More than half of new Toyota sales now hybrids in Australia as RAV4 tops charts
Toyota delivered more hybrid cars and SUVs in Australia last month than any calendar year before 2018 – and the RAV4 topped the charts – as wait times tumble and back-orders are cleared.
More than 10,000 Toyota hybrid cars and SUVs have been sold in Australia for the first time in a month – and now account for more than 50 per cent of the company's total deliveries.
The Toyota RAV4 beat the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux to become the top-selling new vehicle outright for the third time in its history – after influxes of stock drove it to wins in July and August 2020.
It was driven by a surge in stock arriving to clear back-orders stretching up to two years – and push wait times for new orders down to an estimated six months, depending on the model grade and colour.
Data distributed by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) today shows 52.8 per cent of new Toyotas reported as sold last month were hybrids – or 10,972 vehicles.
If the Toyota hybrid range was a brand, it would comfortably be the second-best seller overall – behind only the full Toyota showroom line-up – and more Toyota hybrids were sold last month than in any calendar year before 2018.
When the electric Toyota BZ4X is included in the tally, 53.2 per cent of new Toyota vehicles reported as sold last month had some form of electric assistance.
A record 94 per cent of the 5857 Toyota RAV4 SUVs reported as sold were hybrids – or a best-ever 5504 vehicles – and represented half of all new Toyota hybrid vehicles sold.
If the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid was a standalone model – distinct from the petrol-only version – it would have been just 65 sales behind the Ford Ranger to take second place on the leaderboard last month.
The RAV4 has now broken its all-time sales record – both hybrid-only, and petrol and hybrid combined – for the second month in a row.
The tally of 5857 RAV4s reported as sold in April 2024 is more than 1000 deliveries ahead of the 4825 vehicles posted in August 2020 – the record before being toppled by 5070 deliveries in March 2024.
The RAV4 is not the only Toyota scoring wins on the sales charts.
The Toyota Camry recorded its highest sales since November 2019 – with 1873 deliveries in April 2024 – and finished eighth overall as stock arrived to clear back-orders.
Order books for the Camry Hybrid – which accounted for 94.4 per cent of Camry sales last month – were closed last year due to wait times up to two years, and remain shut ahead of a new, hybrid-only model's arrival later this year.
It was joined by a sixth-placed finish last month for the Toyota Corolla hatch and sedan (2097 sales), most variants of which are now hybrid-only after regular petrol hatch models were axed earlier this year.
Close to 1200 Toyota Corolla Cross small SUVs were reported as sold, as well as 714 Toyota Yaris Cross city SUVs.
The record sales share for Toyota hybrids was helped by sales slumps for other models – including the Prado 4WD, down 77 per cent in April 2024 compared to the same month last year.
The Kluger seven-seat SUV – which includes a hybrid that accounts for the majority of sales – was also down 24 per cent to just 260 deliveries, compared to its usual performance of about 1000 monthly sales.
