Toyota hybrid onslaught: RAV4, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris Cross and Kluger to drop petrol engines and join C-HR, Yaris and new Camry with only petrol-electric drivetrains

Some of Toyota’s most popular models will soon be available exclusively with hybrid power.

The RAV4, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris Cross and Kluger will soon drop their petrol-only drivetrain options and instead be offered solely with petrol-electric hybrid systems.

The recently arrived new C-HR and soon-to-arrive new Camry are alreday confirmed as hybrid only, as is the Yaris hatchback.

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But the thirstiest Toyotas – and some of the brand’s most popular cars such as HiLux and LandCruiser – remain powered by diesel engines without any hybrid assistance.

Speaking to the media this morning, Toyota Australia vice president sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, confirmed the more affordable petrol variants of the RAV4, Corolla, Corolla Cross, Yaris Cross and Kluger would soon be discontinued as Toyota works towards at least half of its sales being electric or hybrid by 2025.

“Faced with this surging demand, we were confident in the future of HEV as the dominant powertrain of choice for most passenger cars and SUVs, which led us to make decisions that would ultimately impact on sales of petrol-only models,” said Hanley.

“From today our dealers will no longer offer petrol-only variants of any Toyota model where a hybrid-electric alternative is available.”

He said it was all about responding to booming consumer demand for hybrids that has seen wait lists at times extending beyond two years for the RAV4 Hybrid.

In the first five months of 2024 sales of hybrids have boomed 127 per cent compared with the same period last year – and it’s Toyota that continues to dominate, accounting for 70 per cent of those petrol-electric sales.

“It will accelerate a sales trend that has seen customers increasingly choose hybrid vehicles often at record levels,” he said.

“It’s a demand curve that Toyota has both anticipated and … encouraged.”

Hanley says the wait time for a RAV4 Hybrid is now less than six months as more supply floods into the country.

However, it’s not all good news, with prices set to increase as those more affordable engine options are discontinued.

The vehicle most affected is the Kluger large SUV. Currently available from $54,420 plus on-road costs, the most affordable hybrid variant brings an all-wheel drive system not everyone needs and sells from $60,920 plus on-roads.

Hanley points to lower running costs of hybrids as off-setting the price premiums.

The hybrid announcement comes as Toyota is tantalising close to ticking the 50 per cent hybrid/EV sales level it had targeted for 2025, with 49.2 per cent of its sales in May already complying. In the first five months of 2024 47.1 per cent of Toyota sales have been electrified, the vast majority hybrid (Toyota has sold 46,821 hybrids in those five months and just 458 EVs).

However, Toyota off-road SUVs – such as the LandCruiser, Fortuner and Prado – and commercial vehicles such as the Hiliux and Hiace continue to do without a hybrid system (the Hilux is now available with a 48V mild hybrid set-up, but Toyota doesn’t refer to those as true hybrids).

The brand has committed to offering hybrid variants of all those models by the end of the decade, although it has previously outlined the engineering challenges of getting a rugged off-roader with additional electrical hardware to live up to the reliability and capability expectations of such vehicles.

The upcoming new Prado is available as a hybrid overseas but Hanley says “it’s actually a performance hybrid”, with less emphasis on fuel saving and that the company would have to evaluate “whether that performance hybrid for what our Prado is used for is the right drivetrain for this vehicle in this country”.

He also said Toyota Australia would have to commit to selling at least 12,000 Prado hybrids annually to justify the investment of manufacturing it with the steering wheel on the right-hand side.

“If we wanted a right-hand drive version of that car, we’d have to do some serious volume … at this stage that’s not on the agenda.”