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Toyota grateful for customer patience with delayed vehicle deliveries
Toyota is enormously grateful that customers are showing patience as on-going global supply delays are causing some customers frustration with their new vehicle deliveries.
Toyota are focussing on finding solutions to minimise wait times whilst maintaining accurate timely communication with our customers.
Toyota is grateful to our customers for their patience,” says Steve Prangnell, Toyota New Zealand General Manager of New Vehicles and Product Planning.
“We are doing our best to get more stock into New Zealand. However, our top priority must be continually communicating with our valued customers and keeping them informed of any delivery delays,” he says.
Mr Prangnell says global demand is impacting all areas of Toyota New Zealand’s business including new vehicles, used vehicles from Japan, parts and accessories having a varying effect on delivery schedules for customers.
“The effects of COVID-19, closed borders and delayed shipping and logistics into New Zealand are impacting all operational areas of the local business.,” he says.
“We are experiencing demand like never before, especially for our hybrid variants and seeing customers opt to wait upwards of six months for vehicles like the RAV4 hybrid in order to get what they want.”
Delivery times for new Toyota vehicles, and especially those in hot demand such as the hybrid RAV4 and the latest Hilux, are ranging from a four to six month wait for customers. Delivery of other new models into New Zealand are delayed by an average of 16 weeks due to production and international shipping constraints.
“The problem we are facing is we are now at more than 10,000 back orders and we just can’t get the supply to be able to fill these in a fast manner,” he says.
“We currently have over 350 orders on our new generation Highlander, without customers having even seen a demo vehicle in the Store,” he says.
Mr Prangnell says orders are now being taken for the second half of the year. “My advice to customers is get your order in for Christmas delivery now,” he says.