The year 1994 seemed to preview our future.
Internet access went public in Australia, Bezos founded Amazon, Sony Playstation launched and IBM released the first smartphone.
And, in motoring news, the car that changed the car quietly started its global rollout after debuting the previous October in Japan. Australia was the first export market in June of that year.
That car, inevitably, was the original Toyota RAV4, which almost overnight reset consumer notions of what a car should be – especially as family transport. Its scale of influence should not be underestimated.
Here, then, are the 10 RAV4 facts that need to remembered – and appreciated – for what it achieved, for good and for bad.
1. RAV4 sits among history’s most influential of all time
When you cut to the chase, only four cars since the birth of motoring in Australia changed everything. None were the first of their type, but all were the first to really capture buyers’ imaginations en-masse.
As the first affordable car, the 1908 Ford Model T is on top, as it put the world on wheels; the first Holden of 1948 set the price, packaging and six-cylinder formula that ruled until the mid-2000s and lasted until local manufacturing ceased with the final VF II Commodore in 2017; the RAV4 started the SUV sales craze that completely taken over; and the Tesla Model 3’s range and moxie made electric vehicles (EVs) viable from 2019.
Note, younger readers, that In 1994, ‘SUV’ wasn’t even the (wildly inaccurate American-sourced) acronym most Australians had heard of, let alone used. Instead ‘soft roader’ was the (somewhat disparaging) common term, as the high ground clearance, extra cladding and spare wheel slung off the tailgate suggested toughness and adventure, but within a cheaper, lighter and more economical package.
Clearly, Toyota was on to something…
2. Two seminal SUVs beat the RAV4 to market by well over a decade
With the RAV4, Toyota was on to something fresh, but not new.
Historians argue that the Matra Rancho by Simca was the original SUV, launching way back in 1977. Uncannily similar in formula to the RAV4, the butched-up and scaled-down Land Rover Discovery-esque three-door wagon from France proved surprisingly popular, but parent company Chrysler was flat broke and didn’t have the funds to develop and export the Rancho beyond Europe.
Fun fact: Simca was swallowed up by Peugeot and Matra – an independent automotive engineering firm – instead concentrated on what became the phenomenally-successful Espace by arch-rival Renault, creating the modern MPV.
Plus, Renault had commissioned a medium-sized 4×4 for the American Motors Corporation (AMC) that it owned, resulting in the very-French designed/engineered Jeep XJ Cherokee back in 1983 – you know, the one that also launched in Australia to huge sales in 1994? That happened after Chrysler bought AMC in 1987.
But we digress…
3. The original Suzuki Vitara set the scene in 1988
By the mid ’80s, it was clear that smaller and more car-like 4×4 wagons were becoming a thing. Suzuki of course ruled the roost with the original Jimny/SJ series, but the larger Vitara of 1988 was the true breakthrough, making the off-road-focused 4WD more civilised in its design, interior presentation and car-derived engine.
Toyota even pretty-much copied the Vitara with the 1989 Recreational Active Vehicle with 4-wheel drive concept dubbed the RAV Four. It was presented at that year’s Tokyo Motor Show, as a portent of what was to come.
The difference here was that Toyota had by then decided that – rather than build the production version on a ladder-frame chassis like the Vitara – it would raid the passenger-car hatch, sedan and coupe parts bin instead for its competitor.
And, right there and then, the car world was never going to be the same again…
1989 Toyota RAV Four Concept
4. The real secret to the RAV4’s success was there all along
Toyota’s Frankenstein’s Monster approach for the 1994 RAV4 was simple: design a 4×4 off-road looking body and Vitara-esque interior, but use a monocoque platform from the existing Corolla, Camry and related Celica – including engine, suspension and all-wheel drive systems. The chief engineer was reportedly instructed to “use brains, not money”.
Fitting a lockable centre diff and a Torsen LSD out back helped with its 4×4-lite credentials, along with the jacked-up ride height, tailgate-sited spare wheel and short overhangs.
The world went gaga.
5. Nobody quite knew where or how the RAV4 would fit in
Here’s an excerpt from Wheels magazine’s initial report on Toyota’s newest model in Australia.
“Urban four-wheel driving will never be the same. RAV4 hits Toyota showrooms within weeks and the plan is to steamroller Suzuki’s Vitara and anything else in its way… it intends to sell at least 3600 in the first year… it will be marketed as an alternative to lower priced sports coupes.”
Amusing today, but, really, nobody saw the RAV4 coming, despite that 1989 concept providing more than a small hint. In 2023, Australian sales that were constrained by production shortages were almost 10 times that number.
1994-2000 Toyota RAV4 wagon
6. It was ‘wild west’ design and engineering initially
Conservative Toyota only released the four-seater three door to emulate the Vitara, meaning the eventual volume-selling five-door wagon didn’t land until 1995. And that’s where Australians really started taking notice.
Here’s another fun fact. Did you know the first-gen RAV4 was so experimental that Toyota even offered it as a convertible during the late ‘90s? It was not well received.
By 2000, the second-gen model was ready, and that was larger, wider and more powerful than before. The interior was far-more car-like as well. This time, American consumers were the prime targets, and they responded in kind.
The third-gen RAV4 from 2006 was when sales really went ballistic, growing much larger in size and proportions.
7. Australian government import tariffs gave the RAV4 a massive leg up
In Australia, to help out the farmers and rural buyers, 4WD imports attracted a lower tariff than their 2WD counterparts, so carmakers did not bother with the latter until the taxes were changed in the latter 2000s.
This helped make 4WD/AWD vehicles less expensive than they would have been, helping fuel SUV sales sparked by the introduction of the RAV4 and its copycat rivals. Speaking of which…
2000-2005 Toyota RAV4 5DR.
8. It only took three years for the first wave of RAV4 clones to arrive
When it launched in June, 1994, there was only one car-based SUV in Australia.
That changed with the arrival in 1997 of the original Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V, and by 2003 we also had the likes of the Nissan X-Trail, Mazda Tribute, Ford Escape and Mitsubishi Outlander.
What are now referred to as ‘compact SUVs’, all became red-hot commodities, appealing to Australian family-car buyers who would otherwise have purchased a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon, as well as a medium-sized car like the-then popular Mitsubishi Magna.
The writing was on the wall for sedans and wagons…
9. Within 10 years it was clear the RAV4 had destroyed coupes and medium-sized sedans – the Big Two were next
The RAV4 and its compact SUV disciples quickly annihilated the affordable sports car sector, as defined by Toyota’s own Celica, Honda’s Prelude and Mazda’s MX-6. Then, midsized car sales sank, and before long, once-popular series like the Mazda 626, Ford Mondeo and Holden Vectra struggled.
Inevitably, of course, it was the perennially bestselling Commodore and Falcon that started to falter. Holden made the (in hindsight) disastrous decision to invest one billion dollars in the VE program of 2006, and by the time that launched, there was no hope of achieving the required sales for a return in investment.
2006 Holden VE Commodore.
It, and the Australian manufacturing industry built on larger sedan models (and the Territory SUV), were doomed…
10. It became Australia’s first cheap hybrid SUV
Yes, you could argue that the 2013 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV plug-in hybrid EV was first, and even the (ironically Mk4 RAV4-based) beat the RAV to market but both were priced beyond most everyday family budgets.
When the RAV4 Hybrid was launched in mid-2019, it was the first affordable hybrid option – with the base GX Hybrid coming in at under $35,000. No wonder waiting lists blew out to years. Soon the hybrids accounted for over 80 per cent of demand, and within five years, all RAV4s are now hybrid.
And, as with most things RAV4, the competitors then followed suit. What an original! Happy birthday to Australia’s favourite non-ute, non-electric vehicle over the past five years.