Toyota says it could sell more cars in Australia, but can’t get enough vehicles to keep up with demand.
The Japanese automaker has been at the top of the Australian sales charts every year since 2008, and last year it set an all-time sales record of 241,296 vehicles – more than double the volume of second-placed Ford.
Reiterating the company’s previous forecasts, Toyota Australia sales, marketing and franchise operations vice president Sean Hanley told CarExpert he expected a lower sales result for the brand this year.
Toyota Australia’s sales are down 1.2 per cent to August this year according to VFACTS. Published monthly by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), VFACTS is the official auto sales statistician for new vehicles in Australia.
It covers most brands with exceptions including electric vehicle (EV) makers Tesla and Polestar, as well as Deepal, Cadillac, GMC, Ineos, Mahindra, Smart and Xpeng, at least for now.
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“Our demand’s strong; I still think we’ll do well over 220,000 [sales] this year. We could have done a lot more than that, to be honest, if we had all the cars,” Mr Hanley said.
“The only reason we’re down on sales at all is simply production capability – we can’t meet full demand at this point. We don’t have massive wait times, but we do have an order bank, particularly on some of our hybrid variants.”
Toyota says those wait times are typically between three and six months for its best-sellers, including the HiLux ute and RAV4 mid-size SUV, new generations of which are due to arrive in local showrooms in 2026.
A ‘production pause’ to upgrade the LandCruiser 70 Series to Euro 6d emissions regulations may see delivery lead times for the popular workhorse extend in 2026.
“What you don’t see in VFACTS is the order intake,” Mr Hanley told CarExpert.
“What you’re seeing on VFACTS for Toyota is still very much what we can produce in any given month and supply.
“Our order intake is incredibly healthy, which to me is the litmus test for the health of the brand. You’d love to be converting those to get a VFACTS number – unfortunately production capacity at the moment doesn’t necessarily allow that.
“Having said that, our customers are happy, happy to wait a reasonable time for our cars.”
Toyota Australia has sold 163,491 vehicles to the end of August this year – around 2005 units down on the same timeframe last year, but over 100,000 more than second-placed Mazda on 63,208.
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