-range Lexus sports cars – is that an increase in weight dampens driving involvement.

The obvious answer would be to build the mid-engine Camry from carbon fiber. Although its integration will make the Camry V8 lightweight enough to offer lightning-quick acceleration and nimble handling, there’s the thorny issue of how much the car would cost, since carbon fiber isn’t exactly cheap. And with fun sports cars like the 2025 Corvette C8 Z06 starting at $116,695, Toyota would still have to be sensible and price its Camry V8 similarly. Why? Toyota’s last supercar endeavor, the gorgeous naturally aspirated V10 Lexus LFA, now has an astronomical average price of $884,624, and the Japanese car manufacturer can’t afford to make the same mistake again if they want the car to sell.

In reality, it’s massively unlikely Toyota will ever produce a mid-engined V8 Camry sports car. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun imagining what it would look like if they did. For now, though, if you’re looking for a fun V8 sports car, the C8 Corvette looks like your best option.

Sources: Toyota, Lexus, Edmunds, Classic.com, and Chevrolet.