Just received a call from a dealer (Southeast Toyota territory) where I had expressed an interest in the Prime. He said that the Prime is on a manufacturing hold and I should expect a 2 month delay on availability. Any truth to his statement about the hold? I have not seen anything indicating a hold elsewhere. Obviously if there is a hold, the question is why? I am sure those who have taken delivery would like to know.
I guess not every dealer can be trusted,but who knows maybe Toyota finally realised they forgot to install tie-downs !
another southeast customer mentioned this, but could not find any factual data to back it up. my take is that southeast dropped the ordering ball, have received a lot of inquiries, and are now way back in the manufacturing queue. there seem to be plenty around the rest of the country, even though plenty is not enough to meet initial demand.
fwiw, Southeast Toyota is a PRIVATELY owned distributor, owned by JM Family Enterprises, Inc. JM Family Enterprises Contact Info I emailed corporate info address on 10/21 and said I had no qualms about going out of state/region to get a new Prime. Have not checked out their corporate Facebook page tho.
That could be true because when I picked up my Prime last night (live in VA), they said that my car was the only Prime available in Virginia. That really surprised me and couldn't really believe it, but they told me they had to already turn down two orders requested. Plus the other dealership close by was complaining to Toyota since they were not going to receive any Primes. Not sure how long the delay would be.
I wounder why they would halt the production on their own home market ? There was a statement Toyota made lately that they allready have improved the energy density of the Primes battery . Toyota claimes over 60 km (over 50 for Europe) of range for the Prime in Japan and even the Japanese will soon find out that's not possible with the current battery so I'm wondering if they may get the allready updated version ?
there was the carbon fibre holdup, which backed up production. toyota stated that it would delay japan so usa wouldn't be affected. maybe for zev credits, or more likely so we could be the guinea pigs before them. interestingly, even though toyota sold 780 in november, and they are hard to come by in most parts of the country, they've upped the anti in cali, to a $1,000. rebate. i just checked my local dealer (wellesley toyota) they've had one for a few days now, and now they have a second one. also, they're showing the $1,000. rebate.
Yes that is what happened to my original Prime. Was contacted by the dealership a couple weeks ago with an email they had from the distributor. I'm not sure of the details, possibly something like what Bisco was saying but it may also just be Southeast Toyota being difficult. I settled for a different color that was already on a ship to the southeast (Red with white interior is fine with me). My dealership managed to snag it before it came into port so you may have to ask if your dealership could do the same or go car hunting elsewhere
Something has to be on all those ships Toyota sends out of Toyohashi every few days. Could be an end of year inventory/tax issue with SET or maybe just a local dealer group with a bad attitude. This is why I never even think about buying in Va. " $599 (VA) $300 (MD) dealer processing fee" Koon's fine print. All their Prime's are in MD. More fine print: Military only, no civy rebates at all. Military Offer : $1,000 offer on select Toyota models $1,000 Offer Applies to multiple models. Offer only valid 12-06-2016 through 1-03-2017
of course a recall is immanent, it's toyota! i've got them stacked up on my desk like arrivals at jfk.
Isn't Virginia in Toyota's mid-Atlantic region? I drove 2.5 hrs from VA to MD to get my prime on Nov 19. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
That's the good thing about Toyota ! At least they do carry out recalls unlike other manufacturers who wait until it's too late and then try to blame the customer ! VW just loves doing that !
Japan was supposed to get the Prius plug in first. I think the delay just pushed it back to around when everybody else was getting them.
I went by my closest dealer today because they just got a Prime in (blue @ Miracle Toyota in central Florida), and the GM showed me an email he'd gotten about how there would be a significant delay on any more arriving due to some sort of manufacturing issue. Mostly, I wanted to know how long it would be if I ordered one, but since there are only 2 red ones in Florida, I am going to get a highly-marked down Gen4 liftback instead. I can't justify the extra costs dealers are adding on because of the high interest levels.
On one hand, I'm glad I was able to get one. On the other hand, I'm worried that I was able to get one. I'm both happy and sad at the same time?!