Reach new heights and conquer the world! GAC Toyota Highlander's full-year sales in 2021 and single-month sales in December both set new historical records, once again defending its unshakable kingship with strength. In 2021, the cumulative sales volume reached 107733 units, an increase of 13% year-on-year; among them, the monthly sales in the fourth quarter exceeded 10,000 units for three consecutive months, and reached 14,401 units in December, an increase of 39% year-on-year.
As the first global strategic model to open up the luxury seven-seat SUV market, Highlander has led the era with a global vision since its birth, supporting people's beautiful yearning for a high-quality life. Today, Highlander has gone through 21 years of glorious history, with cumulative global sales of more than 4.5 million units, becoming an indisputable phenomenon-level best-selling model; domestic sales have always maintained hot sales in 12 years, and more than 1.1 million distinguished car owners have been recognized. Standing at the starting point of the new journey, Highlander is even more advanced user thinking, with a comprehensive evolution of higher value, and once again undertakes the historical mission entrusted by the new era. Internally, it helps GAC Toyota to achieve high quality "brand upgrading" and pulls the SUV family brand upwards; externally, as a model of the same level, it constantly refreshes the new height of the market segment and leads the new wave of luxury large-scale SUVs.
The three flagships work together to accelerate the high-quality achievement of "brand upgrading"
In October 2021, with the launch of Toyota's global flagship MPV XENA, GAC Toyota officially formed the "three flagships" of TNGA with Camry, Highlander and Xena as the head. So far, it has formed a strong benchmarking synergy in various market segments of cars, SUVs and MPVs, and further accelerated the high-quality achievement of GAC Toyota's "brand upgrade".
Based on the new development pattern of "double cycle" and "double carbon" in the country, for 2025, GAC Toyota put forward three major strategies of "comprehensive high-end", "all-round electrification" and "all-field science and technology". With strong action measures, firmly practice the development route of building a high-quality million-unit system, and help GAC Toyota to leap from "brand evolution" to "brand upgrading", and the "three flagships" are a powerful driving force to drive the brand upward and steadily advance. In addition to the further enhancement of the high-end strength of products, GAC Toyota's overall sales volume also reached a new high in 2021, with cumulative sales of 840396 units in the whole year, becoming the only mainstream joint venture car company to achieve double-digit growth, and the user base also increased to 6.18 million. Among them, TNGA model sales reached 665345 units, accounting for 79% of the total annual sales; the total sales of the three flagships reached 328,000 units, accounting for 39% and 49% of the total sales of TNGA models in the whole year, respectively, and the system capabilities with better structure, higher quality and stronger strength gradually appeared.
The mainstream SUV market segment is fully covered, driving the brand upwards
With the arrival of two new members of the TNGA compact SUV Fenglanda and TNGA luxury mid-size SUV Wesa, the GAC Toyota SUV family has expanded strongly. It not only achieves full coverage from large SUVs to small SUVs, from mainstream SUVs to trendy fashion SUV segments, but also forms a lineup of all-engine power products including GAS, HEV, PHEV, and EV, bringing consumers more and higher quality new choices.
As the first member of the GAC Toyota SUV family, Highlander is also the "spire" of the SUV product matrix, constantly pulling the SUV family brand upwards. After 12 years of product accumulation, GAC Toyota SUV family has gradually formed a high-value SUV product gene led by "the world's leading TNGA architecture + Toyota advanced hybrid technology + Toyota high QDR" as the core, constantly refreshing the new height of each product in their respective market segments.
So far, the GAC Toyota SUV family has initially established a full range of high-value SUV product layouts led by Highlander, With Veranda and Weisa as the backbone, and Fenglanda and C-HR as the base plate, so as to further meet the diversified needs of users in the new era and strongly lead the high-quality growth of GAC Toyota.
Continue to lead the luxury seven-seat SUV market, and continue to write the sales myth
In 2009, GAC Toyota Highlander was listed, becoming the first truly luxurious seven-seat SUV in China, opening up a new market with its own strength. In the past 12 years, the forward-looking insight of "reading the era and understanding the user" has not only created a sales myth of millions of word-of-mouth, but also set off the "Highlander phenomenon" that has swept away so far.
With excellent high-value, high-quality, high-value product strength, Highlander has maintained a market share of No.1 in the market segment for four consecutive years (2018-2021), and has become a well-deserved "sales benchmark" in the field of big seven SUVs. From "starting from the high place" to "conquering the higher place", with the continuous innovation of product strength, Highlander's sales have continued to rise steadily. Following the annual sales of more than 100,000 units in 2017 and 2018, Highlander's annual sales in 2021 once again exceeded 100,000 units, setting a new annual sales record; at the same time, the new fourth-generation Highlander based on the comprehensive evolution of TNGA still showed strong market vitality, with a total of 57,988 orders in only 6 months of listing, winning the HEV sales champion in the large seven-seat SUV market and continuing to lead the luxury seven-seat SUV market.
The legend of Highlander is not only to create a "sales myth", but also to create an irreplaceable "golden word of mouth" in the hearts of users. In 2021, at the level of quality assurance and user service, Highlander also handed over a satisfactory answer. According to the "2021 China Automobile Retention Rate Report" released by the China Automobile Dealers Association, the 3-year retention rate of Highlander is as high as 89.12%, ranking first in the same level of SUVs; "2021 China Automobile User Satisfaction CACSI Evaluation" shows that Highlander ranks first in the satisfaction of more than 200,000 medium-sized SUVs, and has won the first place in the market segment for 7 consecutive years.
High-value upgrading, the "5+2+7" HIGH life of the new generation of elites
Highlander is not only a way of life, but also an attitude of life to taste the world. While fully meeting the diversified travel needs of users, the new fourth-generation Highlander has brought a new proposition of luxury that leads the tide of the times, that is, the "5+2+7" HIGH life of the new generation of elites. Advocate a positive, high degree of freedom, high quality, upward attitude towards life, and explore a more wonderful and diverse world with the new generation of elites, and go to freedom and beauty together.
5 days of urban life, enjoy 100 kilometers of 5.3L ultra-low fuel consumption, the new car machine system brought by the high-efficiency and dignity of the city daily commuting; 2 days of short outings, enjoy the luxury and comfort of the "big 7 seats", large trunk space brought by the high-quality high-comfort short-distance travel; 7 days of long-distance exploration, enjoy a tank of oil 1000km ultra-long endurance, E-FOUR electronic four-wheel drive and the latest generation of TSS smart travel safety to bring the whole road conditions all-weather long-distance exploration travel.
With the hot sales of the new fourth-generation Highlander, GAC Toyota has used digital technology to empower service innovation, timely launched an "online car ordering service system" that meets the current consumer buying habits, and took the lead in realizing the industry's first online car purchase platform that intuitively displays the resources available in cities and single stores, further enhancing the user's car purchase experience. At the same time, in view of the newly created new digital car purchase model, GAC Toyota has also launched four major service commitments of "online ordering - convenience, online queuing - fairness, process visibility - peace of mind, and clear delivery - transparency" to further protect the user's car purchase rights.
In 2022, GAC Toyota ushered in the 18-year-old coming-of-age ceremony. At the same time, it is also a key year for GAC Toyota to impact annual production and sales of 1 million units and move towards the head camp of joint venture car companies. GAC Toyota will conform to the development of the times, actively respond to the new development pattern of "double cycle" and "double carbon" in the country, take "high-end, electrification, and technology" as the strategic guide, enhance the capabilities of GAC Toyota's system in all dimensions, accelerate the leap from "brand evolution" to "brand upgrading", and continue to mass-produce happiness for users.