Volume Booster: Toyota's RAV4 Hybrid Gets a Price Haircut

Even though it represents a small slice of the model’s overall volume, Toyota owes a lot to the hybrid version of its top-selling RAV4 compact crossover. Without it, the RAV4 wouldn’t actually be the United States’ top-selling compact crossover.

Through the end of September, Toyota sold 36,352 hybrid variants, pushing the RAV4 nameplate ahead of the Nissan Rogue/Rogue Sport family. Sales of the hybrid model are up 10 percent this year. Realizing it has a good thing on its hands, Toyota seems eager to get more RAV4 Hybrids into the hands of green-car shoppers looking for more room to go with their fuel economy.

The automaker is now planning a new entry-level trim for the 2018 RAV4 Hybrid.

According to a dealer bulletin obtained by CarsDirect, Toyota is adding an LE trim to the RAV4 Hybrid, bolstering a lineup that, as of now, only starts at XLE. SE and Limited hybrid trims are also available. By deleting some content, the entry price of the RAV4 Hybrid drops $1,895, placing the LE at $28,130 including destination.

If you’re keeping track, this means the hybrid LE adds just $1,325 to the price of an all-wheel-drive, gas-powered LE (using 2017 pricing). While the stock RAV4 makes do with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder and six-speed automatic, the hybrid variant ditches that powertrain for an Atkinson Cycle engine and continuously variable automatic, coupled to two electric motors. This combination promises 34 miles per gallon in the city, and 32 mpg combined.

Despite falling below the XLE, Toyota’s newest hybrid RAV4 won’t be a stripper. Standard features include heated exterior mirrors, roof rails, dual-zone automatic climate control, a 4.2-inch instrument cluster display, three driving modes, and the company’s Smart Key System.

As we saw with the RAV4 Adventure, a slightly butched-up crossover inserted into the lineup for 2018, Toyota’s on an all-out quest to squeeze as many sales from its RAV4 as possible. That goal also means price cuts nearly across the board. In early summer of this year, Toyota shaved $500 from the MSRP of a gasoline LE, $1,350 from the XLE, $1,195 from the SE, and $995 from the Limited. At the same time, Nissan was adding standard content to its Rogue lineup.

Some 352,154 RAV4s found new homes in 2016, making it the model’s best U.S. sales year ever. So far this year, it’s on track to beat last year’s tally. The RAV4 saw a boffo summer in the United States, with July sales up 31 percent, year-over-year, and August and September tallies rising 30 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

[Image: Toyota]