Toyota is the latest car maker to cut some vehicle prices by up to $7630 ahead of the January 15 introduction of the Australia-Japan free-trade agreement.

SUBARU AND MAZDA have announced price cuts on all Japan-made models and now Toyota has followed suit, backdating its price cuts to January 1. The reason for the price cut is the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Aggreement which will see the duty on imported vehicles drop from five per-cent to zero.

According to Toyota’s executive director sales and marketing Tony Cramb the company cut its prices from January 1 – two weeks ahead of the official reductions in vehicle import duty negotiated as part of the Australia-Japan free-trade agreement.

“Toyota decided to act from the start of 2015 by lowering prices for customers immediately, rather than waiting for the duty reductions that will start flowing from January 15,” Cramb said.

“Prices came down from the start of the year by around $800 on our most affordable Yaris range while some of our more expensive models have attracted reductions as high as $7630,” he said.

“Based on 2014 sales figures, this move is expected to result in lower prices for well over 100,000 Toyota vehicles in the coming year – or more than half Toyota’s annual sales in Australia.”

Toyota’s biggest-selling models affected by the changes are the LandCruiser family – 200 and 70 Series, Prado and FJ Cruiser – RAV4, Corolla hatch and Yaris. Camry and Aurion are not included because they are built locally. Australia already has free-trade agreements with Thailand (the production source for HiLux and Corolla sedan) and the United States (Kluger).