Customers Want Their Hybrids Faster Than Toyota Can Build Them

Toyota should be feeling pretty smug about its hybrid-intensive product lineup these days, because demand for gas-electric cars is booming all over the world. The automaker seemingly hedged its bets on EVs, but increased demand for cars like the Prius, RAV4 Plug-In, and Camry proved the merit of that strategy and revealed a different – though ultimately pretty desirable – problem: Toyota and its suppliers can’t build hybrids fast enough to keep up with the orders.

There’s A Limited Supply Of Hybrid-Specific Parts

According to Reuters, one of the most significant obstacles to the problem is in Toyota’s limited ability to produce hybrid-specific parts. Many components that go into the company’s gas-electric products are built in Japan and shipped to manufacturing facilities worldwide; trouble is, some of those home-market suppliers are having a hard time getting their hands on raw materials. Aisin, one of the largest Toyota contractors, was having a hard time producing the rotors and stators used in hybrid motors due to a worldwide shortage of magnets. Denso, meanwhile, is finding it hard to supply Toyota with voltage inverters, per Reuters.

The company has a few different solutions in mind to meet rising global demand. Here in the US, Toyota is nearly ready to build hybrid components in North Carolina, where a $14 billion battery plant is coming online sometime this year. And the automaker is considering finding new suppliers in local markets to ease pressure on Denso and Aisin. For example, India’s booming hybrid market could make that country an ideal place to manufacture certain components for local use.

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Which Toyota Hybrids Are In Demand?

In the US, the Toyota Camry (which is only offered with a hybrid powertrain as of the 2025 model year) has proved to be quite popular – one unnamed West Coast dealer told Reuters it only had a few on the lot at any given moment. The original Toyota hybrid is in even shorter supply, with Prius hatchbacks completely sold out at the same dealer. Notably, the new-for-2023 Prius reversed a years-long sales slip as consumers transitioned to Toyota’s hybridized crossovers. Although its 44,711 total sales during 2024 pale in comparison to the likes of the RAV4 Hybrid, they do represent a 16.7 percent increase from the previous year and a 20.6 percent improvement from 2022’s numbers.

To that effect, every single one of Toyota’s gas-electric offerings saw increased sales in 2024 versus 2023 except the Highlander Hybrid. Among the big winners were the Prius Prime (now called simply the Prius Plug-In Hybrid), which saw a 66 percent jump, and the aforementioned Camry, whose hybrid-only powertrain saw its sales default from 35,000 in 2023 to 205,000 in 2024. The Grand Highlander Hybrid also proved rather popular, more than doubling its numbers in 2024 and compensating somewhat for the smaller gas-electric Highlander’s 50 percent sales decrease.

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In addition to Toyota’s important North American sales, the automaker has been experiencing increased demand in Europe, where the RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid (née Prime) and compact Yaris Cross hybrid have proved popular. In Toyota’s home market, hybrid pretenders have had to wait two to five months, while in India, the wait for some models has been as long as nine months.

Source: Reuters