Production blitz to deliver LC300 by Xmas

TOYOTA Motor Corporation Australia (TMCA) has announced that an aggressive production expansion will be made in Japan next month as it tries to rekindle volumes lost by the pandemic-inflicted plant shutdowns, including right-hook examples of the 300 Series LandCruiser.

According to a TMCA spokesperson, the Japanese giant is intending to produce between 850,000-900,000 across all models in November, which would mark an up to 70,000-unit increase on the previous November production record.

Despite targeting what would be a record figure, the brand said it had initially been planning to churn out a million units next month but conceded such a feat wasn’t yet possible in the current climate.

Nevertheless, TMCA sales, marketing and franchise operations vice president Sean Hanley said the latest update from Japan was welcome news.

“We are optimistic that the all-new LandCruiser will start arriving at local dealerships in Australia in December, with retail launch timing to be confirmed,” Mr Hanley said.

“Together with our parent company, we are doing everything we can to get customers into their new Toyota vehicles as soon as possible, whether it’s the all-new LandCruiser or any other model that is in high demand.”

While eager LandCruiser fans will be rejoicing, HiLux and Fortuner order-holders will be left waiting a little longer due to Thai shutdowns and production delays that will continue into November.

However, Mr Hanley said things were “expected to improve substantially in December”.

“As the availability of supply is an evolving situation around the world, we are continuing to work closely with our global production team to secure the maximum possible number of vehicles for our customers,” he said.

“We apologise to customers experiencing delays and we sincerely thank them for their patience. We ask our customers to please contact their local dealer for updates on the status of their individual orders.”

Even with the Japanese and Thai production woes, Toyota is still the clear market leader in Australia with 176,771 sales so far this year to the end of September.

To put its market dominance into perspective, Mazda is the next best performing brand with 83,565 sales over the same period – less half of Toyota’s tally.