Featured AU: Toyota stunned as consumers flock to hybrid version of new RAV4 SUV

Our cars tend to be EURO specification rather than USA, their Design Rules etc and ours align better. Even though they put the steering wheel on the wrong side too. Hyundai brings cars here from Czechoslovakia, NISSAN from UK (or has that left yet?). And TOYOTA don't make PRIUS' in Europe.

When I bought Samantha, she arrived in the dealership 4 months after Gen 4 was released in Australia, and I was told that if I wanted a different colour, 4 months order time.

Yes, Merc and BMW bring cars from USA (and Jeep and Chrysler). And FORD's biggest selling car here is the Mustang in the last 5 years that they finally talked Dearborn to bring here as a full import - and it flabbergasted them - there was a full year waiting list when it first arrived. Locals have been asking for it since a very small batch came in the '60s and another underwhelming batch about 20 yrs ago. FORD sent F100s here in the '70s - we had it at work, it was so shoddily built, not surprised it didn't continue.

My guess is that TOYOTA Australia didn't order as many as Aussies decided they want - so TOYOTA Japan have to produce more. They won't mind - they'd rather build cars to order, rather than have them stockpile.

 

Camry & RAV4 Hybrid are produced elsewhere, I believe. Perhaps you can get Prius from China? I think they started making them there.

 

+1

I'm sure that's it.

 

We've been told that they're all made in Japan - PRIUS, RAV4, Corolla and Camry. I think HiLux (Tacoma?) is made in Thailand.

 

"Stunned" .... some will think, "Toyota is NOT stunned .... this was all part of the Toyota goal, to normalize hybrids."

The other Camp may say "of course Toyota is stunned - because they were clueless to how much customers wanted a LARGER /HIGHER sitting vehicle that's also uber efficient."

A 3rd Camp may think, "Toyota is simply following Mitsubishi's lead, where the Outlander (plug-in hybrid- a slightly bigger than prius) in the European markets is so extremely popular, & Toyota has nothing like it".

In any event, good to see Toyota capturing a nice segment of the vampire sales.
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MITSUBISHI's PHEV isn't a competitor (here) to RAV4. RAV4 goes from about $33,000 to $50,000 drive-away - the hybrids from 37k to 47k drive-away. And - unless you want to plug it into a slow wall outlet, you have to buy Mitsubishi's Wall Charger (which IONIQ comes with it installed free).

PHEV starts at $49,000 to $57,000, but really needs another $1500 added to include the Safety Pack. Sales are negligible - can't remember the period, but I read that they sold about 50 PHEVs to about 1000 petrols - and over 100 diesels. The Outlander isn't getting very good reviews either - when scored, about 7.5/10 for either petrol or PHEV versions - which is below par. The new RAV4 last week scored 8.3/10 from the same testers.

The Outlander gave very good fuel consumption - 2.4l/100 for a day when most driving was in EV mode - but when they did a longer run where it ran out of charge part-way through, the fuel consumption "results in a staggering 15.1L/100km fuel consumption."

Yes, if you only have short runs it could be viable.

 

I believe Toyota Australia was stunned. They are the ones claiming their market does not want a PHEV.

 

$49K? wow!
Someone sure missed that price guess by a county mile ....

Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid | PluginCars.com

Don't want to get anybody's shorts all bunched up, so - yea I suppose there may be some areas out there in the boonies that may well fleece their customers, but here in SoCal - where most plugins, hybrids, & Ev's reside, that's what they get.
As for not coming with an (L1) evse, the one that we test drove had one, plus the Outlander has DCQC which is a great feature if you're only stopping for 20 or 30 minutes at the local strip mall.
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@hkmb has stated that new car prices in Australia are just high all around.

I don't know of any plug-in providing a Level 2 charger with the car here.
Most PHEVs can be fully charged overnight by a basic outlet. Level 2 is more of a need with a BEV.

 

Not the only time I read about that - not quite that bad though - most talked about 8-10 litres/100km after the battery runs out - presumably including the 35-50 km of charged range.

When they first came here, I looked at them, but went online - and some UK owners were not only talking about how they had had "issues" with them (the worst the early degradation of the battery), but that they were quite thirsty when the battery ran out. The pure hybrid mode doesn't appear anything like as efficient as PRIUS, and it still has a fair lump of a battery to cart around - which isn't any lighter when empty . The Diesel Outlander was better for l/100km than a PHEV with a flat battery, though CO2 etc was higher.

And bearing in mind that I was going from a Diesel FIESTA with a life-time of 4.6l/100 (51 USMPG, 61MPG), and previously a FOCUS with 5.4l/100.

One other thing - the PHEV is only a 5 seater, and I first looked at Outlander as a 7 seat, though eventually decided I'd stick with 5 seats.

But the Outlander didn't drive particularly well, nothing like the FIESTA or FOCUS - or PRIUS - the RAV4 Diesel was much better. Though they say the latest PHEVs are considerably better. It only had a 5 yr warranty on the battery, but that's now 8 yrs - compared with PRIUS 10 yr, unlimited kms.

 

ActuAlly I was wrong - the journalist said that IONIQ comes with a charger - yes, it does, but you pay for it - very clear on the HYUNDAI WebSite:

 

The Outlander PHEV is just got an Atkinson cycle engine. The engine was where Mitsubishi cut costs on the first gen.

How is the third party selection of Level 2 EVSE there? We have a range from built yourself kits to UL certified, fully connected units here. With current exchange rate, a good one, like Clippercreek, would be under $1000AU.

 

Not sure about whether it's Atkinson Cycle here - Mitsubishi doesn't mention it at all in the Specifications - just "2.0L D4 MPI VVT"

 

Toyota stunned? didn't they ....
Know your audience.

Chinese. Their prius knockoff version (a decade age) has a pretty low drag coefficient, what with only 3 wheels;



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UPDATE on original post - dated 18th September, a dealer quoted "RAV4 hybrid has a 3-6 month wait time. It's selling like hotcakes."

STILL.

 

Hotcakes on 2 wheels, sometimes!