Toyota Opinion of Dealers charging a Premium?

The "almost too long" line caught me as ALMOST! too long. As if a 4-6 month wait is within their "reasonable" timeframe but they don't want it too much longer. Not all that encouraging a statement with regard to hoping we will be seeing average waits of maybe 6 weeks or less.

 

Frankly, the Prius is about the only thing that would get me to buy from Toyota.

None of their other cars do it for me. I vaguely contemplated the Highlander Hybrid, but it's far more vehicle than I really need!

The Prius grabbed my attention, and kept it, because it's something different, and in many ways demonstrably better, than the average car. Nothing else in Toyota's line grabs me the same way.

 

looks like that urban legend will never die...

Toyota's first generation Prius which was marketed only in Japan lost money and was subsidized by Toyota.

since then, Toyota has turned a profit on the Prius and that includes the 2004 model. and i would have to guess that Toyota's motivation for making more Prius' is like any other company's. they want their car out there on the road and no one elses. so having willing, paying customers turned away has got to be causing Toyota great deal of concern.

not everything is a profit thing anyway. all businesses realize that there is a cost to doing business and remaining successful and although profits in the here and now are important, investments that insure future profits are almost as vital. Toyota doesnt sponsor multi-million dollar sporting events for short term profits and lets face it, do they really need to have their name out there? its not like their reputation isn't very well known.

That is where the Prius is right now. Even a box of rocks is beginning to realize that gas mileage is no longer the issue here. the Prius represents a watershed event in the automobile industry whose full impact hasnt even begun to be realized yet and the lack of supply is softening the shock to the american public.

ive seen some estimates that say that the Prius might have sold over 110,000 units had they been readily available like other models. those numbers would make the Camry nervous.

as it stands even with a ridiculous waiting period for a Prius, there are still an unprecedented number of people who would rather wait then take advantage of up to $10,000 in rebates for another vehicle. There has never been that kind of loyalty EVER shown to any other car.

so to say that Toyota doesnt care whether or not it sells the Prius is soooo dead wrong. They knew that thye had one of the biggest events in recent automotive history, but they thought that it would take several years before the americans realized it (yes, in japan, they think we a bit slow...) so this sudden mass outpouring of near fanatical devotion to the Prius has taken even them by surprise.

to illustrate, nearly everyone i know is tired of hearing me talk about my car and i know that im not the only one out there with this obsession. i have had new vehicles before and it was usually a topic (never the main topic though) for a day or two, in some cases maybe a week. Well on the Prius, i am pushing 8 months and i havent slowed down a bit.

 

Actually, my understanding is that the 2004 has not yet made Toyota a profit. What's unclear to me is whether individual cars are not selling at a profit (highly unlikely!), or if the Prius 2004 line has not yet cleared its initial R&D and production costs. Obviously the first also implies the second, but the second could easily be true simply because the start-up costs for the new model were fairly high.

That said, my understanding is that Toyota expects to be turning a profit on the Prius, and on the HSD technology in general, very, very soon.

 

They would turn a little more profit if I could get my freaken car...



Alpha

 

No argument :-D

 

there is little doubt that Toyota has not recouped their R&D costs yet and shouldnt for several years. but according to a speech made by the President of Toyota USA, the Prius definitely does make a profit. in fact, there has never been a Prius sold in the US for a loss.

that only happened in Japan. costs for building the car are apparently not much more than any other vehicle Toyota makes.