Last year, Toyota’s most legendary Land Cruiser family officially ushered in the sales of the 10 millionth vehicle. In half a century, as a top off-road vehicle, it was the first to enter the 10 million-level club. After a lapse of half a year, in February this year, Toyota RAV4 also officially broke through the 10 million mark. At this time, it has been 26 years since its official debut.
In the early 1990s, the miniaturization of off-road vehicles with RV leisure style as the mainstay began to emerge, and this is also the prototype of the urban SUV that is now popular all over the world. At the Geneva International Motor Show in 1994, Toyota officially released the first-generation RAV4. From the perspective of product positioning, it was clearly defined as a leisure SUV. In order to meet the positioning of a leisure SUV, the first-generation Toyota RAV4 is equipped with a 2.0L naturally aspirated engine and a full-time four-wheel drive system with a maximum output of 127 horsepower.
At first, Toyota’s sales forecast for the first-generation RAV4 was only 4,500, but in the first month of listing, its orders were close to 8,000, and the hot sales began. In all of 1994, Toyota sold 53,000 RAV4s, a number that doubled over the next year, and then doubled again the following year. Subsequently, Toyota increased the product lineup of RAV4, adding two-wheel drive models, five-door models, three-door soft-top models and so on.
After entering the millennium, Toyota RAV4 ushered in the second generation of products. Compared with the first generation, the size of the second-generation model was further enlarged, and at the same time it weakened the positioning of some leisure products. However, at the level of the four-wheel drive system, a full-time four-wheel drive system with a central limited-slip differential has been added, and users can also choose a version with a Torsen rear axle differential. Therefore, the off-road capability of the second-generation RAV4 is extremely powerful.
In 2006, the third-generation Toyota RAV4 was officially launched, and the new car was further increased in size compared to the old model. However, the four-wheel drive system has been weakened into a timely four-wheel drive system rather than a full-time four-wheel drive system. In Toyota’s words, this is a change that caters to customer preferences. Not surprisingly, the third-generation Toyota RAV4 is also selling well, and it has also been made in China.
The third-generation Toyota RAV4 was sold until 2012, when the fourth-generation model was unveiled, the classic external spare tire became history, and the hybrid system began to appear. The next story is the fifth-generation product that debuted in 2018. The hybrid technology has been further strengthened, and at the same time, it has picked up the long-lost off-road characteristics. Of course, the size is also enlarged in an all-round way. By the fifth-generation model, the global annual sales of RAV4 have reached the level of more than one million vehicles.
It is obvious that the global sales of RAV4 are still continuing, and it will come sooner if it wants to achieve a breakthrough of 20 million units.
