Toyota tells customers "there is no need to pay over the odds"

Toyota Australia has asked customers to be patient to avoid dealer mark-ups applied to near-new 'used' vehicles available for quicker delivery.

As Australia’s number-one vehicle importer and the world’s largest car manufacturer, Toyota has been impacted by a combination of strong demand, semiconductor chip shortages, manufacturing shutdowns, shipping delays and other issues in the past three years, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This has led to significant delays for its most popular vehicles – including the RAV4, Camry and LandCruiser 70 Series – with some customers required to wait between 12 and 18 months, or longer, to drive their new car.

In the case of the LandCruiser 70 Series, orders for the V8-powered model remain paused indefinitely, while a four-cylinder automatic variant will become available later this year.

4

This has seen some dealerships in Australia sell unallocated, near-new vehicles as ‘used’ at higher prices with the promise of quicker delivery.

For example, online classifieds show near-new 2023 Toyota RAV4 Edge hybrids – with less than 100km to more than 2000km on the odometer – listed for $76,000 drive-away, compared to around $64,000 drive-away for a brand-new model on Toyota’s consumer website.

Toyota Australia vice president for sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, said customers should not pay more than necessary for a brand-new Toyota – but they’ll need to wait.

When asked if Toyota would screen buyers of the all-new 2024 Prado in “hot, hot, hot” demand to avoid vehicles being re-sold by dealers at a significant mark-up, Hanley said the brand is restricted by competitive laws in Australia, but that it has “very, very strict standards” for its dealer network.

“Where we’re seeing the markups is where cars are put on, and they come back as used cars… once we advertise a new car at a drive-away price, which we’re compelled to do in the Australian market, you cannot sell that new car above that price,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do with our dealers is encourage them to understand that our brand is built around trust, our brand strength and the reason we’re doing so very well in the market right now is because of that brand trust.

4

“We appeal to our dealers and, not all of them are doing it, but not only dealers. We say to customers simply, there’s no need for you to pay over the odds for any Toyota.

“You’re better off waiting. They’re coming. I can tell you, over the next six to 12 to 18 months, they’re definitely coming.

“Our order banks healthy and the reason it’s healthy is because people trust us and we don’t want to breach that trust. When we find this is going on, we take corrective action as best we can within the laws of this country."

When asked if dealers ignored this advice, Hanley said mark-ups only apply to used vehicles outside Toyota Australia’s control, not brand-new cars.

4

“We just made other policies around demonstrators… that will help us eliminate this situation.”

“There is absolutely no need to [pay more], stock is coming… in other words, you’re better off waiting.”

Earlier this year, Hanley said Toyota Australia was expecting improved vehicle supply in the second half of 2023 to "deliver more than 200,000 vehicles for the 19th time in the past 20 years".

For context, top-two brand Mazda expects to sell 100,000 vehicles in Australia – half as much as Toyota – this year.