"Thousands of customers are going to get a nice Christmas gift": Toyota wait times in Australia to tumble as supply of popular SUV doubles for 2024

Wait times for the mega-popular Toyota RAV4 Hybrid are about to tumble, with Toyota Australia suggesting supply will almost double in early 2024.

Currently likely the longest wait for any new vehicle in Australia (beyond the 70 Series LandCruiser V8), Toyota says the queue for the RAV4 Hybrid is currently up to 18 months.

But a supply increase early next year has the brand confident it will be able to deliver "thousands upon thousands", and shrink that wait time to less than 12 months.

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"In the first quarter of next year we get a really good allocation of RAV4 Hybrid. It's not quite double our normal allocation, but it's not far away from it. Meaning that our wait times, I think, will halve by the middle of next year," says Toyota Australia's sales and marketing chief, Sean Hanley.

"They're around 13 to 18 months right now. I think they'll be back under 12 months by the middle of next year, which is good news for our customers.

"Hopefully thousands upon thousands of RAV4 Hybrid customers are going to get a nice belated Christmas gift. I always say... we're deeply appreciative of the fact that those customers have stayed with Toyota through a very long wait time. And we always take opportunity to apologise for that. We would've preferred that not to happen for them, but it is our reality and we deeply appreciate that they've stayed loyal to the brand."

In even better news for those in the queue for a RAV4 Hybrid, or those about to jump into it, Mr Hanley told CarsGuide the increase in supply wasn't a momentary bright spot, but an ongoing increase in the number of cars Toyota will be able to secure for Australian customers. Which, combined with a fall in orders following the "extraordinary" highs of seen during Covid, should mean lower wait times across the board.

"It's pretty well ongoing for us," he said. "So what we're seeing is that demand now is back to what we call pre-Covid normal. Now of course some people will go 'is that a dramatic downturn for Toyota?'.

"(But) that's still quite a healthy order (bank), because we've had extraordinary demand in the last two years. We think you're not going to see that type of demand in probably a generation or a lifetime. It was extraordinary."