NEW YORK — Toyota is looking to its new U.S. sales champion to carry a much heavier load.
The RAV4 last year overtook the Camry sedan as Toyota's top seller and outsold every other light vehicle on the market that's not a pickup. With the Camry now swimming against the tide in a declining midsize sedan segment, and the overall market softening, Toyota's unassuming compact crossover now represents its principal weapon in an intensifying battle for sales volume, market share and brand loyalty.
That explains why the fifth-generation RAV4, shown at the New York auto show last week, arrived in a Camry-like extended family of models aimed at a diverse range of customers, from a rugged-looking Adventure edition, to a loaded Limited edition, to a thrifty hybrid rendered in a sporty two-tone.
The differentiated offerings under one nameplate may provide Toyota with a way to defend its crown in compact crossovers without resorting to price or incentive wars against a field of vigorous competitors.
"We've doubled RAV4 sales in the last four years, so when you do that and you're at the 400,000 level, you have to appeal to a broader part of the market," Bill Fay, senior vice president of automotive operations, told Automotive News. "We put part of that challenge into the development of this."
Cue from Camry
It's similar to the approach Toyota used last year when it launched the new-generation Camry with two distinct designs for the mainstream L models and the sporty S models, and a few content tiers in each. The popularity of the S models helped the Camry maintain its crown as the best-selling sedan last year, while keeping incentives below industry averages.
While the changes to the Camry were more about keeping ahead of competition from Honda and Nissan in a sliding sedan market, the RAV4 strategy is more about expansion, Toyota executives said.
Part of the strategy is to appeal to males. RAV4 buyers last year were 56 percent female and 44 percent male, said Toyota General Manager Jack Hollis. For a model that's a volume leader in its segment, Hollis said, a 50-50 split is ideal.
The revision of the Adventure grade, which was introduced last year with mostly superficial styling cues, should allow Toyota to meet that goal, Hollis said. Shown in a military-style green-gray, the redesigned Adventure model features more trucklike body cladding and a nose adapted from the Tacoma pickup to draw young males.
Fay said his own son is an example of young, male buyers looking for that lifestyle vehicle. His favorite Toyota model is the 4Runner, a solid SUV with serious off-road chops that's based on the Tacoma pickup. The goal of the RAV4 Adventure is to have some of that 4Runner appeal rub off on a smaller vehicle. Hence, the Tacoma-like nose, the two-tone color option and added off-road capability, though not quite as hardcore as the 4Runner.
It's the kind of breadth Jeep has sought with smaller models such as the Compass and Renegade, and their Trailhawk trims.
Jeep, said Fay, is a logical competitor for the Adventure edition given its appeal to millennial males.
Hybrid model
The RAV4 hybrid is something of an unexpected play, as Toyota is focusing on its road dynamics rather than fuel economy. It looks the part in the new XSE trim with a black roof and dark body colors.
Because it uses the same engine as the other RAV4 models, the hybrid version is actually faster to accelerate because of the boost from its battery pack and electric motors.
Hybrids have often been sold as the more economical or environmentally friendly choice, Hollis said. But a little-mentioned benefit is that their high-torque electric motors make some models peppier than their gasoline counterparts. It's time to tell that side of the story, he said.
Fay said he expects the sales mix of the hybrid model, which accounted for just over 10 percent of all RAV4s last year, to improve.
Having so many variations of a vehicle can complicate marketing, but digital media is going to help with targeting the various RAV4 models to their respective audiences, said Lisa Materazzo, Toyota's vice president of vehicle marketing.
There will be an overall ad campaign spotlighting core vehicle features, plus targeted messages for the Adventure, XSE hybrid and the plush Limited. That will allow Toyota to keep its female buyers by stressing refinement and solidity, while having focused messages to reach some male audiences, Materazzo said.
Hollis also left the door open to other crossover variations that might technically sit in the RAV4 segment but would appeal to a different buyer. Over the past year, Toyota has shown a pair of concept vehicles — the FT-AC and the FT-4X — that fit the size parameters of a compact crossover but otherwise aim to defy labels.
Hollis said Toyota is thinking about vehicle types that customers are asking for, rather than just existing vehicle segments.
• Adventure: More rugged exterior, some all-terrain capabilities, available two-tone paint job with white roof, dynamic torque vectoring awd
• XSE Hybrid: Sporty grade with standard two-tone paint job with black roof, sport-tuned suspension, enhanced power
• Limited: Top-line trim with digital-display rearview mirror, chrome accents
