Why Does Toyota's New Car Have "Tulang Lama Badminton This Is An Interesting Reason

Toyota RAV4 has just made its global debut in Japan, May 21, 2025. (Doc.Toyota Global)

JAKARTA - The latest Toyota Camry and RAV4 are still using the foundations of the previous generation. Toyota admits this is a deliberate strategy and it's about what consumers like from their cars.

In the midst of the bustle of launching all-new cars, Toyota takes a slightly different path. A number of their main products, including the recently launched Toyota Camry and RAV4, are not entirely "new."

Instead of switching to a completely different chassis platform, these two models are built on very closely related foundations with their predecessors. For example, the latest Camry still has the "bones" of the models launched in 2018, and the upcoming RAV4 from the 2019 models.

Is this just Toyota's attempt to save? Apparently, the reason was deeper than that.

According to Sean Hanley, an Australian Toyota sales executive, the decision to update old vehicles instead of completely overhauling is a reliability-centric strategy.

"Toyota is very focused on quality, durability, and reliability, and the current platform is giving us all these things and that's important to us," Hanley told Australian media, Drive, which CarBuzz continued, Tuesday, September 30.

The logic behind which is simple where tested products and powertrains tend to be more reliable.

Vehicles and powertrains designed from zero often encounter unexpected problems in the early years of its launch, newly resolved problems at subsequent iterations. This phenomenon has been observed by institutions such as Consumer Reports, where reliability often decays sharply after massive redesign, and improves in the late years of model cycles.

Toyota isn't the only one to prove this. Mazda, most of whose models are based on platforms and powertrains introduced before 2020, managed to rank third the most reliable brand in this year's JD Power reliability survey. Mazda proved that older platforms can still generate competitive, fun vehicles for driving, and high quality.

Although the foundation may be old, Toyota believes that these updated models are still very competitive. Camry, for example, even before the refresh, had already become an outstanding midsize sedan. The latest Frontier nuances are based on trucks introduced twenty years ago, but remain an appropriate choice to consider.

Dodge Charger and Challenger enjoy continued success with little refresher of all their lifetimes.

Even Toyota 4Runner recorded an increase in sales towards the end of its life, although the model has been calculated as a "counter" with an automatic transmission of five accelerations.

Cost Savings Remains A Consideration

Of course, it is undeniable that cost savings is a major factor. Using existing platforms is much cheaper than developing new ones.

While Toyota is not short of money like some of its competitors (such as Nissan or Chrysler which also often relies on old platforms), this savings is strategic. Toyota is currently looking to a future dominated by electric vehicles.

By saving costs on tested internal combustion engine (combustion) vehicles, Toyota can allocate more capital for the long-term development of new electric and hybrid cars.