Strong hybrid vehicle action has kept Toyota New Zealand on its sustainability mission, but the market leader’s fleet average CO2 improvement drive stalled in 2022, with its Lexus luxury brand instead showing the way.
Toyota NZ last year increased the number of petrol-electric passenger cars on sale, with all but sports types now taking the technology. Hybrids were hot property, but it still sold fewer than in 2021.
It also sold more Hilux utes – which run a diesel engine with emissions high enough to be hit by Clean Car penalties – than it expected to, and that also hampered the company's eco-ambition.
All in all, Covid-related restrictions hammered Toyota Japan’s global production and in turn meant more cars, notably hybrids, were ordered by Kiwis than could be delivered.
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For some types, that order bank stretches well into 2024 and has been closed off. Hardest hit is the RAV4 hybrid, which was the most sought-after Toyota in 2022, TNZ has confirmed.
“We are still carrying large back orders of hybrid models across all variants,” says Steve Prangnell, TNZ general manager of new vehicles. “The most severe is still RAV4. Hybrid supply constraints were due to global microchip and production shortages.”
Though 36 per cent of the 28,727 cars and light commercials sold last year were hybrids, if supply was unconstrained it would have been higher. The 10,341 petrol-electric models sold constitutes a clear national dominance, yet it's still 1059 short of the 2021 tally.
After six years of decline, the Toyota CO2 fleet average, as assessed under the WLTP (worldwide harmonised light vehicle test) climbed marginally. The count solely from its passenger models went to 138.53 grams per kilometre, from 137.62 in 2021.
Factoring in the light commercial models, Hilux ute and HiAce van, raised this to 180.2g/km, from 178.39g/km in 2021.
Hilux was the top-choice Toyota for buyers, with 9787 registered despite some variants also being constrained; that made it the second-most popular ute behind Ford Ranger, but could be seen as an unwelcome influence under the grander green push.
Since last year TNZ has undertaken a policy of trying to swing those with ute affection into other less environmentally-harmful alternates.
In its latest sustainability report, TNZ says: “For commercial customers who have preferred to run fleets of diesel Hilux utes, we are encouraging a switch to a hybrid electric RAV4 or Highlander where appropriate.
“We believe utes are not always necessary for fleet use when the majority are passenger-only driving on tarmac between offices and work sites.”
Nonetheless, Hilux achieved 34 per cent of total TNZ volume last year – almost 10 percent above its usual performance – and though that reliance is way lower than Ford’s is for Ranger (which notched an unsurpassed 76 percent of local Blue Oval sales last year), it clearly concerns TNZ.
The report also states: “In the past, Hilux sales have been a significant part of our sales. While we await new innovations to enable an electrified version, TNZ has committed to selling less Hilux utes in the future, and for those that we do sell, they will be targeted at people or firms that need them.”
Hilux’s 2022 performance attributes to the factory in Thailand reconciling production issues more rapidly than was expected.
Says Prangnell: “(The) sales lift was simply due to availability freeing up quicker from Thailand … we halved our Hilux back orders in the second half of 2022.”
Toyota NZ has been loud in support of Government’s legislative path to containing CO2 from vehicles and has, for the past five years, actioned a steady decline in its fleet emissions, though within the top 10 performers it stands mid-pack.
In a missive to media yesterday, TNZ steered clear of this apparent stall to that drive in favour of sharing some positive news, concerning Lexus, whose portfolio now produces a fleet average of 121g/km, against 157g/km a year ago. That’s the effect of an electric edge its parent will also experience from later this year.
Lexus, of course, has a much smaller market imprint than Toyota. It registered 1020 new vehicles last year, 15 more than in 2021, yet still behind leading players in the premium sector, which now include Tesla.
Electrified drivetrains are also dominant throughout the Lexus line-up. The biggest exception is literally that: big. It’s the LX off-roader, whose supply is now under constraint for CO2 good.
Also behind the Lexus badge, but not Toyota’s, are PHEV and BEV powertrains.
TNZ’s first pure-electric car, the BZ4X, arrives later this year. It is vague about when it might have a PHEV; the RAV4 Prime was mooted, but now seems to have been shelved.
The top-selling Lexus is the only one that comes in full electric, the compact UX. The UX300e achieved 177 registrations; the hybrid editions claimed 132.
Despite last year’s hiccup, TNZ says that meeting emissions targets is high on its list of priorities, as part of a newly-instated "Let’s Go Places" brand vision. It aims to reduce its total emissions by at least 46 per cent of 2019 levels by 2030, including the lifetime tailpipe emissions from all new and used vehicles it sells.
It also wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 which its clean vehicle sales are pointing towards.
“Toyota is helping create a cleaner tomorrow through future-focused initiatives, and we’re immensely proud of our achievements this (sic) year,” says Neeraj Lala, TNZ chief executive officer.
It has a Hydrogen Project, involving share of Toyota Mirai cars with nine Auckland-based companies, has invested in the CityHop car sharing service and a community-based car leasing scheme, Waka Aronui.
The brand is also making steps towards a circular economy and has collected and recycled over 900 hybrid vehicle batteries during 2022.
Asserts Lala: “Toyota has been and continues to lead the market when it comes to electrifying vehicles. We have gone from having one, pioneering hybrid – the Toyota Prius – to a range of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and EV cars and sports utilities.”