Do US dealers push the Prius?

Dealers dont have to push the car because demand is so high...in fact, the more you see an ad for a particular vehicle, chances are its because that model is nailed to the showroom floor in terms of sales.

 

You have it right. This car sells so well on word of mouth that little advertising is done. It is on the Toyota website but never highlighted in ad or pushed to any great deal. It is a car that sells despite MSRP being pretty much set in stone, having to wait and no special deals. The car gets a large amount of press, not all favorable. Interesting marketing, don't you think?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Aug 14 2006, 03:24 PM) [snapback]303169[/snapback]</div>

I recently had a dealer here in CA try to dissuade me from buying a Prius.

Of course, its understandable when you see that he had NO Priii on the lot whatsoever.

He pushed me towards the Camry Hybrid, the Highlander, and even non-hybrids because:

"Well, the problem with the Prius is its in high demand now and you'll have to pay way too much for it.
My advice would be to go with one of the other hybrids or even one of our non-hybrid cars. Much better value."

Needless to say, I walked off the lot.

 

Agreed: they don't have to push the Prius, so they don't. I had a devil of a time even getting a test drive in the Prius last year. The salescritter kept jerking my chain, scheduling appointments and then canceling them on the morning of because the test car "wasn't available after all." I finally got him to admit that the dealership had sold their demo car and had no plans to replace it, because people were buying them without a test drive. He'd been hoping that some new Prius owner would let me take their brand new car out on a drive before they took ownership. Now, really -- who among us would give up the thrill of seeing a single-digit odometer in order to let some total stranger drive our car first?

(Shouldn't Toyota require large dealerships to keep one of each model available?)

The foolish thing on my part was that I gave up completely, and it was a year later before I tried another dealership.

 

Funny thing was...when I first started SERIOUSLY thinking about getting a Pri, it was in January. I wanted a test drive and called around to several local dealers, most of whom basically laughed when I asked if they had a demo. Found one that not only let us take one for a spin, but did NOT even ask for our licenses or other car keys!

Ended up being the place we bought from, too, five months later, after I suddenly decided I could NOT live without one for another MINUTE.

 

I've never even seen a commercial for a Prius. I ordered mine without ever having driven one or even sat in one. Actually our dealer here had one sit on his lot over a weekend a while back, but he cant keep any in stock, they sell too fast. Are there Toyota commercials, or TV ads for Prius? I'd love to have one on tape.

 

I had a really hard time finding one to drive and ended up going to Carmax and test drive a used '05 they had for sale.

Funny thing was, is that it looked like a package #1 and they were asking 25k for it.

I told them I could get a new one after a little wait with more options for thousands less after the tax credit, and they couldn't do anything about it. One week later that Prius was gone. I guess the money is no object for certain people. More power to Carmax, I suppose.

 

I was sitting in the car a couple of days ago waiting for my daughter to come out of school, and a fellow came up to ask about the Prius.

He had obviously done homework, nodded happily when my answers matched what he had learned, and within 5 minutes said " Thanks. I'm buying one."

My other pending sale was a bit tougher. I happily lended the Prius to a friend to drive for a day. My family was blown away to see a Ford Explorer in our driveway. She went on a 500 mile day trip, and came back convinced.

Prius is like iPod. It simply is a superior product, that sells itself. Enthusiast sites like this one, and owners happy to take the time to sing the car's praises make for one exceptionally strong marketing campaign.

One last anecdote. I stopped to see if I could help a Prius on the side of the road in my neighborhood last week that had emergency lights flashing. Turns out she was simply waiting, but we chatted for a couple of minutes. She has decided to sell at least one of the classic BMW's she owns, because since buying the Prius over a year ago, her other cars are gathering dust.

 

I too had a dealer try to talk me out of a Prius. He had a three month waiting list, but he had plenty of Corollas sitting on the lot. To humor him I test drove a Corolla...and hated it. From there I went to the Honda dealer...but the only Civic Hybrid they had was a manual...and that would have been my dad driving with me as a passenger...so I left.

Six months later I heard about the below MSRP sales in my area and jumped on it, with another dealer. Sadly there isn't much advertisement, but then again look at how much talk there is about it. Love it or hate it, people are talking, and that's the cheapest advertising Toyota can get.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(molgrips @ Aug 15 2006, 03:03 AM) [snapback]303423[/snapback]</div>

I believe new US factory will be for CamBrids. Now, some of the Prius-building capacity is being taken up by the CamBrids, so they are shifting those here, and will increase Pri-production in Japan.

I think.

I KNOW if I am wrong, we will hear soon enough!

 

I wasn't aware that CamBrids and Prii came off the same production line in Japan, but like you, have read that Cambrids will be built in the souther US -- Kentucky if I remember right.