Camry to Get Bilingual Kickoff

Toyota Motor Corp. aims to break new ground -- and tug on some heartstrings -- with a bilingual ad that will run during this year’s Super Bowl.

In the 30-second ad, a Latino father is driving his young son in their new hybrid Toyota Camry. When the father explains how the hybrid car switches between gas and electric power, the son compares it to the way his father can switch between English and Spanish.

“Because I’m always thinking of your future,” the father says, explaining why he learned English -- and why he bought a hybrid.

It will be the first ad aired for the 2007 Toyota Camry, which will be at dealerships in March. The hybrid version of the Camry comes out in May. The Camry has been America’s bestselling car for eight of the last nine years.

Jim Farley, vice president of marketing for Toyota’s U.S. division, said it was the first time Toyota had made a bilingual ad. Throughout the ad, the father and son mix English with Spanish, but the words they use are familiar enough to English ears that there aren’t any subtitles.