Photo: Queues for Toyota hybrids are growing around the world (toyota.eu) Author: Konstantin Shirokun
Toyota has begun to seriously delay deliveries of cars. The Japanese automaker was right to bet on hybrids: over the past five years, sales of such cars have almost tripled, to 16.1 million units per year.
RBC-Ukraine reports this with reference to Reuters.
Demand is so high that Toyota is struggling to keep up with deliveries, with many customers in key markets having to wait months for their cars. Europeans, for example, have to wait an average of 60-70 days for Toyota hybrids, twice as long as two years ago. The shortages are most acute for the Yaris Cross and RAV4. In Japan, the wait is even longer, between two and five months.
Toyota itself is aware of the problem. The company says that the pace of production of hybrid cars is in line with the previously approved plan, but the demand for hybrids has increased significantly over the past year in all regions. It promises to do everything possible to increase production in accordance with the new market realities.
In India, Toyota will invest additional funds to expand its capacity to assemble an additional 100,000 cars per year. Another $14 billion will be invested in a battery plant in North Carolina, USA.
It is especially important for the company to maintain a steady pace of deliveries in China, where only hybrids were in the black last year. Overall Toyota sales in the world's largest auto market fell seven percent, while demand for hybrids jumped 27 percent.
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