Toyota’s latest cost-cutting method exposed

Toyota is reportedly gearing up to lengthen the model cycles of its vehicles in order to reduce costs.

As reported by Nikkei Asia, the Japanese carmaker is set to establish nine-year average product cycles. This is up from the current seven-year average cadence.

Read More About Toyota

• Toyota's stone-cold RAV4 Hybrid prediction
• Major issue with new HiLux EV exposed
• Price shock for new HiLux as costs explode

This will reportedly keep vehicle value higher for longer.

Additionally, Toyota’s longer product cadence is reportedly intended to make it easier for prospective customers to take delivery of popular models in their current form before they’re replaced with new-generation models.

As it currently stands wait times of up to 12 months are not uncommon for popular Toyota models in Australia.

This new strategy is the opposite of emerging Chinese brands, now doing major model refreshes every few years in response to stiff competition in the Chinese market and customer demand the latest and greatest.

Nikkei Asia notes however that Toyota models that are geared specifically for China will continue to be developed to suit local market conditions.

Although this new nine-year product cycle is longer on average, there are many Toyota models that currently have longer lifecycles. Some of this can be pinned down to COVID-related delays.

For example, the Toyota Prado was launched in new-generation guise in 2024. It had been 15 years since an all-new model was released.

Lately Toyota is also putting a focus on significantly updating existing models and branding them as 'new-generation'.

Examples of this include the current Camry, as well as the new RAV4 and HiLux. These are essentially deep facelifts with tweaks made under the skin, but are all largely based on the existing model.

This already allows Toyota to continue to profit from the research and development investment it committed to making existing modular platforms and powertrain families.