LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Sales of the Kentucky-made Toyota RAV4 Hybrid have surged this year in what some auto analysts see as validation of the Japanese carmaker’s more incremental approach to electrification.
The SUV, which combines battery power with a gas engine to boost fuel efficiency, has been assembled at Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky. plant since 2019. The Kentucky plant, Toyota’s largest in the world, makes about two-thirds of the RAV4 Hybrids, which are also assembled in Ontario, Canada.
Toyota sold 134,492 RAV4 Hyrbids in the first ten months of 2022, 43% more than the same time last year, according to company figures. The success of the vehicle has bucked the industry trend, as overall auto sales are down about 12% so far this year, according to Cox Automotive.
The RAV4 Hybrid, which was introduced in 2016, has already reached an annual sales record this year. About 40% of the RAV4s Toyota has sold so far this year have been hybrids, including the plug-in version called RAV4 Prime, up from 27% two years ago, according to company figures.
While rivals such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors are diving into electrification with vehicles that eschew gas engines, Toyota has merely waded into the space by offering hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of its high-volume models like the Camry, Corolla and RAV4.
For now, automotive customers are more comfortable with hybrids, which are usually less expensive than fully electric cars and do not risk running out of range because of a spent battery, said Brian Moody, executive editor of the automotive publication Kelley Blue Book.
“The reason that you see RAV4 sales increasing, especially with hybrids, is because it’s the exact kind of vehicle people want,” Moody said. “They want something that gets great gas mileage, they want something affordable, and they want something that has the versatility and the utility of a RAV4.”
The SUV gets about 40 miles to the gallon and has a starting price of about $30,000 to $34,000, whereas similarly sized fully electric vehicles such as the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Volkswagen ID4 and Hyundai Ioniq cost more.
A Kelley Blue Book survey of consumers shows no electrified vehicle — whether hybrid, plug-in hybrid or fully electric — garners more interest than the RAV4 Hybrid.
Still, the majority of new-vehicle shoppers weren’t interested in an electrified car. About 27% of shoppers considered a hybrid or EV in the third quarter of 2022, according to Kelley Blue Book.
“The good thing about the RAV4 is that when you start thinking that way — when you're like, ‘Maybe I'll get an electric car’ — and then you go and look at the price of an electrified RAV4 Hybrid, it’s not so shocking,” Moody said. “It makes it so that you can go one step further toward actually getting the car.”
Kentucky, the third-biggest auto producing state, has a lot riding on the future of the industry.
Ford and its Korean partner SK Innovation have announced plans for a $5 billion battery factory in Elizabethtown, Ky., with Gov. Andy Beshear claiming the mantle of “EV battery production capital” of the United States.
Toyota, which pioneered the hybrid car with its Prius in the 1990s, has so been slower to embrace fully electric vehicles.
The company dominates hybrid vehicle sales, accounting for about half of the industry so far in 2022, according to Kelley Blue Book.
Toyota announced in March 2019 that its Georgetown plant, which employs about 8,000 people, would gain production of the RAV4 Hybrid starting with the 2020 model. The Georgetown plant had been suffering from reduced volumes as consumers drifted from sedans to SUVs. The plant also assembles the Camry and Lexus ES, as well as the hybrid versions of those sedans.
