Toyota claims “really good” response to electric Hilux as first sales figures emerge

Toyota New Zealand says customer response to the all-electric Hilux has been “really good”, and has put its first numbers on the ute’s early uptake.

Chief strategic officer Andrew Davis revealed the figures in an interview with NZ Autocar.

“We didn’t think of very much volume for Hilux BEV. We’ve had a really good customer response. So we’re just working through what we can order, and put into backorder to supply,” Davis says.

“On the road at the moment there’s about a dozen, and then I think we have sold eight.”

Toyota New Zealand offered no sales projections at the ute’s launch earlier this year, and conservatism was the prevailing sentiment. Davis has now put a number on the ambition.

“By the end of the year, we are hoping to be somewhere between 50 and 80 if we can.”

With a driving range of 315km on the older NEDC cycle, most examples in New Zealand are going to work on farms rather than motorways, and Davis is direct about where the ute fits.

“Because the range of that vehicle isn’t huge on the road, if you have on-road needs, you would consider something else. If you’ve got something that needs a ute, but you also want battery electric, that’s where it’s fitting.”

Davis says he met customers at Fieldays already thinking in whole-farm energy terms.

“There are a lot of farmers who are really savvy, and are saying: fuel crisis? I’ve got diesel tanks, what do I do? But if I put solar up and have a Hilux BEV, I can then be quite self-sufficient.”

That solar-and-ute equation is the same one we watched play out on our own electric Hilux test earlier this month, where the ute’s farm focus proved both its strength and its limit.