Toyota’s RAV4 rises to Altitude again
BY RON HAMMERTON | 10th Sep 2012
The company made a similar offer around the same time over the past two years to spice up sales of the RAV4, which now has only about six months to run before a full-model change in February 2013.
The all-new model is due to go public at the Los Angeles motor show in November, taking the popular crossover wagon into its fourth generation.
For now, the RAV4’s base model gets nine extra features in the Altitude special edition pack, including five 17-inch alloy wheels, reverse parking sensors, silver roof rails, front fog lamps, privacy glass and badging.
Inside, Altitude gets satellite navigation hooked up to a 6.1-inch LCD touch-screen audio unit with SUNA traffic warnings and voice recognition for audio, phone and navigation controls.
Bluetooth connectivity includes both phone and audio streaming, while the steering wheel and gear knob are upgraded.
Based on the entry level RAV4 CV, the Altitude is priced at $29,990 (plus on-road costs) for the 2WD manual – $1000 more than the $28,990 list price for the standard CV.
The Altitude pack can also be had on the RAV4 CV AWD, which normally starts at $31,990, but with special edition pack, rises to $32,990.
Toyota says production of the 2000 Altitude-equipped RAV4s started in July and will continue until November.
Sales of RAV4s are up 28.2 per cent this year, mainly because last year’s volumes were badly affected by the production shortages caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Toyota has sold 9699 of the SUVs, which places it in third place behind the Nissan’s X-Trail (10,735) and the new Mazda CX-5 (9719).
