Toyota apologises for delivery delays

Toyota Australia has apologised to the ever-expanding number of customers facing growing waiting times for delivery of new vehicles due to the global semi-conductor shortage.

In an unprecedented press conference today, Toyota Australia sales and marketing chief Sean Hanley said the Japanese car-maker was sitting on its biggest order bank ever due to near-record sales and extended supply shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are taking absolutely every avenue to explain the situation to everyone waiting for a new Toyota,” he said.

“Toyota understands your frustration and I sincerely apologise for these delays.

“I want to thank you for your patience and assure you we are doing everything we can to get you behind the wheel of your new Toyota just as soon as possible.”

Hanley said buyers of the new Toyota LandCruiser would face the longest waiting times, following an extension of the production stoppage that began in late August at the sole Japanese factory that produces the 300 Series.

“Toyota has announced reductions to production in Japan for September and October, which vary by plant and by model,” he said.

“Understandably media attention has focused on the new LandCruiser 300 Series. It’s a mark of excitement and anticipation surrounding the new generation.

“Right now we have around 500 vehicles in the country. We’re distributing most of them to dealerships as demonstrator models starting next week, giving our valued customers the opportunity to experience the new LandCruiser first-hand, including through test drives as permitted.

“Unfortunately customer deliveries have been delayed because the factory is unable to produce right-hand drive LandCruisers in September or October. Right now we’re expecting production for our market to resume in November.

“Because this is an evolving situation and to support our customers and dealers we will not be confirming orders until they can be matched to a specific production month.”

Hanley said Toyota dealers would continue to take LC300 orders, but no delivery times would be advised until individual vehicles could be allocated a specific production month.

He said further updates would be forthcoming in late October and that some early-bird customers would receive their new LandCruisers before Christmas, but carsales understands new orders won’t be filled until at least the second half of 2022.

Beyond the 300 Series, the longest waiting times will be experienced by LandCruiser 70 Series and RAV4 Hybrid buyers, who face an average delay of around nine to 10 months.

“For one-third of our range the wait time is four months or less,” said Hanley. “For three quarters of our range it’s six months or less.”

The best-selling Toyota HiLux is also affected due to production stoppages at the factory in Thailand.

Last week, some dealers told carsales that new orders for the top-selling SR5 variant would not be filled before March 2022.

Hanley said it’s not yet known what impact that would have on Toyota Australia’s overall sales this year, or whether the HiLux would remain the nation’s top-selling vehicle in 2021. 

“We’ve also been advised of reduced HiLux production in October, although the plan is to recoup that volume across subsequent months,” he said.

“Having said that, quoted wait times will vary between dealers depending on their individual stock situation, which is why you may hear differing wait times being advised to customers around the country.

“All these challenges will have an impact on our fourth quarter [sales]. Despite that we expect to reach about 220,000 sales for the year with some upside potential in December. That compares with just under 205,000 sales or deliveries last year.

“Our order bank is at an all-time high and to the end of August we’ve delivered more than 156,000 Toyota vehicles to customers. That’s almost 31,000 ahead of the same period last year and represents a market share of 21.4 per cent. Our share has been 20 per cent in all but three of the past 24 months.

“When our dealerships closed last night we had delivered a further 20,000 vehicles for the month – a gain of more than 50 per cent over September 2020. Our previous September record was in 2005 at 19,192.

“It puts our 2021 total at 176,000 sales – our best nine-month performance since the all-time record year of 2008.”

Hanley said that unlike some brands including BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Toyota would not remove standard equipment from some models in order to deliver them.

“I can assure you we have no plans to de-spec any of our vehicles,” he said.

“We’re being up front about all of this because we value the trust we have built with our customers and the best way to maintain that trust is to tell the truth.

“Let me assure you and our customers that Toyota is not standing still.”