Toyota and Lexus New Zealand see strong sales and sets new emissions milestones in 2022

Toyota New Zealand celebrates 35 years of market leadership

Toyota New Zealand is celebrating 35 years as the dominant car brand in New Zealand’s automotive market and has reported strong growth in both Toyota and Lexus new vehicle sales and sustainability developments in 2022, with a number of key sustainability initiatives complementing strong demand in the automotive company’s electrified range throughout the year.

In 2022, Toyota New Zealand became the first automotive company in New Zealand to include lifecycle emissions from vehicles sold in its targets, which account for 86% of Toyota’s annual direct and indirect emissions. This was combined with strong sales of 28,727 during the year, 36% of which were electrified.

The emissions targets were intertwined with the release of Toyota’s Let’s Go Places brand vision: which focuses on three core pathways of environmental sustainability, mobility for all, and community service.

Toyota New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Neeraj Lala says the company’s commitment to reduce its total emissions by a minimum of 46% of 2019 levels by 2030, including the lifetime tailpipe emissions from all new and used vehicles sold by Toyota New Zealand, was unprecedented amongst New Zealand vehicle retailers. Toyota New Zealand has also committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or sooner.

He says Let’s Go Places represents Toyota New Zealand’s long-term vision as a mobility company, and headway was being made on each of the pathways.

Neeraj Lala says the company’s aspirations were illustrated in innovative projects throughout the year, such as the launch of its Hydrogen Project, which sees a fleet of hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai shared by nine Auckland-based iconic New Zealand companies, the company’s investment in the CityHop car sharing service, and its Waka Aronui community-based car leasing scheme, which sees 20 families each leasing a low-emitting hybrid Toyota Corolla wagon for a set fee of $95 per week. The company is also making steps towards a circular economy and had collected and recycled over 900 hybrid vehicle batteries during 2022.

“Toyota is helping create a cleaner tomorrow through future-focused initiatives, and we’re immensely proud of our achievements this year. 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 SUVs. In fact, 67% of the passenger vehicles we offer today in NZ have an electrified option, and 36% of our 2022 sales were hybrids,” he says.

Neeraj expected the highly anticipated arrival of the battery electric bZ4X SUV in 2023 to further reduce the company’s average emissions.

Neeraj also says “2022 was another challenging year with supply shortages and delays, and for that I apologise to our customers who had to experience longer than normal wait times for their vehicles. We continue to be enormously grateful to the thousands of Toyota customers for their loyalty and support.”

Toyota New Zealand reports strong growth in hybrid sales

Toyota New Zealand is thrilled to celebrate 35 continuous years of new vehicle market leadership. This was combined with strong sales of 28,727 vehicles during the year, 36% of which were electrified.

Toyota New Zealand’s General Manager of New Vehicles, Steve Prangnell says “As a company, Toyota New Zealand sincerely thanks all our customers for their support and loyalty to our brand in 2022. Toyota is committed to putting our customers first by offering the widest choice of hybrid vehicles in New Zealand, reflecting Toyota’s market leading sustainability and environmental profile as an automotive company. We are proud to announce 36% of our vehicle sales in 2022 were hybrid models.

We have passed the tipping point of positive customer sentiment towards hybrid-electric options, and it is telling that one of our top selling vehicles was the hybrid electric RAV4. We have seen an ever -increasing move to hybrid versions of all of our vehicles, and customers benefit further by being able to receive a Clean Car Discount from the Government for them.

Toyota’s goal is to provide a variety of vehicles and powertrains in balance with our customers’ needs as we journey towards the goal of net zero,” says Steve. “Our vision is to provide the powertrain department store of the future – where customers are matched with the best powertrain, and the best vehicle to suit their needs.”

In 2022 Toyota New Zealand announced New Zealand’s favourite car is about to get bigger with the introduction of the Corolla Cross. That wasn’t the only change to the Corolla line-up, as of the end of 2022 all new mainstream Toyota Corolla’s sold in NZ will contain a 100% electrified offering utilising Toyota’s hybrid-electric powertrain, including for the Corolla wagon model.

“Our most popular vehicle for 2022 was the Hilux with 9,787 units sold. We look forward to building on this momentum and achieving even greater success in the future,” says Steve.

Lexus New Zealand achieves record sales in 2022

Lexus New Zealand has surpassed its previous sales record of 1,005 new car sales in 2021, with 1,020 vehicles sold across its range in 2022, and a significant number of orders placed for 2023 thanks to the popular Lexus electrified range.

The luxury brand, which has been operating in New Zealand since 1992, is quickly becoming known for delivering high performing vehicles powered by low carbon-emitting hybrid technology.

Lexus sales in 2022 reflect the discerning drivers’ desire for the best of both worlds – a premium, beautifully crafted vehicle with strong sustainable credentials. Across the range, 82 per cent of Lexus sales were either battery electric (UX300e), Plug-in hybrid (NX450h+) or hybrid electrified.

Lexus New Zealand General Manager, Andrew Davis says Lexus is on a journey to both increase Lexus sales and importantly work towards carbon neutrality through a varied portfolio of sustainable powertrain options for customers.

“During 2022, we have seen a growing shift in customer demand for Lexus Electrified products, especially with the arrival of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and Battery electric (BEV) marques.

“With this success, we are now turning our attention towards a carbon-neutral future. By 2050, Lexus aims to achieve carbon neutrality throughout the lifecycle of the entire model line-up – from the manufacturing of materials, parts, vehicles to vehicle logistics, to the final disposal and recycling of older vehicles,” he says.

Carbon emissions for vehicles is measured in terms of grams of carbon dioxide emitted per kilometre. Across the Lexus portfolio, carbon emissions were 121/g per km for the 2022 calendar year. This was a decrease on the previous year of 157/g per km.

The highest selling Lexus marque in 2022 was the Lexus UX with 309 vehicles sold, 177 of which were UX BEVs and 132 UX HEVs.

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