Toyota Wants Dealers To Push Other Models Because It Literally Can't Build Rav4s Fast Enough

Toyota

The Toyota RAV4 is immensely celebrated — truthful popular, successful fact, that Toyota is asking its dealers to effort their hands astatine trading different cars instead. No, I'm not joking. Because nan Japanese automaker introduced a caller procreation of nan compact crossover this year, accumulation has been interrupted astatine nan 3 assembly plants it's built astatine successful Kentucky, Ontario and Japan — and they were already moving connected a razor's edge.

However, to dress up for nan quality successful mislaid RAV4 sales, Toyota and Lexus dealers person been told by connected precocious to get imaginative during a gathering astatine a National Automobile Dealers Association gathering successful Las Vegas. David Christ (cool name), group vice president astatine Toyota North America and caput of nan Toyota brand, told dealers that they're going to request to dress up for immoderate of nan missing RAV4 measurement pinch different cars, according to Automotive News. Toyota and Lexus person had nan automotive industry's tightest monthly inventory levels for nan past 2 years, and it doesn't look for illustration that's going to alteration anytime soon.

"Right now, nan mostly of our stocks are pickup trucks, truthful we tin do that today, and we're trying to do that," Christ told Automotive News. "But arsenic acold arsenic nan debased inventory of cars, that's going to beryllium much wished arsenic nan twelvemonth progresses than thing we tin really count connected correct now," Christ reportedly said.

Annoyingly, this debased inventory has had immoderate crappy consequences erstwhile it comes to pricing. A caller study from CarScoops shows that immoderate Toyota dealers are adding monolithic markups to caller RAV4s. Some are adding astir $5,000 to nan value conscionable because they can. It's gross stuff, and hopefully group don't salary it.

Toyota

Christ told nan group of dealers that little RAV4 banal intends there's an opportunity successful 2026 for dealers to bump up nan income of slower-selling models for illustration nan Crown, Crown Signia and BZ, arsenic good arsenic nan upcoming C-HR+ EV.

He believes that pinch this imaginative strategy, Toyota and Lexus could spot income maturation successful 2026 — a twelvemonth that is wide predicted to suffer a marketplace contraction owed mostly to pricing issues. It'll beryllium rather an accomplishment, because nan related automakers had a hellhole of a 2025, pinch Toyota's income rising 8.1% to 2,147,811 vehicles and Lexus hitting a caller yearly income grounds arsenic deliveries climbed 7.1% to 370,260 vehicles.

"We spot a good, coagulated 2026, but a batch of nan [selling rate] is benignant of wished by pricing," Christ told Auto News. "How nan manufacture handles tariff pricing aliases nan effect from tariffs will find really accelerated nan marketplace goes aliases really slow nan marketplace goes."

I won't beryllium amazed if Toyota thumps its 2025 income numbers successful 2026, and if it does so, I dream it's because it was capable to get greedy dealers nether control. If there's immoderate institution whose dealers don't person money issues correct now, it's Toyota, truthful seeing them slap markups connected nan RAV4 is conscionable a shame. If they don't, I wouldn't beryllium amazed if immoderate folks skip it successful favour of different cars successful Toyota's fleet. I suppose it's 1 measurement to get buyers to look astatine different models.