Your next Toyota is about to get more expensive, that's the word from the brand’s top accountant.
Toyota released its quarterly financial report, which detailed it was expecting material costs for building its vehicles to jump 1.3 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
That’s bad news for anyone considering a Toyota, as the extra cost to build the cars will be passed on to consumers, according to the brand’s top accountant Akanori Azuma.
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“The impact of higher material costs, including measures to strengthen our supplier base, is approximately 1.3 trillion yen. We intend to recover roughly half of that through price revisions,” said Azuma.
The good news is buyers won’t be hit all at once, with the brand intending to space out the price jumps into next year.
“We do not intend to pass these costs on to customers all at once. Rather, we will continue to carefully consider both the timing and the level of price revisions.
“Since the effects of price revisions also carry over into the following year, we will closely monitor their effectiveness and respond accordingly,” he said.
Toyota plans to make more than 10 million vehicles this financial year, which means that 50 per cent of that cost spread over those vehicles equals about $600 per car.
Not the only price rise for Toyota RAV4 Hybrid
Toyota has been under fire for steep price rises for its new-generation RAV4 Hybrid around the world. In Australia price rises varied, with the base GX version now $3830 more expensive and the Cruiser grade almost $6000 dearer.
Toyota South Africa Motors Senior Public Relations Manager Riaan Esterhuysen said China is the problem.
"We intentionally moved it into a more premium space. It occupies or plays in the higher part of the segment now, and that is intentional," he told BizCommunity.
"We can't compete with the emerging Chinese brands directly on an entry-level price point. They have changed that market. They have shaped the market or changed the shape of the market by driving customers down to a lower and mid-tier of the segment or taking used car buyers and upselling them."
Price rise not hurting Toyota RAV4 Hybrid demand
The new RAV4 was the best selling car in Australia in the past month, with 5564 finding a new home.
Those numbers aren’t expected to drop anytime soon with the company holding a heavy order book.
Supply is the biggest thing holding back the RAV4 and the rest of Toyota’s range from hitting astronomical numbers.
Most models have a standard three month wait list, with more popular vehicles stretching out further.
Toyota Australia has said it has managed to secure about an extra 20,000 vehicles for this calendar year, with most of that number being RAV4, HiLux and bZ4X vehicles.
That increased stock is expected closer to the year's end, so expect an even stronger sales number at the book end of 2026.
