Toyota waiting lists to continue into 2024

Wait lists for Toyota’s market-leading range of models aren’t expected to start diminishing until at least 2024.

That’s the expectation of Toyota itself, which still managed one of its best-ever annual sales results in Australia in 2022 despite waiting lists stretching out up to two years for some of its most popular models.

Hybrids led by the segment-leading petrol-electric Toyota RAV4 SUV as well as the Camry sedan have among the longest wait times.

Toyota has also imposed a pause on orders of the LandCruiser 70 Series diesel V8 even as it announces a model update including price increases.

Speaking to carsales today, Toyota Australia sales and marketing vice-president Sean Hanley put wait times for the RAV4 Hybrid between 12-24 months, but stressed that varied by model grade. He urged customers to check with dealers for updates.

Despite the shortages, Toyota has still been able to sell a record 72,815 hybrids across its range in 2022. That included 26,547 RAV4 Hybrids, or 76.2 per cent of all RAVs sold.

The new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series wagon has been in short supply since its 2020 launch and has a stable waiting time of about 12 months, Hanley estimated.

The COVID pandemic and the factory closures and semi-conductor shortages it triggered have been blamed by Toyota for its inability to meet demand.

“I don’t believe there will be an improvement in the supply situation in 2023,” said Hanley.

“The best we can hope for in that regard is 2024.”

Toyota Australia has publicly apologised multiple times for the extended wait lists and continues to do so.

“I know it’s frustrating, I get that, it doesn’t fall short on me ever the level of frustration and the volatility of the information we are providing,” said Hanley.

“But I thank those customers and I want them to know we are doing everything absolutely possible this year to prioritise those vehicles and get them in their hands as soon as possible.”

Hanley said the hybrid vehicle supply shortfall was triggered by battery as well as semi-conductor shortages combined with high demand.

“That situation hasn’t altered over the last 12 months,” he added.

“We are continuing to work closely with our parent company and global production teams to secure as many vehicles as possible for our market to minimise impact.”

Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series orders were paused because of overwhelming demand. Hanley estimated that situation wouldn’t change until the second half of 2023.

“We paused the order taking for the LandCruiser 70 largely as a customer-focused measure,” said Hanley.

“We just needed to clear the order bank we had – we have had very high demand on that vehicle … and that’s resulted in extended wait times.

“It’s a month-to-month proposition but I don’t see it [LC70] in the next six months coming off pause.”