Editorโs Note: This story originally appeared in Volume 5 of B.H. Magazine. To get your copy (and access to future issues), subscribe here.
Sitting in the corner of a well-trodden roadhouse on the vast Nullarbor Plain, it doesnโt take long for Sean Hanley to strike up a conversation with a fellow traveller. Mid-sentence, he brushes away some of the friendliest flies on the planet as his resonant voice casually digs for details.
Toyota Australiaโs ever-jovial vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations is a fun-loving character with a larrikin tinge who effortlessly engages anyone who looks like they may have a yarn to spin. Here, where the skies are big, and the bulging roadhouse burgers even bigger, Hanleyโs boisterous personality fits right in.
Weโre venturing across the Nullarbor in Camry hybrids and the latest addition to the Tundra line-up, a $172,990 behemoth that relishes wide-open spaces. Fortunately, weโre not short on them.
Part of Hanleyโs enthusiasm revolves around figuring out what drives people, or at least, what theyโre driving. Thereโs not much that excites him more than a LandCruiser with 35 feet of Jayco hitched to the back. One hardened local keen on fishing is eager to relay what he loves about his LandCruiser 70-Series โ a car that is as ubiquitous out here as a Corolla in suburban Brisbane, Hanleyโs hometown.
Fending off punishment is something the locals expect of their transport. The Nullarbor is one of many remote regions where Toyotas not only thrive but dominate. The Japanese brand accounts for about one in every five new cars sold across the land, but in pockets of the country โ especially up north โ that share can double.
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After-sales support is key, Hanley reinforces as we pass the freshly minted dealership on the outskirts of Ceduna. Having the largest dealer network in the country is one of the core messages heโs keen to relay as the road snakes towards the horizon. He highlights it as a main reason those in the bush increasingly rely on the T brand rather than switch allegiances to something fresher, most of which is now from China.
โNone of those brands coming have our dealer network,โ says Hanley. โNone of the dealers theyโve got can invest what Toyota dealers have invested in the last 50 years.โ
While city folk can often be lured to a lower priced Chery or GWM, country folk invariably gravitate towards cars with proven reliability โ and a track record for soldiering on. And while most Toyotas are sold in the city, Hanley says the brandโs heartbeat is in the bush.
โItโs where we started, itโs why we exist,โ he says. โWe will always protect our regional dealers and make sure that theyโre confident about the future because they service the very thing we stand for: the value proposition.โ
Hanley is not your average car exec, although his swing on the dusty Nullarbor Links golf course โ the worldโs longest at 1,365 kilometres โ suggests heโs nailed at least one Japanese business tradition.
Born and bred in Queensland, Hanley repeated a year at school and left early, initially intending to join the police force โ something that never materialised. He ended up at a Ford dealership ferrying spare parts to local repair shops before landing a job at Toyota, where he has worked his way through the ranks.
โI come from a working-class background and I donโt have the university degrees that most have,โ he says, almost as a badge of honour, adding that heโs largely learnt on the job. โI made some errors, learnt from those errors, but always tried to keep it real.โ
Indeed, when Hanley speaks โ often passionately โ thereโs never a sense youโre getting spin. He clearly believes what he says and heโs not shy to cut against the grain.
While the industry is brimming with car enthusiasts, for Hanley itโs more about the industry itself. โI love the business of cars more than I love the cars,โ he says. And while those cars are undergoing a once-in-a-generation change โ the shift to electrification and an unprecedented influx of new brands โ the old school in Hanley says plenty can be learnt from the past.
โIf you want to predict the future, donโt ignore history.โ
Itโs here we gravitate towards one of the cars Hanley does get genuinely excited about: the Prius. It was his project to introduce the first one to Australia in 2001, something he still remembers fondly.
โIt was a pivotal moment within the car industry,โ he explains. โOther companies were not overly complimentary about where that technology would go.โ
History shows itโs been a game-changer and set some of the foundations for the inevitable switch to EV.
Heโs clearly proud of Toyotaโs success with hybrids; these days almost half the brandโs sales share a mix of petrol and electricity. Which begs the question of why the hybrid pioneer has been so slow to EVs.
With cars powered purely by electricity, Toyota is a laggard โ at least in showrooms. Its first pure-battery electric vehicle arrived in 2024 and has been one of the brandโs slowest sellers. Thereโs more coming and some think it canโt come soon enough, although Hanley is adamant it will be in time with the market.
Heโs eager to point to the figures that show EV excitement has waned and sales plateaued. He regularly references Toyotaโs โmulti-pathway approachโ that incorporates all emissions-reducing technologies, from hybrid and plug-in hybrid to EVs and hydrogen fuel cells. Itโs all about ensuring there is a car for everyone.
Still, Toyota has ground to make up, especially against the likes of Tesla and BYD, which have proven there is demand for EVs if the product is appealing. Where the original Prius faced almost no competition, Toyotaโs EVs will be bombarded with plenty when they finally arrive en masse. But Hanley refers to much of the fresh competition as technology companies rather than car companies.
โThe technology companies come in and they razzmatazz with the latest and greatest โ and Iโm not down-treading their capability. Theyโre very smart people,โ adds Hanley. โThis is where a genuine car company whoโs been doing it a long time sits back and goes, well, youโve actually got to have a bit of both. Youโve got to have the technology, and youโve got to have the capability.โ
He nominates brand trust and reliability as key differentiators for buyers who have more choice than ever, as the automotive industry sails into uncharted waters.
The push towards electrification, tighter emissions standards, and the threat from resurgent Chinese brands is intensifying competition in an already cutthroat industry. About a dozen new Chinese manufacturers have targeted Australia as their battleground, with some explicitly aiming to topple Toyota. With the US ruled out by tariffs and Europe increasingly hostile to brands like BYD and Chery, Australia has become the perfect hunting ground.
โAnyone can give metal away, itโs harder to sell it,โ he quips, referencing the apparent ploy by some to significantly undercut prices with sometimes slender margins, essentially buying market share to gain a foothold.
Trust is everything in the car game, he says. โAustralians go to brands they trust. Customers in Australia are astute people.โ
For decades Toyota has been steady on prices, gradually edging them up with new models and as demand increases, and focusing on value. In the process it fiercely protects the all-important residual values that make Toyota drivers some of the most content when it comes time to sell. But Hanley also knows thereโs work to be done.
โWe never take our position for granted and we know weโve got to continue to evolve and work hard. Do we always get it right? No. But if we get it wrong, we fix it,โ he says.
Despite the lethargy in going electric, Hanleyโs convinced Toyotaโs methodical approach will put it in a good position as the journey continues. He says that while thereโs a perception the company is slow to react, โin actual fact, for a big organisation it moves pretty quick.โ
โWhat I love about Toyota, and why I donโt get frustrated, is because Toyotaโs a company that will just continue to improve. It never lets up.โ
Toyotaโs immediate challenge is reducing the emissions of its fleet so as to avoid tough penalties as part of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. Hanley says the brand wants to avoid penalties by offsetting those thirstier vehicles with more fuel-efficient ones.
Itโs relatively easy for RAV4s and Corollas โ theyโre already well on the way with hybrids, as well as a plug-in system for the RAV4 in 2026 โ but a much bigger challenge for the LandCruiser, Hilux, and Prado. Theyโre cars that sell on capability and are expected to handle serious punishment.
Buyers wedded to diesel will need to get used to a new breed where electricity comes into the mix. Toyota has already promised hybrid or electric versions of its LandCruiser, Hilux, and Prado by 2030. How it does that without messing with the DNA โ the all-important secret sauce โ that makes a LandCruiser a LandCruiser remains to be seen.
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In his cagey way Hanley hints thereโs nothing to worry about, although the Toyota 4WD faithful will no doubt want to see such tech succeeding in the wild before committing to it.
As for the future for Toyota, in the short term itโs about leveraging the brand attributes itโs spent decades building and reassuring buyers the premium for a Prado, Hilux, or LandCruiser (some call it Toyota tax) is worth it.
That will arguably be easier for older generations who have experienced what the brand offers, right down to rock solid residual values and that well-earned reputation for reliability. It could be a tougher sell for the next generation of buyers growing up with more choice, lured by luxury and innovation, with a new definition of value.
Sean Hanley tips his cap, seemingly unfazed.
If youโve enjoyed this interview with Sean Hanley, consider a few more of our favourite stories โ direct from the pages of B.H. Magazine:
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