Toyota Australia has issued its deepest apology yet to the tens of thousands of customers waiting in line for up to two years to receive their new car.

And the Japanese auto giant has revealed few customers have canceled their orders – despite repeated outbursts from some shoppers on social media.

When asked what messages Toyota Australia would like to convey to customers who are experiencing ongoing delivery delays and uncertainties about the time of arrival, the company’s Sales and Marketing Director Sean Hanley said:

“We know and appreciate that a lot of people are frustrated. But when I look at the order situation and the cancellation rate, I wouldn’t call that alarming.

“Of course some orders have been cancelled, but it’s really limited to a relatively small number of customers and no higher than (pre-COVID) before severe stock shortages occurred.

“We look at the (cancellation) trend over a period of two years and measure the cancellation rate on a weekly basis.”

When asked how many – or what percentage of Toyota customers have canceled their orders due to the long delivery delays – Mr Hanley said drive:

“I don’t particularly want to go into the details of the cancellation rate, other than to say that the order bank is very strong and I believe that, on the whole, customers understand the delivery challenge.

“They also understand that it’s not just Toyota, it’s throughout the automotive industry worldwide and we appreciate the fact that they’re staying with us.”

Pressing again on what Toyota is doing to address the rising number of disgruntled customers who do not understand the severity of the global new vehicle shortage or are not receiving the communications they expect from Toyota, Mr Hanley said:

“First of all, I know that our dealer network is doing the best possible job.

“They are providing the information that we can give them and to be honest the situation is so volatile at the moment that some of that information becomes outdated fairly quickly.

“While I know (with) some customers we haven’t done as good a job as they would have liked, but in the vast majority of cases our dealers have done an excellent job.

“For those (customers) that we missed out on the trip, I am deeply sorry that this happened. I urge you to please contact your dealer if you are concerned as we update dealers regularly in this ever changing situation.

“We’re trying to get better information to our dealer network so they’re able to deliver it to customers, but these are unprecedented times.”

Footnote: Waiting times for new Toyota motor vehicles in Australia have become so uncertain that customers are advised when ordering that prices and equipment may change before the vehicle is delivered. Toyota has also acknowledged that in some cases the vehicle delivered could be a new or updated model. Customers who do not want the car at new price and/or with new equipment are entitled to a refund of the deposit. When customer demand decreases and vehicle supply returns to normal, these conditions will be lifted. But for now, they stay in place.