The Japanese car giant did not lose with its bet on gasoline-electric cars: in the past five years, sales of such cars have almost tripled to 16.1 million units a year. Demand for Japanese hybrids is so high that Toyota is struggling to keep up with supply, but many customers in key markets still have to wait months for their cars.
Europeans have to wait an average of 60-70 days for Toyota hybrids, writes Reuters . This is twice as long as in 2022. The most acute shortage is the Yaris Cross and the plug-in hybrid RAV4. In Japan, the waiting period is even longer - from two to five months, and in India they wait up to nine months for deliveries.
Toyota itself is aware of the problem. The company says that the pace of production of hybrid vehicles is in line with the previously approved plan, but demand for hybrids “has grown significantly over the past year in all regions“.
The company promises to do everything possible to increase production in accordance with new market realities. Thus, in India, Toyota will invest additional funds to expand the capacity of the assembly plant by an additional 100,000 vehicles per year. Another $ 14 billion will be invested in the battery plant in North Carolina, USA.
For the company, it is especially important to maintain stable delivery rates in China, where last year only hybrids were in the black. Otherwise, Toyota's overall sales in the world's largest car market fell by seven percent, while demand for gasoline-electric cars jumped by 27 percent.