Went to the local dealership in southern UT today and this salesman said they'd have them in 2 weeks.
So I had to bring my current car in for service today as it wouldn't start (2nd time in one month) :frown: But anyway, as I was there I wanted to look at an Absolutely Red Yaris since I'm considering the exact color for the C and the car is rather similar. One of the salesmen was standing near the car and of course he asked me some questions. Bottom line, he claimed the C was coming out in the summer. That was after I had to even explain what the C was! Then he was like "ooooh yes, that one". He probably lied and had no clue what car I was talking about. He kept talking about the plug in saying that will be at the dealership next week. No no no, I wasn't talking about the plug in, sheesh I really don't understand how these people who work at Toyota selling cars don't know about this. It's their job!!! LOL!
Google "Confessions of a Car Salesman" it's an old Edmunds article but still gives a good perspective.
Im a salesman at a dealership here in Nashville and the crazy thing is, you guys tend to know more than we do on certain cars. We have roughly 21 models to keep up on, but you are right it is increasingly more apparent that some of the other salesman are lacking in their knowledge. The good ones go outside of what our regional trainers give us and look for more, it's helped me a lot to, but it also means that the other sales people tend to lean on me when they don't know the answer. As it stands I sold the first C for our area today to a very loyal customer, it should be at the dealership in the next few days. The C is a cool car and will help fill a whole for is. All in all, the Prius family once it is all up and running is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Love the forum!!
How difficult is it for a salesman to go to the Toyota website, on the clock, using the dealer's computer, and click on "Toyota Newsroom" and scroll through the press releases and archives? I'm actually very surprised though that Toyota hasn't taken the initiative to inform all of its employees of what's going on at the company. The company I work for, for example, has an intranet with all press releases and communications for any employee to read and comment on (yes, just like when you read a news article and can leave a comment on the bottom an ask questions). The knowledge is just like the type of stuff we discuss here and we read on the "Toyota Newsroom" for the public. But my company makes sure all employees are informed on what is going on. It fascinates me that Toyota doesn't have this.
Remember the Prius C is already in high demand and there is no need to advertise or promote it any more. This has been done. Every Prius C being manufacture as I type this is already pre-sold and they will be in high demand for many, many, months to come. Do not expect to pay MSRP on the Prius C; dealers will jack up the price $1,000 to $2,000 OVER MSRP. With gas here in N/W Oregon averaging nearly $ 4.00 per gallon I would expect reg. gas to be in the $4.50 to $5.00 per gallon mark by Memorial Day. Every Toyota Dealer will sell every Prius C before its off the truck even with a $1,000-$2,000 mark up. Remember the Volt, it sure would have been nice if GM had developed a similar car to the Prius C that got a true 50 MPG on REGULAR gas, and cost under $20,000 MSRP. As far as the Volt goes GM laid off 1,300 workers from the Volt line due to lack of sales. Why is that, could it be 95% of the people today can not afford a $43,000 Volt. Remember the VOLT was developed with YOUR money..
Man dealer called me last Friday saying it was in LA and would be here by today, but I just got an email saying its delayed 2 weeks!
I think I mis-posted this in the Hawaii c forum. How'z that for a Hawaiin Punch - Hi C! ANYway, we are supposed to get our first c's on the 5th. Might drop late Sunday ... so I can't wait! It's going to be a feeding frenzy on c here with gas at $4.40 as of this weekend!
If someone has a monthly payment on an escalade, and the Prius c is less per month, the total selling price is irrelevant. I'm probably like you - I put x dollars in the bank every month for a few years BEFORE I buy a new car, then I just pay up front instead of financing and paying interest. But today, I tend to think I'm a minority in that philosophy.
It seem to me there is more excitment with the Prius C than the Prius III release. To me its like being 10 years old in December and waiting for Christmas.....
The Volt development was well underway before the bankruptcy and the bailout, so only some of our money was used for the final development. It was also developed with more of my money than yours by the way, I owned GM bonds and was hosed by the government takeover, that being said, I'd still rather have GM employees as fellow taxpayers rather than have them on welfare.
Ordered my c, an Absolute Red Three, supposedly being unloaded from a ship two weeks ago. My dealer in Newport, OR, had no clue about its MSLP so I'll have to see what's what, maybe next week ( ? ).
Just adding that my Newport, OR dealer said each dealer in our State will get only two c's the first time around.
I just received our first three c's... a IV in black with moonroof, a black III and a moonglow III with sunroof... I see what they say about the moonglow sparkle... it's very nice. Looks like blizzard pearl with loads of color sparkles! :rockon:
