When Toyota first trademarked the Apex nameplate, it was for a version of the Corolla that benefited from some sport tuned upgrades. The package was based on the SE and XSE and was capped at 6,000 units. While these Apex models had the same performance as standard models, the suspension and brake upgrades made them pretty fun to drive.

A new patent suggests Toyota could be applying the Apex package to the bigger Camry with the company possibly trying to make lightning strike twice with the Apex package.

A sportier Camry?

First spotted by the folks at CarBuzz Toyota originally filed the patent on June 30th for the Camry Apex moniker with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. While no Apex version of the Camry has ever appeared in production, the closest the Camry ever got to a performance model in recent years was the TRD which appeared on the last-gen Camry.

Assuming the Camry Apex enters production, it would be very different from the Corolla Apex. Unlike the smaller compact, the Camry Apex will most likey not get a manual transmission nor some of the other Corolla exclusive goodies. Instead, look for this model to focus even more heavily on handling, braking, and aero upgrades with some lessons learned from the TRD potentially being reused for this model. These lessons could include an upgraded exhaust system and minor tweaks o the engine.

It would be more exciting

A potential Camry Apex model would give Toyota dealers something to cheer about. While the current generation Camry is very fuel efficient, filled with tech, and fully lives up to its hybrid credentials, it’s far from being exciting to drive even in XSE and Nightshade guises.

The Apex would help inject some of this lost sportiness back into it, and also give dealers a new avenue of potential sales. These extra sales would come from buyers that want to have the Camry’s fuel-sipping demeanor but in something that would be alot more fun to drive on the weekends, while also having enough street racer good looks to draw attention when out on the street.

Like other auto companies when it comes to unearthed patents, Toyota has stayed silent on whether it intends to greenlight this model for production, and our attempts to get more information from the company on this patent were met with an empty inbox. That said, we would be very interested to see what comes of this, and whether the Camry will once again get the chance to show off its track moves.