The Toyota RAV4 last year finished the annual sales race in second spot, representing the best result for an SUV in a market dominated by utes, and once the domain of traditional passenger cars.
It isn’t set to replicate the same success in 2025, with the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux battling for sales supremacy, as the RAV4 has slipped back despite the brand filling long backorders from recent years.
A new-generation Toyota RAV4 is on its way to Australia next year, and like the current model it’ll be available as a hybrid only, but it’ll also introduce plug-in hybrid technology to Toyota’s local lineup.
At the start of 2024, Toyota Australia vice president sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, projected an SUV could be the top-seller in the next few years, likely 2026 if the market conditions are right. Given the RAV4’s dominance in its segment, it’s hard to look past it as the leader.
Speaking to Torquecafe, Hanley reiterated the potential success coming for the RAV4, amid more competition in the ute market which threatens to take away Ranger and HiLux sales.
“The ute market is changing. Despite all the competition, it’s a very stable market segment. It may grow a little bit because of the competition, but we’re not seeing that already,” Hanley said.
“It’s not growing as much as some might think, and there is a shift to these smaller SUVs. I can tell you quite confidently as I sit here today, that when I made that prediction – that in the coming year, over the next two years probably in 2026 I could see potentially an SUV being the number one car and maybe that could be a RAV4 – it completely makes sense.
“As I look at the now runout of the current generation hybrid RAV4, knowing that there’s two new models coming in the new year, being a plug-in hybrid and a hybrid, we still have an incredibly high demand on the current generation.
“I have no doubt that if we can get the production of the new model for a clean 12 months, if we can get the production that meets the demand of that car, it could very well be the number one selling car in Australia. I’m not walking back from it.”
As previously reported, the new RAV4 is based on the same platform as the current model, though it’ll feature a new-generation hybrid powertrain, as well as the first PHEV seen in Toyota’s Australian showrooms.
Discussion about this post