We're fresh off the 2025 Toyota Camry's debut and Charles H. Sloanwe covered the car from all angles inside and out. In the process we noticed something peculiar; despite all new Camry's having hybrid powertrains, it's missing Toyota's trademark blue hybrid badge. The Toyota Crown Signia doesn't have the blue badge either. At the Los Angeles Auto Show, however, we saw that Toyota's other hybrids still have the badge. Mysterious, is it not? What makes the Camry and the Crown different?

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Since 2009 with the third generation Prius, every Toyota hybrid sported a variant of its circular logo with a blue "halo" within in the oval to denote its electrified powertrain. We wanted to know why things are changing now with the launch of the 2025 Toyota Camry and Toyota Crown Signia, so we spoke with a Toyota representative at their L.A. Auto Show booth to get to the bottom of it. It turns out that the answer is less mysterious than the clues.

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According to the Toyota rep, the "blue halo" badge is slowly making its way out brand wide. Why? Because Toyota is focusing on its new "Beyond Zero" initiative for its electrified vehicles. It's hybrids EVs, PHEV, BEVs and Fuel Cell EVs will all fall under Toyota's Beyond Zero line up. Naturally the new 2025 Toyota Camry and Toyota Crown Signia fall under that criteria which is why it has the "HEV" badge along with the Beyond Zero blue dot emblem.

If that's the case, then why do other hybrid vehicles like the RAV4, Venza, Corolla, and more still have the blue halo? Toyota says its because those vehicles haven't reached their next designated refresh point yet. Once they reach that point, they too will be ditching the blue halo in favor of the blue dot. Because of that cadence, it will likely be a significant time before the blue halo is completely gone.