Toyota Camry Hybrid orders paused

Customer orders for the Toyota Camry Hybrid have been paused in Australia owing to "extraordinary demand" that has pushed waiting times past two years.

The petrol-electric variant is immensely popular with fleet, taxi and ride-share drivers and dominates sales of the Japanese brand's midsize sedan.

Toyota says nine out of every 10 Camrys sold here is a Hybrid, a fact that is unlikely to surprise anyone who regularly uses Uber and Ola ride-share services.

The company dropped V6 petrol versions of the Camry in 2021 to focus on a mainly petrol-electric range, with four variants comprising Ascent, Ascent Sport, SX and SL - priced from $36,820 to $50,320.

It leaves a singular Camry available to purchase for now - the entry-level, $34,320 Ascent sedan that's powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine.

Toyota Australia's vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, said the company was committed to being transparent with customers.

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“I want to assure all Toyota customers that we are doing everything possible to increase supply for Australia and to expedite delivery of vehicles as they arrive,” he said.

“Our global production teams have consistently adopted countermeasures that have improved the supply of components affected by global shortages, such as semiconductors.

The Camry Hybrid becomes the second Toyota model to have orders halted until further notice, joining the LandCruiser 70 Series V8.

Toyota said it wasn't possible to say how long the orders-pause would last, when asked by Wheels.

"We can’t provide an estimate today, but we will continue delivering as many vehicles as quickly as possible so that we can enable customers to resume placing orders as soon as possible," said a company spokesperson.

"At this stage, we have no plans to introduce an order pause on other [Toyota] models. We are committed to being transparent and keeping our customers and dealers informed of any developments."

Just over 7000 Camrys have been sold this year to the end of September 2023, a figure that's a long way short of the Toyota's heydey but that keeps it as Australia's second most popular midsize sedan behind the Tesla Model 3 (15,540).

Its main price competitors are the Mazda 6 and Skoda Octavia, but with the affordable BYD Seal arriving the Camry's place as a sales giant could be in jeopardy.

Toyota announced earlier this year that the Camry would be discontinued in its home market of Japan, but with exports continuing for markets including Australia.