Toyota Wants Dealers To Push Other Models Because It Literally Can't Build RAV4s Fast Enough

The Toyota RAV4 is immensely popular — so popular, in fact, that Toyota is asking its dealers to try their hands at selling other cars instead. No, I'm not joking. Because the Japanese automaker introduced a new generation of the compact crossover this year, production has been interrupted at the three assembly plants it's built at in Kentucky, Ontario and Japan — and they were already running on a razor's edge.

However, to make up for the difference in lost RAV4 sales, Toyota and Lexus dealers have been told by on high to get creative during a meeting at a National Automobile Dealers Association meeting in Las Vegas. David Christ (cool name), group vice president at Toyota North America and head of the Toyota brand, told dealers that they're going to need to make up for some of the missing RAV4 volume with other cars, according to Automotive News. Toyota and Lexus have had the automotive industry's tightest monthly inventory levels for the past two years, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.

"Right now, the majority of our stocks are pickup trucks, so we can do that today, and we're trying to do that," Christ told Automotive News. "But as far as the low inventory of cars, that's going to be more determined as the year progresses than anything we can really count on right now," Christ reportedly said.

Annoyingly, this low inventory has had some crappy consequences when it comes to pricing. A recent report from CarScoops shows that some Toyota dealers are adding massive markups to new RAV4s. Some are adding nearly $5,000 to the price just because they can. It's gross stuff, and hopefully people don't pay it.

Christ told the group of dealers that lower RAV4 stock means there's an opportunity in 2026 for dealers to bump up the sales of slower-selling models like the Crown, Crown Signia and BZ, as well as the upcoming C-HR+ EV.

He believes that with this creative strategy, Toyota and Lexus could see sales growth in 2026 — a year that is widely predicted to suffer a market contraction due mostly to pricing issues. It'll be quite an accomplishment, because the sibling automakers had a hell of a 2025, with Toyota's sales rising 8.1% to 2,147,811 vehicles and Lexus hitting a new annual sales record as deliveries climbed 7.1% to 370,260 vehicles.

"We see a good, solid 2026, but a lot of the [selling rate] is kind of determined by pricing," Christ told Auto News. "How the industry handles tariff pricing or the impact from tariffs will determine how fast the market goes or how slow the market goes."

I won't be surprised if Toyota beats its 2025 sales numbers in 2026, and if it does so, I hope it's because it was able to get greedy dealers under control. If there's any company whose dealers don't have money issues right now, it's Toyota, so seeing them slap markups on the RAV4 is just a shame. If they don't, I wouldn't be surprised if some folks skip it in favor of other cars in Toyota's fleet. I suppose it's one way to get buyers to look at other models.