Wait times for the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – which had blown out to two years – have been slashed to six months according to the latest estimates by Toyota Australia.
A number of Toyota dealers canvassed by EFTM confirmed some variants of the new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (such as the base model GX or GXL) now have wait times of four to six months.
However, dealers cautioned, wait times for top-end RAV4 Hybrid models – particularly those with unique interior trim colours – may still range from six to nine months, unless a cancelled order suddenly becomes available.
The shorter wait times come as Toyota Japan has finally ramped up allocations of the RAV4 Hybrid for Australia.
Customer demand has consistently been more than double Toyota Australia’s initial sales projections when this generation RAV4 was launched locally in 2018.
Toyota Australia has delivered 30,000 to 38,000 examples of the RAV4 each year for the past four years but in 2024 it is on track to deliver more than 50,000.
A massive shipment led to more than 5000 deliveries of the RAV4 Hybrid across Australia last month – a record for the nameplate – and it narrowly missed out on being the nation’s top-selling car, finishing behind the Ford Ranger ute.
Nevertheless, the Toyota RAV4’s record sales result was enough to rank second overall and outsell the Tesla Model Y electric car, which finished in third place in March 2024 according to official data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
Although the Toyota RAV4 sales result in March 2024 was an all-time record, it has previously topped the sales charts outright (in July 2020 and August 2020) having sold fewer vehicles (4309 and 4825 respectively).
Meanwhile, wait times for other popular Toyota Hybrid models continue to grow.
Toyota Australia says the average wait time for the Corolla Cross Hybrid is now 10 months.
However, Toyota dealers canvassed by EFTM say some variants could have wait times closer to 12 months and the delays vary from showroom to showroom.
Lengthy wait times also remain for the pint-sized Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, which recent data showed has among the strongest resale value in the market today given the number of used examples selling for near-new money.
Joshua Dowling has been a motoring journalist for more than 20 years, most of that time with Fairfax (The Sydney Morning Herald), News Corp Australia (Herald Sun and News.com.au), and most recently Drive.com.au (owned by Nine Media). He is also a World Car of the Year judge, has won numerous journalism awards, and test drives up to 200 cars per year.
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