Toyota says it could sell more cars in Australia, but can’t get enough vehicles to keep up with demand. 

The Japanese automaker has been at the top of the Australian sales charts every year since 2008, and last year it set an all-time sales record of 241,296 vehicles – more than double the volume of second-placed Ford. 

Reiterating the company’s previous forecasts, Toyota Australia sales, marketing and franchise operations vice president Sean Hanley told CarExpert he expected a lower sales result for the brand this year.

Toyota Australia’s sales are down 1.2 per cent to August this year according to VFACTS. Published monthly by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), VFACTS is the official auto sales statistician for new vehicles in Australia.

It covers most brands with exceptions including electric vehicle (EV) makers Tesla and Polestar, as well as Deepal, Cadillac, GMC, Ineos, Mahindra, Smart and Xpeng, at least for now.

CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal.

“Our demand’s strong; I still think we’ll do well over 220,000 [sales] this year. We could have done a lot more than that, to be honest, if we had all the cars,” Mr Hanley said. 

“The only reason we’re down on sales at all is simply production capability – we can’t meet full demand at this point. We don’t have massive wait times, but we do have an order bank, particularly on some of our hybrid variants.”

Toyota says those wait times are typically between three and six months for its best-sellers, including the HiLux ute and RAV4 mid-size SUV, new generations of which are due to arrive in local showrooms in 2026. 

A ‘production pause’ to upgrade the LandCruiser 70 Series to Euro 6d emissions regulations may see delivery lead times for the popular workhorse extend in 2026.