Why Toyota’s Top Seller Is Suddenly Hard to Find

Toyota’s RAV4 remains the brand’s most popular vehicle, but you wouldn’t know it from the sales numbers. Through the first half of the year, deliveries of the compact SUV have tumbled nearly 36 percent—from 239,451 units last year to just 153,955. June alone saw a 12 percent drop.

Yet the culprit isn’t a lack of buyers. Demand is still strong. The problem is on the factory floor.

Toyota has been retooling its Kentucky plant to build the redesigned RAV4, and the transition has been slower than expected. That, combined with production cuts tied to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and a decision to reduce overseas output by 100,000 units through early 2027, has cost the company roughly 55,000 lost sales.

Between January and May, RAV4 production fell by about 86,400 units compared to the same period last year. Dealers report stockpiles so thin that some are measuring inventory in hours, not days.

The RAV4 isn’t the only model feeling the pinch. Sales of the Prius have dropped 42 percent, the GR 86 is down 26 percent, and the Land Cruiser has slipped 40 percent. S. 5 percent for the half and climbed 11 percent in June. 2 percent, dragged down by steep declines for the RC, ES, and LS sedans.

The lone bright spot was the IS, which jumped 43 percent to over 14,000 units.