Australia’s best-selling car brand did it tough in November.
Toyota sales for November 2021 dived almost 35 per cent compared to the same month in 2020, on the back of the factory closures and component shortages announced in September and October.
Despite the ongoing supply troubles, Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley, has previously said the brand is “optimistic about future production”.
“We appreciate the trust and patience our customers have shown us during this challenging time. We are doing everything we can to get customers behind the wheel of their new Toyota vehicles as quickly as possible,” Mr Hanley said in November.
Sales of the Corolla fell by 24.2 per cent in November, while the HiLux 4×4 was down 28.7 per cent.
Prado sales fell by 72.4 per cent, and just sales of the full-sized LandCruiser wagon were down more than 90 per cent as Toyota works to roll out the new 300 Series.
The latest RAV4 SUV has been plagued by supply struggles since launch, and was down 52.1 per cent in November.
Despite sales dropping from 3800 to 1820, the RAV4 still outsold the Mitsubishi Outlander (1633) and Hyundai Tucson (1541) to hold the crown of best-selling mid-sized SUV in November 2021.
Toyota used a media conference at the start of October to apologise for the wait times on many of its most popular models.
The company admitted three-quarters of its models have average wait lists of up to six months, while big-volume models such as some LandCruiser 70s and the RAV4 Hybrid have average wait times across the dealer network of up to 10 months.
Toyota cut the output at its global factories from 900,000 to just 470,000 cars in September, and slashed its October forecast by 330,000 compared to initial forecasts.
The latest round of production cuts hit the Japanese-built Corolla, Camry, Yaris, LandCruiser, LandCruiser 70, Prado, and Yaris Cross sold in Australia. Also hit were the Lexus NX, UX, ES, and RX.
Production in November was forecast to hit between 850,000 and 900,000 cars, up on the 830,000 vehicle record set in November 2020. Toyota also expects normal December production numbers, or 800,000 cars, from its global factories.
Despite its stock struggles, Toyota Australia sales are up 14.4 per cent to date in 2021 compared to at the same point in 2020. With 207,405 cars sold as of the end of November, it’s ahead of Mazda (94,041 sales) and Hyundai (67,138) in the sales race.
