Delivery times for new cars have stretched as long as a year as automakers grapple with an industrywide parts shortage, including semiconductors, due to a supply chain crunch and other factors. Some manufacturers have suspended orders for certain models because of the snarl.

This month, Toyota began selling the Sienta compact minivan as one of its “recommended models,” featuring a streamlined production process with limited options. Buyers can choose to upgrade equipment and features, but that will delay delivery.

The more efficient production process cuts delivery times to two to three months — with Sientas being manufactured and delivered by April next year, at the latest. Production outside of recommended models will be delayed until April or later, pushing the delivery time to more than eight months.

Currently, Toyota’s other minivan models take six to seven months for gasoline-powered vehicles and about a year for hybrid vehicles to be delivered.

“We are proposing to customers the specifications that will bring out the most attractive features of the car,” a Toyota representative said.

The company aims to strike a balance between efficient production, prospects for securing parts and customer needs by concentrating production on recommended models.

Toyota will also offer recommended models for the luxury Crown series, which goes on sale in September, and will consider expanding the model lineup based on customer response.

The world’s biggest automaker recently has cancelled some orders for SUVs such as the Harrier — branded in North America as the Venza — because of production delays. The effect of longer delivery times is beginning to be felt in the premium Lexus brand, and profitability is beginning to be affected as well.

Although a recovery of production capacity is necessary to drastically resolve the long delivery times, the future remains uncertain amid the continuing parts shortage.