Toyota's lack of concern

can't say for sure, but in my area, near San Jose, CA, it looks like they're not advertising the Prius as "under $20k" any more... i think they raised the base $500.

maybe if they raised the base $2000 the supply and demand would come into balace?

but no way am i cancelling my order, even if they do!

 

plusaf - I paid $1,000 over sticker for mine....I had to have the Prius. But then again, I only had a 3 day wait so for me it was worth it.

 

Stan, the problem was a wild underestimation of the demand they expecting to receive for the car. It's just going to take time to get caught up.

 

They did not raise the base. They just re-stated the base with freight in it at $20510.

Dianne

 

Evan is a smart man! I agree.

 

Very well said, efusco. You said it beautifully.

 

Amen, from +af.
VERY well said.
[and aha! a battery shortage? I thought so!]

 

Yup, I heard the same thing from my dealer in Canada - the batteries (and some of the other esoteric hybrid components) were the holdup.

Toyota is the system integrator and a lot of the parts are outsourced, so they're at the mercy of their suppliers to some degree.

Of course the other reason they can't produce many more, would be that they want to ramp up on '05 production soon, which means they have to stop producing '04s within a few months and retool for the new model (if there are any substantial changes).

 

Yet again, I hear a story of someone who walks into a dealership and gets a vehicle allocated to him due for arrival in a couple weeks! Meanwhile some poor slob who has been #1 on his waiting list for 2 months does not have a car because his dealership has received no Prius cars.

I can understand how demand can exceed supply, but I CAN'T rationalize this allocation system that does not even take into consideration how many people are ordering this vehicle and instead bases their shipments on how many cars were sold last year. Did it ever occur to them that people who just bought cars don't need new ones!!??

It is ridiculous that there are people still waiting in long lines since October for their vehicles while dealerships that have no customers for the cars are getting them! :x

I know its not the dealers fault, and I know Toyota builds what they want, but SEND some cars to the places where they are needed!

 

Right on, Dave. I think that's a very accurate guess/assessment of the "real" situation.
As I've said before, i used to be in the "allocation" business for a few product lines before i retired, and it's a tough job. some folks handle it by greasing the squeaky wheels [i.e, giving them a unit to shut them up because they're yelling louder than everyone else. some don't. it's their choice as vendor/manufacturer.
one of the fairest ways is to allocate to dealers based on each's percentage of the order volume. a dealer with 5% of the outstanding orders gets 5% of production. and you can split it by model, option, etc., if anyone is smart enough to do a spreadsheet, pivot table, etc.
it seems that, in general, the entire auto industry, from manufacturers to dealers, has not figured out that there might be "fairer" ways to deal with their customers. imho, anyway, as an outsider to the industry, other than being at the bottom end of their food chain: the customer.

and, hey, ps. to Toyota of America..... if you've got thousands of cars on order, why in the name of anying between heaven and earth do you try to give your dealers the idea that they're going to get what you make and ship to them?!??!?! you've got the orders!!! Build to the orders, not to some marketing weenie's idea of a product mix, dangit!
:guns: and at the same time......

 

N/A

 

lots of subjects, here, Boa8...
the US Federal Trade Commission might frown on manufacturers selling cars directly to customers, as might a bunch of other folks aka "Dealers"! there's a long history of doing business this way, and i'd personally be very surprised to see anyone let that change soon.

some dealers may be greedy, but, like it or not, it's a supply and demand world. i once saw a corvette on a showroom floor for something like $7000 over sticker, and laughed and said to a salesman, "good luck getting that price!" he replied, "i did, last week, when a guy came in, wrote me a check, and drove out with one...." oops! <blush!> if you're a dealer trying to make your quota and sales targets and trying to keep the kids fed and the mortgage paid, you're going to take a hard look at someone's money when it's waving in your face.

let me offer up some of my thoughts from the past few days:

in europe, i've heard, customers are accustomed to buying off the showroom floor, and europeans, on average, love hatchbacks. therefore, toyota ships lots of Prii to europe, very happily. manufacture, ship, sell <not much thinking involved, or risk>....

in america, the japanese, for EVER, have been shipping over what they manufacture, and americans have bought it off the showroom floor, reinforcing this practice for the japanese.

now, here comes the Prius. a lot of us want them, and as we've had the historical right and practice to put a deposit down and tell the dealer what options we REALLY wanted, we've done so. compound that with parts shortages and a really wonderful package that's the Prius, and suddenly toyota is way behind on shipments!

what i don't think they've realized is: if they've got 120 (or 240!) days' orders sitting in dealers' hands, THEY SHOULD BE BUILDING TO THESE ORDERS, NOT TO THEIR PREVIOUS PLANS OR POLICIES!!!!!!!

but i don't think they are, and worse, i'm guessing that their entire Materials Requirement Planning processes (MRP) are absolutely NOT geared to ORDERING the parts to BUILD TO ORDER!!!!!!! it's not that they won't, it's that they can't !!!

now that my rant and soothsaying is done, let me ask a question:

i've read here that the '05's won't be changed very much from the '04's. if that's true, when do any of you think we'll get visibility into changes for '05?

if '05's had leather seats and power seats as options, plus everything we can order now, i'd probably volunteer my slot to someone and ask to be converted to spot #1 on my dealer's list for '05's..........

unless, of course, lots of us did that at the same time... then they'd just have the problem of delivery moved from this year to next year...... but at least i'd have a bette spot on the list..... maybe....

cheers!