Toyota remains the best-selling brand in Australia, but its market share has taken a big hit in 2023 as supply struggles continue to bite.
To date in 2023 it’s sold 40,918 cars in Australia, representing a 15.2 per cent share of the market. That’s down on the 22.1 per cent share it held at the same point in 2022.
The Supra sports coupe, LandCruiser wagon, and Kluger family SUV are the only Toyota models to grow their sales year-to-date, with the Camry (-60.9 per cent), RAV4 (-44.2 per cent), Prado (-57.5 per cent) and C-HR (-46.5 per cent) the biggest losers.
As has been the case for the past two years, supply shortages are holding Toyota back.
According to CarExpert data, the brand has the longest waits for a new car of any in Australia at 230 days, and the four cars with the longest wait in the country wear a Toyota badge.
Waits for the most popular hybrid RAV4 variants stretch to around two years, while the cult classic LandCruiser 70 is currently off sale due to its order backlog.
“As a result of unprecedented demand and supply challenges, Toyota is experiencing longer wait times for new vehicle deliveries across its range,” Toyota Australia recently told CarExpert about its supply struggles.
“In Australia, to support the strong demand, Toyota Australia has been continuing to work closely with our global production teams to secure as many vehicles for our market as possible, and minimise any impact.”
“Wait times will vary depending on the model, variant and specification requirements of each customer. Due to the ever-evolving nature of this situation, Toyota dealers are best placed to continue to provide updates to our customers on delivery timeframes for individual orders.”
It’s not the only brand struggling to get cars into the country. Cars contaminated with stink bugs, huge backlogs at ports, and production struggles mean new cars are still harder to come by across the board.
With Toyota’s market share slipping, we’ve seen growth from a number of brands.
Ford’s market share is up from 5.1 to 7.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, led by strong sales from the Ranger ute, while GWM has a 3.0 per cent slice of the pie instead of the 1.1 per cent it owned this time in 2022.
Kia and MG have also seen growth in their market share.
