Toyota Motor Boston Consulting Group Matrix

The Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid is a shining star within Toyota's portfolio, particularly in the booming three-row hybrid SUV segment. Its recent sales surge, with an 80.5% increase in Canada in May 2025, underscores its strong market reception and rapid growth. This vehicle effectively caters to families demanding both ample space and excellent fuel economy, positioning it for sustained success and market dominance.

The Toyota RAV4, Corolla Cross Hybrid, Grand Highlander Hybrid, Sienna, and Tacoma i-FORCE MAX are all prime examples of Stars for Toyota. These models exhibit strong market share and high growth rates, indicating they are leaders in their respective, often expanding, segments.

The RAV4 was the world's best-selling vehicle in 2024, with its hybrid variant seeing a 29.3% U.S. sales jump that year. The Corolla Cross Hybrid's U.S. sales surged 128.6% in 2024, and the Grand Highlander Hybrid saw an 80.5% increase in Canadian sales in May 2025. The Sienna's U.S. sales grew 12.8% in 2024, while the new Tacoma i-FORCE MAX experienced a 177.5% U.S. sales increase in Q1 2025.

The Toyota RAV4 is a powerhouse in the automotive market, and its status as the world's best-selling vehicle in 2024, across all its variants including hybrid, internal combustion, and electrified models, solidifies its position as a prime cash cow for Toyota. This broad market dominance, driven by its enduring appeal in the highly competitive SUV segment, ensures a consistent and substantial inflow of cash for the company.

The RAV4's established reputation, coupled with a loyal and extensive customer base, makes it a quintessential example of a cash cow. Its strong brand equity translates directly into predictable and reliable revenue streams, underpinning Toyota's overall financial stability and growth.

The Toyota Highlander, particularly its hybrid variants, has solidified its position as a significant cash cow for Toyota. Its strong performance in the competitive three-row SUV segment, driven by increasing consumer demand for fuel efficiency and practicality, ensures a steady and substantial revenue stream. In the U.S. market, the Highlander family saw sales of approximately 225,000 units in 2024, highlighting its enduring market appeal and profitability.

This consistent sales volume and the Highlander's premium positioning within its segment allow it to generate considerable profits with relatively stable marketing investments. The Highlander's ability to consistently deliver strong financial results makes it a dependable source of cash, enabling Toyota to allocate resources towards innovation and the development of future mobility solutions.

The consistent demand for the Highlander, especially its fuel-efficient hybrid option, translates into predictable earnings. This reliability is a hallmark of a cash cow, providing Toyota with the financial stability needed to navigate the evolving automotive landscape and invest in emerging technologies.

Hino Motors, Toyota's truck and bus arm, experienced a downturn in 2024, with sales figures reflecting a challenging market. This performance contributed to a broader sales dip within the Toyota Group.

While crucial for commercial transport, Hino's sales trajectory in 2024 indicates a potential dog in the BCG matrix. Its struggles suggest a low growth rate and possibly a diminished market share within its specialized sector, especially when juxtaposed with Toyota's dominant passenger vehicle operations.

Vehicles like the Toyota Avalon, discontinued after the 2022 model year due to declining sales, exemplify 'dogs' in Toyota's portfolio. These models typically have low market share and minimal growth prospects, forcing Toyota to reallocate resources. For instance, Avalon US sales in 2021 were around 18,695 units, a stark contrast to the brand's bestsellers.

Daihatsu Motor, a Toyota subsidiary, faced significant challenges in 2024 due to certification irregularities, leading to a sharp sales decline. This situation, particularly impacting its mini-vehicle segment in Japan, positions Daihatsu as a 'dog' within the BCG matrix, suggesting divestiture or restructuring might be prudent.

Hino Motors, Toyota's truck and bus division, also experienced a downturn in 2024, contributing to the group's overall sales dip. While vital for commercial transport, Hino's performance indicates a potential 'dog' status due to likely low growth and market share within its specialized sector.

Certain niche, low-volume ICE models not aligned with Toyota's electrification strategy are also categorized as 'dogs'. These vehicles, often with declining sales and minimal market share, consume resources without significant returns, contrasting with Toyota's ambitious 2025 targets of 1.5 million BEVs annually.

Toyota's Woven City, a planned smart city powered by hydrogen fuel cells and autonomous driving technology, along with its KINTO ride-sharing and car-sharing services, represent significant investments into nascent, high-growth sectors like urban mobility and smart city infrastructure. These are currently in their infancy, with limited market penetration and substantial upfront capital expenditure for research and development, including the ongoing construction and testing phases of Woven City itself.

As of recent reports, Toyota has committed billions of dollars to these advanced mobility initiatives, reflecting their long-term vision but also their current status as capital-intensive projects with uncertain future returns. The success of Woven City and KINTO hinges on widespread adoption of new mobility paradigms and the development of robust technological ecosystems, placing them firmly in the question mark category of the BCG matrix, requiring further strategic investment and market validation to determine their future growth potential.

Toyota's question mark products are those in high-growth markets but with low current market share, requiring significant investment to determine their future success. These include emerging technologies like hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and new entrants into competitive segments.

The Mirai FCEV, despite market growth potential, saw a 46.1% sales decline in the first half of 2025, highlighting infrastructure and cost challenges. Similarly, Toyota's Woven City and KINTO initiatives represent substantial capital outlays in nascent mobility sectors with uncertain returns.

New model launches in saturated markets, like the Urban Cruiser in India, also fall into this category, needing strong marketing and rapid consumer adoption to avoid becoming underperformers. Performance models like the GR86 and GR Corolla show strong growth (36.1% and 17.4% respectively in early 2025) but still hold low overall market share.