Right now there are two factors that determine what car buyers are seeking: Fuel efficiency (Due to war in Iran, which has driven up gas prices), and MSRP prices on vehicles. The average price for a new vehicle is $50,000.
Bloomberg News calls the Toyota RAV4 “the most coveted used cars in America.”
Why? The used ones are below the $50k number and the hybrid RAV4 gets upwards of 40 miles per gallon, well above the U.S. new-car average of 27.2 mpg.
Online dealer CarMax recently advertised a 2024 RAV4 Hybrid XSE that had 29,000 miles. They got around $47,000 for it, which is higher than the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) which was at $38,735.
According to Bloomberg, the demand for used RAV4s is so high that fewer new RAV4s ate displayed showrooms because many buyers are already on a wait list for the used vehicle portion rather than the new.
“For now, however, Toyota has less than five days’ worth of new RAV4 hybrids in its U.S. showrooms, far below the company’s overall inventory of about 15 days,” said Bloomberg.
The report also points out that there’s still a market for used electric vehicles, and consumers have been picking them up cheaper than the original sticker price.
“Others who are either unwilling or unable to go fully electric have turned to hybrids, which pair an electric motor with a gas-burning engine. Long considered a niche product in the U.S., they’re now highly coveted,” said the article.
