Toyota hedges bets on hybrid HiLux, at odds with own sales record

A hybrid Toyota HiLux will only come to Australia if the market demands it, said a Toyota Australia executive on Wednesday, seemingly ignoring the car maker’s own skyrocketing hybrid sales figures.

Toyota is a leader in hybrid electric technology, which is considered a transitionary drivetrain in regards to the reduction of transport emissions and a move to all-electric mobility.

Hybrid electric cars cannot be plugged in, and are therefore reliant on burning carbon-producing fossil fuels. They do however use much less fuel, such as the RAV4 hybrid which burns 40% less petrol than its combustion counterpart.

The Japanese car maker, which pioneered hybrid electric drivetrains with its Prius, has been selling them left, right and centre.

In July, four in five RAV4s sold by Toyota were of the hybrid variety, prompting journalists to ask VP for sales and marketing Sean Hanley at the digital launch for the 2021 HiLux on Wednesday if a hybrid HiLux – expected in New Zealand by the end of 2021 – will make it to Australia.

Contrary to July’s record sales figures, which saw Toyota sell more hybrids than diesel vehicles, Hanley reportedly said there were “no announcements in relation to a hybrid HiLux”, despite the fact that hybrids now make up 20% of the car maker’s sales mix and the HiLux was the most popular vehicle sold in Australia for 2019.

He added that this could be pushed forward but ultimately was dependent on “the market whatever their position is going forward”.

“We would surely not rule out. I’ve stated before that we need to get our emissions output down, especially now we’re entering the period of self reporting,” Hanley told Car Advice, referring to the voluntary emissions standards proposed by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries in July.

“Toyota started its journey 20 years ago with Prius. We’re acutely aware now of the voluntary emissions standards brought by the industry, we will strive to achieve those. In a practical product sense we’ve been moving towards this for a long time.”

Hanley was also quoted as saying that this does not mean plug-in hybrids are ruled out for the future.

But he reportedly indicated that while he believes Toyota is positioned to introduce plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which typically have 60-90km all-electric driving range, all-electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, it will make the decision to introduce them based on market demand.

Toyota has been exploring the possibility of introducing the hydrogen fuel cell Mirai in Australia, but it would seem that for now at least, Toyota has deemed that plug-in hybrids, such as its 2021 RAV4 PHEV announced in June, are not in enough demand in Australia.

“We’ve never ruled out any plug-in hybrid option on any variant. But we believe we have the most practical solution,” Hanley was quoted as saying.

“When we talk about electrification, there are four variants that possible – hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric and fuel cell – and we are well positioned to be able to offer to the market whatever their position is going forward.”

However this is surely as much a supply issue as a lack of demand – PHEV sales in the passenger car segment increased by 52% for the first seven months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.