Rebound! Toyota SUV sales skyrocket in October as more shipments arrive in Australia

It looks like Toyota is getting its groove back when it comes to sales in 2022.

Australia’s top-selling automotive brand has been one of the hardest hit by the global parts shortages and supply chain issues that have impacted virtually every major manufacturer.

For well over a year, prospective buyers have been told they face lengthy waits for some of Toyota’s most popular models, with hybrid variants in particular taking longer to reach our shores.

The LandCruiser 300 Series has lengthy wait times and Toyota has gone as far as halting the sale of the LandCruiser 70 Series as wait times blew out to four years.

But it now looks like the tide is turning for the Japanese giant, at least according to last month’s Australian new-car sales figures.

It’s worth noting that the monthly VFACTS sales figures reported by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) doesn’t necessarily reflect vehicle purchases from that specific month. Rather, it reflects vehicles that were delivered that month.

With that in mind, it appears that Toyota had a strong month for shipments in October.

Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.

Interestingly, it’s Toyota’s SUV sales that seriously ramped up last month, as its passenger models tumbled.

By far the best-selling Toyota SUV last month was the RAV4, which found 3222 homes, marking a 93 per cent increase, and enough to make it the third best-selling car overall in Australia in October.

Following the RAV4 was a perennial favourite, the Prado on 1461 units, which is 39.0 per cent ahead of the same month in 2021. This pump has expanded the Prado’s lead as the best-selling large SUV in Australia - it’s

One of the most improved models sales wise was the LandCruiser off-roader, which bounced back by 78.2 per cent to record 1217 sales. A stark contrast to the low monthly numbers it has been recording since its launch just over a year ago.

Toyota RAV4.

Despite the huge uptick in interest Nissan has experienced for the ageing Patrol this year, the LandCruiser is comfortably winning the sales battle. Nissan has sold 4729 Patrols (+45.1%) so far this year to the LandCruiser’s 10,131 (-24.3%).

Even Toyota’s smaller SUVs had a strong month in October.

The newest addition to the Toyota range is the Corolla Cross that launched in late October. In its first month on sale, Toyota recorded 1025 sales for the Nissan Qashqai rival.

The other Toyota-badged small SUV, the C-HR, found 585 homes, and that’s 144.8 per cent more than October 2021.

Toyota LandCruiser Prado.

Sitting under the C-HR, is Toyota’s smallest SUV, the Yaris Cross, that recorded 1019 sales, representing a 83.9 per cent increase. The Yaris Cross is the third best-selling model in the light SUV segment behind the Kia Stonic (7582) and Mazda CX-3 (8632).

The only Toyota SUV model to go backwards last month was the Kluger family seven-seater, which still took a respectable 865 sales, but that was 32.2 per cent off the corresponding month last year.

That could be down to sourcing. The Kluger is the only Toyota SUV that’s not sourced from either Japan or Thailand. It is built at Toyota’s Princeton, Indiana factory in the US.

These increases contrast with Toyota’s traditional passenger car offerings that dipped in October. The Corolla small car was down by 54.6 per cent on last October, while the Camry dropped by 36.9 per cent. There was a bright spot, however, with the Yaris light hatch up by 66.5 per cent.