Exclusive-Dude, where's my car? Toyota buyers face long waits amid hybrid boom

By Aditi Shah and Norihiko Shirouzu

NEW DELHI/AUSTIN (Reuters) - Soaring request for Toyota's gasoline-electric hybrids has near suppliers struggling to support pace, starring to shortages of parts and months-long waits for car buyers, according to 4 radical acquainted with the situation.

Stocks of hybrids are debased astatine Toyota dealers crossed large markets, including the U.S., Japan, China and Europe, 2 of the radical told Reuters.

The surge successful request presents a situation for Toyota, the ascendant subordinate successful hybrids. But it besides vindicates the Japanese automaker's stake connected the exertion against predictions by immoderate rivals that battery-only electrical vehicles would hitch retired hybrid demand.

Global income of hybrids, including plug-in models, person astir tripled to 16.1 cardinal from 5.7 cardinal implicit the past 5 years, according to information provided by LMC Automotive.

Toyota's European customers are waiting connected mean 60 to 70 days for caller hybrids, astir treble the duration successful 2020, 1 of the radical said. Vehicles with the heaviest request and shortest proviso successful Europe see the Yaris Cross hybrid and RAV4 plug-in hybrid, according to Toyota.

In Japan, buyers are waiting 2 to 5 months for galore models, a Toyota website shows.

At 1 U.S. West Coast dealership, Prius hybrids were sold retired successful mid-February and conscionable a fistful of Camry hybrids were available, different idiosyncratic said.

And successful India, an important maturation marketplace for Toyota, transportation times person improved since past twelvemonth but are inactive 2 to 9 months depending connected the model, different idiosyncratic said.

Reuters interviewed 10 manufacture figures, including radical astatine Toyota and its suppliers, who described bottlenecks affecting the hybrid proviso chain. Details of the parts and suppliers involved, and immoderate measures Toyota is considering to easiness the strain successful 1 market, person not been antecedently reported.

Toyota said successful a connection that request for hybrids had accrued "significantly successful the past twelvemonth successful each regions" and it was doing its champion to boost accumulation successful response. The automaker said it had improved conveyance transportation lead-times implicit the past year.

"Currently, the accumulation capableness for hybrid parts and components from our suppliers and our in-house parts manufacturing is enactment with our yearly accumulation plans and our conveyance assembly capacity," it said.

SUPPLY SNARLS

The transportation times are causing headaches for immoderate customers.

Saugata Dasgupta, an Asia Development Bank enforcement successful New Delhi, told Reuters helium ordered a hybrid Toyota Innova Hycross SUV successful January 2023. But helium learned from the trader successful August 2024 that helium faced a further hold of 25 to 30 weeks.