Hello All, Went to a local dealership and was told by a salesman that the supply of Prius c's is about to dry up. Said Japan just instituted a new Cash-For-Clunkers program and virtually all Prius c's that were destined for the U.S. will now be held back for an expected huge increase in demand in Japan. I gave him four color choices and he said there was only one Prius C (package two) in Portland and I'd better make my mind up quickly if I want it. Certainly doesn't smell right to me but thought I'd ask if anyone has heard a similar story. Thanks! Patrick K
sales bro. all pressure. go talk to another dealer. in fact deal with it online through the internet fleet managers. easier to deal with. no bull.
They're definitely not plentiful in the Portland area. One dealer told me it would be at least a month until they had one available for test drive. I found a c1 available for test drive at another dealer and put a deposit down on a c3 that was due in May. The dealers around here seem to be doing a lot of scrambling. It will be interesting to see if this high demand keeps going or if it will taper off soon.
i have no idea about anything going on in Japan.. however demand for the car is still pretty high.. there's no question about that.
There was a Cash-For-Clunkers program in Japan in 2009-10 timeframe but can't find anything similar happening now.
Reuters mentions something about some subsidies returning this year in this Toyota financial outlook: Toyota raises annual profit forecast, eyes recovery | Reuters
When we were shopping for our C a few weeks ago, it was a matter of 4-6 weeks in order for any "new" cars to show up in the area on the next boat. In case there are any cars of the right grade & color combination still in the area, we found that it helps to do a dealer-by-dealer search yourself as some dealerships are not willing to trade with each-other. The Toyota website is great for finding all of those dealerships you would otherwise never find. When we were waiting for our LEAF last year, a number of folks were tracking individual ships to and from Japan in order to find out when the next batch was going to arrive: kinda surprised no one is doing that yet for the c's! More than likely, the next batch is already down in Long Beach waiting for options installation and a train ride up to Portland or Kent.
Don't know anything about cash for clunkers in Japan. I do know that sales of the C have outstripped expectations by about a factor of 5. Just in Japan alone. They expected to sell about 12000/month when the car was introduced there in December, and tooled up only at one factory in Japan to make these. There are none being made in the US or anywhere else except the one factory, which is now on permanent overtime to try to keep up with the demand. Visited my dealer last weekend with a question, and he said the supply is drying up. He didn't say anything about Toyota hoarding more for the Japanese market, but he said it had become very difficult to barter for one, and that I was lucky I got mine when I did. Dealers who have them are hanging on to them now rather than freely trading like they were a week or two ago. Those of us who knew when the C was arriving at dealers, and ordered early were fortunate. Now that Toyota has rolled out it's advertising campaigne, and the word is spreading, I think this was bound to happen. They really need to get a second factory tooled up and online to feed the demand.
This thread started as a prius plug-in ship tracking thread, but it really tracks all ships from Toyota in Japan, so these ships have C's on them too. http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/102735-toyota-plug-in-ship-carriers-72.html
back in early april when i was searching for my configuration of c that number on cars.com used to be around 1300, so there may be some merit to this story.
I am not sure what the link is about. It is showing one particular ship. Mine is supposed to be on a ship right now. But how do I know which ship?
It has been a challenge to even see a Prius C in the Twin Cities Metro. When we have seen one, it is tucked away on a back lot awaiting delivery. The closest I've gotten to one was at the Auto Show! At this point I'm not sweating it as it is outside our control. The Prius C is going to be immensely popular. With one final payment left on the 2008 we will very likely order what we want and wait for it to arrive, regardless of how the dealer gets it for us. I also plan to contact all dealers within a 30-60 minute drive and put them all to work!
Your dealer sales manager should be able to tell you what ship as the info is on the Vehicle inquiry report. Just need the approx date it left Japan at the minimum. The ship thread is a running list as they set sail or arrive at various ports. Its up to date. Stop by and we will look. 6 month back order for C(aqua) in Japan 120,000 cars. US models are not the same as the JDM models so they not diverting US cars. There just sold out. Leafs are made in TN. not Japan aren't they.
Think of how big a demand there would be if they hadn't pushed those stupid commercials on the nation...
