(Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s latest version of its Camry model offers many of the same features that have made it the best-selling sedan in the US for the past 22 years, with one important difference — it’s no longer available with a gas-only engine.

The new Camry, which will start arriving in dealerships this spring, is ditching its longstanding workhorse V-6 in favor of a four-cylinder engine paired with an electric motor, the Japanese automaker said Thursday. That standard hybrid powertrain gets as much as a combined 51 miles per gallon of gasoline for the base model, which is one mile less than the current generation Camry hybrid but significantly better than the gas-only version’s 32 miles per gallon.

While overall demand for passenger cars has fallen in recent years as more Americans switch to crossovers, SUVs and trucks, Toyota has found success in sticking with stalwart sedans such as the Camry and smaller Corolla compact. Last year, it sold 290,649 Camry models in the US — second only to its RAV4 compact SUV — but only 35,445 of those were hybrids. 

Overall, hybrids made up about 29% of Toyota’s 2023 sales in the US. 

Mark DeJongh, the new model’s chief engineer, expects demand for the vehicle to remain strong. “It’s not a great hybrid. It’s a great car that happens to be a hybrid,” he said. 

The Camry’s starting price of $28,400 for the 2025 model is $1,980 more than the current gas-only base model, but about $400 less than the existing optional hybrid Camry.  

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