We’re done. That’s what Toyota told us back in 2021 when the Avalon vanished after the 2022 model run.
Here in the States, we moved on. Bigger crossovers. Loud badges. The Avalon became a ghost.
But look at China.
They didn’t let go. Not a chance. FAW Toyota keeps building it, selling it, loving it actually. And now they’re handing us the third facelift. Think about that for a second. We got one update while they’re already on the third.
First tweak came in 2022. Second one, more radical, dropped last July. Now? Third time around.
Quietly revealed by regulators.
No press junket. No flashing cameras. Just a filing from the Ministry of Industry and Information Theater. Wait. Not theater. Industry. Bureaucracy wins again.
The car itself is a mess. In a good way? Maybe. It borrows from the Camry’s front face—C-shaped lights, big grille, vertical bars. Then it steals vibes from the rear-wheel drive Crown. It’s familiar. Safe. Angular. There’s vertical air curtains. A sharp bumper.
Side profile?
Boring. Probably unchanged. You can expect new wheels though. 17-inch or 18-inch alloys. Shiny stuff.
The rear changes more. Split taillights now. No longer one long strip. The badging moved. It sits in the middle of the trunk lid now. License plate? Dropped into the bumper redesign.
Why does it matter?
It shouldn’t. It’s a car we abandoned. Yet here we are looking at specs.
Two versions exist now.
One is 196.5 inches long.
The other? Stretchy. 199 inches.
Engines remain modest. Base model churns out 150 horsepower.
But wait. There is a hybrid option. HEV badge on the rear. Output jumps to 184 horsepower. Efficiency climbs. They claim fuel consumption hits 4.31 liters per 100 kilometers. That translates to roughly 55 mpg.
Is it impressive? Yes. Is it for us? No.
Toyota made its choice. We got told to buy something else. Meanwhile, Chinese drivers get a refined, efficient, weirdly persistent sedan that blends three different design languages into one awkward package.
We left the door open and slammed it shut.
They just walked right through the crack. 🚗
