Toyota cuts prices ahead of FTA

TOYOTA has cut the prices of 10 of its models before Australia’s free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan comes into effect this year, saving buyers up to $7000.

Rivals Mazda and Subaru have also passed on savings ahead of schedule, giving buyers a New Year bonus triggered by the elimination of the five per cent import tariff on Japanese-sourced cars that is scheduled to come into force in two stages, on January 15 and April 1.

Toyota’s executive director sales and marketing Tony Cramb said the company would not only pass on the savings to consumers, but had already implemented the new prices from January 1 as part of renewed customer focus.

“Traditionally, Toyota would have implemented the price reductions at the same time as the cuts to the import duty start to apply from next Thursday, with additional cuts in April,” he said.

“Instead, in support of our dealers Toyota has brought forward the price cuts to the start of the year – they were effective on January 1, a significant benefit for our customers.

“Prices came down from the start of this year by around $800 on our most affordable Yaris range while some of our more expensive models have attracted reductions as high as $7630.

“For 2015 as a whole the result will be lower prices for well over a 100,000 Toyota vehicles or more than half of our annual sales.”

The Yaris line-up now kicks off at $14,990 plus on road costs – a saving of $700 on the old price.

Others to get the price cut include the Corolla hatch which now starts at $19,490 (save $500) Rukus starts from $26,990 (save $1000) RAV4 from $27,490 (save $1200), Prius from $32,490 (save $1500) Prius V from $34,490 (save $1500) Tarago from $46,990 (save $2000) FJ Cruiser from $46,990 (save $1000) Prado from $59,990 (save $2730) LandCruiser 70 from $56,990 (save $3000) and LandCruiser 200 from $80,990 (save $3175).

Prices of Toyota’s 86 sportscar, Prius C and Hiace van will remain fixed with updated versions to arrive later in the year.

The rest of Toyota’s line-up is already duty free, with Camry and Aurion locally built, Corolla sedan and HiLux sourced from Thailand and the Kluger coming out of the United States.

Mr Cramb said bringing the discounted price forward before the FTA enters comes at a heavy cost for Toyota, but it was a burden the company would share with its dealers.

“We’ve come to an arrangement with our dealers on that particular issue,” he said. “So we’re sharing the burden with the dealers.

“We’re talking tens of millions of dollars, so it’s a huge cost to bring that benefit forward to the consumer, but it’s just so much simpler to start everything from January 1.

“So in the end that was the decision that we made –we handed that back to the customer straight away.”