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Does Toyota lose money with each Prime sale?

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by PT Guy, Dec 4, 2016.

  1. Dragon Rider

    Dragon Rider Active Member

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    They all are looking for an excuse to raise everything. It is more greed than anything else. Lol

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  2. CaliforniaPrius

    CaliforniaPrius Active Member

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    Only on Hindu business websites. So applicable in India only?
     
  3. GT4Prius

    GT4Prius Active Member

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    Didn't spot that but you are right. Looks like India only at present.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Regarding the question posed in the title, just some thoughts: maybe they're not "losing" money, but perhaps making precious little, or just breaking even. It does seem to be a compliance vehicle.
     
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    they only have to price it cheap enough to sell in quantities they desire.
     
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  6. Old Bear

    Old Bear Senior Member

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    There is a very old piece of business wit: "We may lose money on each sale, but we make it up in volume!"

    One of the first things one learns in business school is that "there's no such thing as the true cost." The concept seems simple, but complexity creeps in when one tries, for instance, to allocate the fixed costs of running a factory over many different models being produced in that factory.

    For example, if the factory makes 1,000 cars priced at $25,000 and 1000 cars priced at $50,000, and the factory needs to spend $120,000 to maintain its building. Does that add $60 to the cost of each car, or does it add $40 dollars to the cost of each $25,000 car and $80 to the cost of each $50,000 car?


    With no offense to cost accountants: "When you're up to your nice person in allocators.... it's difficult to compute what it really costs to drain the swamp."
     
    #26 Old Bear, Dec 2, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2017
  7. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    Tesla-nomics?

    Bob Wilson
     
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  8. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Posts from Daniel Whitmore, a Ca dealer, made it sound like the margins were very thin, at least less than the Prius.

    Then throw the effect of regulations, and you get a real mess.

    Toyota could be losing money on the Prime when looking at just costs vs sales price, but can be making it up when factoring in the cost for complying to CARB and CAFE. That's how Ford and GM are offering the deep discounts on cars this year; negating the loses of CAFE fines from truck profits.
     
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  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    dianne also so margin was thin, but that doesn't explain dealers in the northeast discounting upwards of $5,000.
     
  10. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    To match California state credits, or it is harder to sell them in those CARB states and the ZEV program requires them too. Or Toyota wants to beat Volt sales.
    The PiP saw the same difference in incentives.
     
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  11. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    Wow, I feel bad for Toyota if they are losing money on the Prime. I might have to cut them a check.
     
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  12. Pizza Driver

    Pizza Driver Active Member

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    Or you could send it to me instead. :)
     
  13. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    The day I picked mine up, the business mgr told me they only make $250 on the special order Prime. I kept an Oscar winning straight face.
     
  14. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Does Toyota lose money with each Prime sale?

    Statistically or 'real-world'??

    Yeah....they probably lose a little on each sale but they make up for it in volume.

    Think: CAFE ... or "statistically" green.
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    you think toy is cutting northeast a better deal to allow them to discount beyond the already higher rebate?
     
  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    There is also the HOV sticker. That alone is enough to shift Prius sales to Prime in Ca.
     
  17. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    There's two types of discounts - manufacturer and dealer.

    So it's up to the dealer whether they want to pass on the manufacturers incentives to you or make their own incentive (so cut into their own profits) or offer both.
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    right. but if they are only making $250. in cali, how can they discount thousands in northeast?

    clearly, i don't understand the automobile business.
     
  19. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    $250 is Yaris territory. That's really slim margins for the dealer.

    That probably means the manufacturer is holding up most of the discounts, not the dealer in the northeast.
     
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  20. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    <GACK, SPUTTER, GASP>If someone at a car dealership pointed and said the Sun rises in the East, I would have to take out a compass.

    Bob Wilson