What's the real story on solar roofs (or lack of)?

Finding a Prius with Solar is extremely rare at this point from the early reports. We have 6 Toyota dealers nearby and according to the Toyota Dealer Daily there were only 2 that arrived on the initial shipment ( 1 was mine ) among those dealers.

I had heard that the market for the II or III is larger than the IV or V which may be a way for Toyota to get some of those out on the road which will give them even more exposure to potential buyers.

Toyota has also acknowledged that the first shipments are determined with market research etc and can be fine tuned after there is suficient sales history to make changes. It has to be a difficult task to decide on which models, colors and packages should be built in the initial stages of production.

 

Nobody on the East Coast? I guess MA is not on the East Coast because I got mine 8 days ago!

 

I'm near Chicago and I have now seen 7 Prius (3-III, 3-IV, 1-V), only 1 had the Solar roof so far.

 

I have a similar story and a theory about what's going on. First my story...

After learning from smaller dealers at the end of May what they had coming in through the end of June (on the first two ships into Newark), I then decided to visit the largest Toyota dealer in New England. I figured that that dealer would be receiving plenty of Prius models. But I was told that due to manufacturing difficulties, Toyota was not yet building the 2010 Prius so they would not know what they were getting until once production started. I of course knew that was not true, but I played along and was expecting a call from the ordering person in a couple of days. Of course they had many 2009's on the lot they were willing to sell me.

Well, the next day the Sales Manager called to make sure all my questions were answered. He also confirmed that the Prius was not yet being built--again this was in late May. So I decided to share that I have seen printouts from other dealers. He made some other excuse about it must have just happened because he was out a couple of days. I did not expect to hear back and ordered from a more reputable dealership.

About 10 days ago, I got another call. This time, I'm told that Toyota is NOW making the 2010 Prius, except those with the solar roof, and I can order one. Needless to say, I declined.

From what I understand from my more reputable dealer, Toyota expected to sell lots of the more basic II's and III's but few of the SR or ATP models. So that's what they made in the early batches. As it turned out, those options are more popular than projected so they are going to be in short supply for a little while, especially here on the east coast. My dealer said that many of their orders were for the SR models, mostly for Floridians who would rather not buy from Florida dealerships. I would not worry though, because Toyota will adjust manufacturing output to match demand, it might just be a few months before that results in cars we want.

My theory is that the dealers expect there will be a wait for solar roof cars if ordered now, so they probably want to make their money faster by selling you what they have (whether 2009 or 2010) or what they can get fairly quick. They know that if a customer has to wait too long, they may find what they want somewhere else. In other words, I think they would prefer a sure sale now rather than a possible sale later and they will say whatever it takes to get that done. If you really want a solar roof, I suggest holding out for one.

Good luck.

 

Hiya PriusRos. I'm in Falls Church and I got my 2010 IV/Nav/Solar last week - but it was a priority pre-order.

 

What is a priority preorder?

Thanks,
Helen- patiently waiting for my iv w/ sr

 

And it is my wallpaper until I get mine in Texas.