Toyota facing the scale down of 06 Prius

I don't know but I'm glad mine is coming at the end of this week or early next week. It's off the boat and waiting to get trucked from NYC

 

I have not heard that. I am glad our Prius is on its way, though. I got the call on Friday that it is 2-3 weeks out. I didn't ask the specific point where it was in the process...

 

ahhh...penalty for all those who chose to wait to get the tax bennies. i thinks it maybe plausible. Toyota trying to head off the HAH inroads. too bad that after all this time, we still have the hybrid supply problems

 

Rickey Hirose is in NorCal Regional management and is based at Fremont Toyota. He is only confirming what Dianne posted the day after the memo came out.

My car is one that could be held back. It might have been in the current allocation, shipped from Japan 1/17 and due to hit Long Beach any minute. If it's not, then the odds are it WILL be held up. I won't wait another two months.

 

I thought Rickey was Fremont Toyota's Sales Manager, not with Regional. But no matter; the memo itself did come from Regional.

Jack, I feel your pain--I'm just slightly behind you in the queue at the same dealership. This is discouraging. But I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Fortunately for me, my current car still works fine, so I'm not desperate. Ironically, I passed on the exact car I want from another dealer just a couple of weeks ago. It was at a somewhat higher price and had some unwanted "extras", but still.... It looks like my final price may include an unexpectedly long wait now! I know a lot of people waited a lot longer than I've been, so I don't want to sound too whiney, but it's still not much fun....

Joe

 

I thought I saw Rickey himself post on Priusonline that he was involved in Regional's selection of what packages to make available, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for sympathy. Are you buying at Hanlee's (Davis)? I inquired in Sept., got on "list" in Oct., paid deposit in Nov. and was told I'd get one of the first cars in Jan. I'm not desperate, either, but, for one thing, for most cars, we're almost half-way through the model year (that used car prices are based on), and cutting back production really stings after an initial roll-out already at least 2-3 months "late".

If it's bad news, I've decided to get on the phone and call dealers all over the U.S. W of the Mississippi and fly to pick one up, if necessary.

 

My dealer called saturday to tell me I'd see a car on or about feb 16-27. I hope this means it's going to make it before this whole thing kicks in.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it. They're probably just trying to juice up the Camry hyrbrid sales for it's initial launch. The Prius numbers will eventually recover.

 

If your Prius is already in the order pipeline, you're probably ok but what I was getting at is that maybe Toyota wants their Camry hybrid buyers to be able to get in on the credit <shrug>

 

I think we went 'round with this a while ago - that it would be advantagous for Toyota (but not us) to hold over that 60,000th until after the third quarter starts - then there will be a full tax credit for anyone who buys a Toyota Hybrid in 2006.

 

I'm not clear on what that part of your statement means but I'm a little slow this morning.

 

Sorry, what I meant was to purposely slow down sales (through some method, the 'scale down' seems to fit the bill) so that they would sell their 60,000th Hybrid vehicle sometime during the third quarter. If I understand the code correctly, the tax credit remains at 100% through the quarter AFTER the 60,000th hybrid is sold by each manufacturer. Holding it over would give them an extra 3 months of tax credits to buoy the sales of their new Camry

 

From the Treasury Department ( http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/tax_hybrid.shtml ):
"Credit phases out beginning in July 2006 if manufacturer sells 60k hybrid and advanced lean burn automobiles and light trucks before April 2006."

The second character of the VIN tell you who the manufacturer is. If that character is the same for a Lexus as it is for a Prius ( "T" ), then we'd know for sure (I don't know, personally).

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/TORONTO/VIN/VINcode.html

 

I'm sorry to hear that Jack! do not know if you ever saw my reply post to yours in Dianne's thread, but my car will actually be here in the next allocation and will arrive at the dealer in late Jan/early Feb. I feel bad now for you...but I know you'll find a Prius somewhere, sooner than 2 months!

 

Arguments suggesting Toyota is slowing down Prius sales in order to prolong the Federal tax credit do not seem reasonable to me

For one, the 60k limit is by manufacturer. So if this was true, Toyota would hold back the CH until July, which is not the case.

Second, the slow-down in manufacturing is only supposed to affect the 1st quarter of 2006, which does coincide with CH launch, but allows more than enough time for Toyota to reach the 60K limit by June.

The simple explanation is competition over common part(s). My guess is Toytoa does not want the CH debut to be dogged by shortage. I'd venture further, and say that prospective Prius buyers are willing to wait a couple of months, but the average CH buyer would not, and Toyota takes this into consideration.

To the people worried about the credit: 2nd quarter 2006 will be fine.

For people who buy in the 3rd quarter of 2006, they may end up doing as well money wise, since the $800 less credit could easily come off msrp by that time, barring new energy crises.

 

I believe Toyota is trying to limit sales of hybrids to 59,999 until April 1. Then, as fast as they can produce them, sell the heck out of them. This extends the full credit one extra quarter. Not a bad strategy. Sure beats GM's strategy of selling none this year.

Nate