Is Japan’s best-selling small SUV brand ready to produce enough RAV4s for excited car buyers?
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- Toyota may struggle to meet high demand for the redesigned 2026 RAV4.
- The Toyota RAV4’s popularity stems from its reliability, value, and practicality.
Is the Toyota RAV4 so popular that it’s selling faster than the automaker can produce the vehicle?
Toyota manufactures some of the country’s most beloved car options, including the RAV4 small SUV, the Corolla compact car, and the Camry midsize car. According to Consumer Reports, this is the most trusted car brand on the market.
The RAV4 nameplate has always been the best-selling model for the brand and its segment. However, since it has become a hybrid-only model, will Toyota be unable to catch up with its popularity?
Toyota may struggle to meet demand for redesigned RAV4
According to Automotive News, Toyota dealers “will face headwinds in 2026 as the most popular nameplates transition to new generations.” According to the car news site The Drive, the company is “acutely aware that it will not be able to increase production of the new 2026 Toyota RAV4 quickly enough to meet demand,” and has instructed dealers concerned about declining sales to “supplement production with other vehicles.”
The RAV4 has been a sales force for automakers and Toyota dealers, but due to the redesign and new standard hybrid powertrain, production won’t be as quick as the previous generation. Toyota is asking dealers to inform customers about other models in its portfolio, as reported by The Drive, as production times are expected to increase.
The Toyota RAV4’s popularity is partly due to tight demand, but the development of alternative production processes is also impacting the small SUV’s availability. The majority of the brand’s current inventory is pickup trucks, which will make them more readily available to dealers and consumers than models like the new RAV4.
Why is Toyota RAV4 so popular?
Toyota’s small SUV is popular for a variety of reasons, but value and reliability are its hallmarks. Prices start at $31,900, much cheaper than the average new car price of more than $50,000. This small SUV uses a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and two electric motors to produce 169 horsepower.
2026 Toyota RAV4 SUV Review
Toyota has made some changes to the 2026 model of its SUV “RAV4.” The entire lineup is now hybrid.
Toyota’s new standard hybrid achieves an impressive 43 miles per gallon combined and has a tank size of 14.5 gallons. It’s fuel efficient, allowing you to travel more than 623 miles on one tank of gas.
The new RAV4 seats five and has 37.8 cubic feet of cargo space, plenty of room for the average grocery haul. The reason Toyota sells so many RAV4s every year is because the SUV is so well balanced. The design has also been changed to give it a more flashy appearance.
Is a standard hybrid powertrain the right choice for the Toyota RAV4?
Toyota was one of the first major automakers to mass produce a hybrid vehicle with the Prius, which debuted in the United States in 2000. Decades later, most popular nameplates offer hybrid or mild hybrid powertrain options to make the vehicle more efficient and powerful.
The RAV4 isn’t Toyota’s first car to make a standard hybrid. Less popular models like the Sequoia full-size SUV and Sienna minivan paved the way for best-selling models like the Camry and RAV4 to become standard hybrids. So far, the Japanese automaker’s U.S. portfolio has benefited greatly from the hybridization of some of its nameplates, bringing new attention to less popular models and attention-grabbing specs to popular models.
Due to a lack of 2026 sales data, it’s too early to tell whether a standard hybrid powertrain was the right choice for the RAV4, but both industry experts and Toyota expect demand for the small SUV to remain strong. The introduction of the next-generation RAV4 is a positive development for consumers, as the starting price remains affordable even after the redesign. Drivers will see if the hype translates into sales once the report is released.
