From the 2026 Toyota RAV4 to the bZ4X, the world’s biggest brand commits to ‘re-organise’ its line-up as costs surge and Chinese rivals like BYD & Chery circle

Toyota's new CEO says the world's biggest automotive brand would engage in some big changes as it battles shrinking profits in a tough global economy.

Chief Executive Officer of Toyota, Kenta Kon, said while Toyota had strong results thanks to “marketing efforts” in several key markets, including the USA where it had a record sales result, the company was expecting operating income to continue to decline due to the conflict in the Middle East and ongoing challenges with US tariffs.

Read More About Toyota

• 2026 Toyota RAV4 and HiLux will save Toyota from further sales slide as brand fends off Kia, BYD with strong interest in LandCruiser 300 and bZ4X EV
• Chinese built Toyotas could help with the Japanese brand's supply and emissions issues as partnership with GAC could result in cheap EVs such as bZ3X
• 2026 Toyota RAV4 hybrid wait times revealed to be three to six months depending on variant, as new Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson rival lands in dealerships

“Our hybrid customers have been waiting a long time to receive delivery, so we must deliver to these customers more reliably. That’s the first thing we must achieve, because as a manufacturer, that is our biggest mission,” Kon said at a press conference announcing its 2025 full year financial results.

Currently, the new RAV4 has a three-to-six month waiting period, depending on model grade.

Toyota Australia's Vice President of Sales Marketing and Franchise Operations, John Pappas, recently told CarsGuide the increase in complexity for the new model range across 2WD, AWD, and now plug-in hybrid variants would have an impact.

As a result of these delays, plus a dip in supply between the runout of the old model and launch of the new version, Toyota’s Australian sales dropped 19.3 per cent in March, marking an overall drop of 23 per cent down for the quarter year-on-year.

Toyota’s long-touted multi-pathway strategy, which has seen the Japanese auto giant move slowly on its roll-out of battery electric vehicles, is something Kenta Kon will be looking to “accelerate” as part of a new mission to “re-organise our production models".

This could mark a big change for the company. As to what Kon means, he said while Toyota was “fortunate” to be in a financial position to keep providing its buyers the “convenience” of hybrids, going forward the brand will need to undertake a “review of the model mix".

“As we pursue along the line of multi-pathway, that will naturally increase the number of models and that means an increase in the number of parts and specifications which will make this even more complex for customers” Kon said.

“So I believe that if we can review that complexity, that would have a major impact.”

However, responding to a question on globally plateauing EV demand, Kon said the company’s strategy would still include increased battery electric sales.

“Whatever the cars that our customers want, we would like to deliver - if our customers want BEVs we will deliver them good BEVs and that will remain the fundamental part of our strategy,” he said.

Adding to Kon’s comments, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Toyota, Yoichi Miyazaki, said the company had to “adjust the sales numbers to actual demand and in areas where BEVs will grow".

Interestingly, he noted the brand would continue to lean into its joint-venture operations for fully electric sales success.

Miyazaki noted China, which is already a “mainstream market to begin with for BEVs” was already a success story for Toyota off the back of its FAW and GAC joint-venture models like the bZ3X.

He also said Toyota’s strategy to roll out both its own and joint-developed models with Suzuki will continue in Europe. Interestingly, he also earmarked the USA as having strong potential for battery electric growth.

Miyazaki also declared one thing Toyota won’t do as part of its strategy going forward, despite the need to repair its profits.

“There was a time when we only pursued volumes. We will never go back to that, and each of our employees understand that,” he said.

Stay tuned to see what impacts Toyota's global strategic changes will have on the local product offering, as Australia's new emissions laws for passenger vehicles inevitably have an impact on the brand's line-up.