Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series wait list reduced

Toyota Australia says the average waiting time for delivery of 2022 Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series vehicles has reduced to eight months from a previous high of 12 months or more.

However, average wait times for the Toyota Camry Hybrid have blown out to the same eight-month timeframe, while customers of the facelifted 2022 Toyota RAV4 and LandCruiser 70 Series, which will receive a major upgrade later this year, continue to remain around 12 months.

Toyota has been desperately attempting to reduce long waiting lists for its most popular models.

It apologised publicly in October 2021 for the delays, following COVID-related supply shortages led by the global semi-conductor crisis that has crippled the auto industry over the past two years.

Earlier this week the world’s biggest car-maker said it would cut back its operations again in March after reporting a 21 per cent operating profit slump last quarter, but is still targeting record production to make up for lost sales in the 2021/22 Japanese financial year ending March 31.

Toyota has adjusted its March production forecast by 100,000 vehicles but is still targeting a new monthly record of 950,000 vehicles next month – and a FY21/22 total of 8.5 million units (down from a forecast 9.3 million at the start of the year and 8.87 million as recently as mid-January).

However, the Japanese giant’s retail sales forecast remains unchanged at 10.29 million for the current fiscal year (including Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino), which would be up from 9.92 million units the previous fiscal year and just short of the record 10.6 million vehicles it sold in FY2018-19.

Its newly announced cutbacks in March will affect just three production lines at two plants in Japan (out of 28 lines in 14 factories), mostly impacting the new Lexus NX but also the RX, ES and Toyota C-HR.

That’s not expected to have major implications in Australia, where Toyota says it expects to recover from lost Japanese production in January and February “in coming months”.

“We have a healthy order bank and expect to grow our full-year sales beyond the 223,642 vehicles delivered last year,” said a Toyota Australia spokesperson.

“This is an evolving situation and frequent updates are provided by our parent company and by Toyota Australia. Our plans are unchanged for further growth in Toyota’s Australian sales during 2022.”

In contrast with some other auto brands in Australia, Toyota says it has not delayed the launch of any new or facelifted models, or axed any model lines or variants, and nor does it intend to.

And unlike Ford, Volkswagen, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, BMW and Mitsubishi, Toyota says it has not removed equipment from any of its vehicles due to supply constraints.

From January, Ford removed idle-stop functionality from 2.0-litre four-cylinder BiTurbo diesel versions of its outgoing Ford Ranger XL, XLT, FX4 and Wildtrak double-cab utes, increasing their official fuel consumption by five per cent to 8.0L/100km.

And as we reported last April, Ford quietly removed a range of standard features from the Ranger (Australia’s second-most-popular model behind the Toyota HiLux), including storage areas under the rear seat, side-window lamination and, from late 2021, the CD player and, for Wildtrak and Raptor variants, the tailgate lock barrel.

“Toyota Australia is in constant communication with our global production team and working closely with them to support our customers,” Toyota told carsales this week.

“Our focus remains on doing everything we can to deliver as many cars as possible to our customers as quickly as possible.

“We have recently updated our website with the latest information. We apologise to customers for the delay in arrival of their vehicles and we thank them for their ongoing patience and understanding.”

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