Factory Order Anyone?

Fwiw, on 05/07/2022 (9:45pm EDT), I found Two 2022 Prius cars (not Prime) still unsold, by a well known Mass Dealership (they do web sales and delivery). That site also shows "sales pending" on other Prius cars.


For die-hard Mass/New-Englanders...
The Toyota dealership is near a city in Mass that often gets confused with a city in NH, that has the same name.
Often, if a Mass resident asks "How do I get to xyz" - they mean xyz-NH.
The city in Mass is also well known.

That is hopefully helpful enough, so that every person within 400 miles of Mass, isn't going to jump on the site.

Good Luck!

 

Hmm, there seems to be at least 72 city/towns with the same name in both NH and Mass.
The names of many cities/towns/etc in New England, come from English places. Notice even New Hampshire, is named after Hampshire England.

 

I really don’t understand their approach to the availability. If Mr T is waiting for Solid State to be a thing and revealing a “Look at the new Prius it’s doing 100mpg” by NOT selling the previous generation he will be turning off the fan base massively. I was lucky enough to order the LAST available model sold in the uk (withdrawn March 2022 here) in September 2021. Have just been informed it’s in “transit” so probably mid-pacific on a boat. It’s one of 37 yes 37 to be registered in 2022.

 

You MUST watch at least the first video I posted.
Or, feel free to go on guessing, without having any facts or information.

Also, see:
UK: Plug-In Car Sales Barely Increased In April 2022
UK: Plug-In Car Sales Barely Increased In April 2022
But that's because of weak results for plug-in hybrids, as battery-electric cars are expanding quickly.

 

Yup. BEV’s are not ready. The same as comparing early diesels to CDTi.
Battery charging and range anxiety. Any early adopters will have to accept that. I have plenty of facts that I have observed thank you very much.

 

Many Japanese manufacturers don't allow custom ordering. It's just not in their business model.

That stated, the only place I'd want a sunroof would be in the Northeast. We Southerners know to not buy a sunroof vehicle because it heats the cars up too much during the summers.

 

"That stated, the only place I'd want a sunroof would be in the Northeast. We Southerners know to not buy a sunroof vehicle because it heats the cars up too much during the summers."

That being said.... if you had a White Prius with Moon Roof you would of course know that beneath the glass there is a pull out shade panel. And our car does not heat up. Our last 3 Prius all had Moon Roof. But you already knew this.

 

Agree a sunroof in Texas is an oxymoron. But the dealers typically had plenty of them primarily because the sunroofs came packaged with options or models you did want. The other problems with sunroofs are wind noise, reduced head room and rain channel maintenance so they don't leak.

 

That being said ... I do have a Silver 2012 Prius with Solar Moonroof, which replaced a Silver 2010 Prius without Moonroof.

My Moonroof version heats up much faster than the no-Moonroof version did. It seems to be a result of that huge field of IR-absorbing dark glass and black solar panel, vs reflective silver paint on the previous one.

This isn't a problem when parked and empty, as the solar-powered ventilation does help cool the interior in that circumstance. But when driving, with my head only an inch or so below the ceiling, I really noticed its increased heating power, which forces an earlier use of AC and stronger cooling setting.

 

Yeah I really wish sunroofs were independent of levels, you could get any level with/without 'em. Never been a fan.

 

There, fixed that for you
I do agree BEVs aren’t ready for everyone.

However, I have had no issues with battery charging, or range anxiety in 10 years of driving BEVs. And I am not alone.

 

I'm not a fan, preferring enough headroom to not knock my skull against the sunroof frame. That was a blocking issue on our first cars.

But the spouse is a fan, and the recent vehicles have enough headroom that I can't really use that headroom excuse anymore.

 

I used to sell new cars. I guarantee the interior with a glass roof is hotter than one without it when left in the same parking lot. Guarantee it. The little fabric shade piece doesn't change that.

 

Any updates? Have you received your car yet?

 

Hi Dewey,

You must watch at least the first video in my reply here:

Code:

https://priuschat.com/threads/factory-order-anyone.231072/#post-3249854

Factory Order Anyone? | PriusChat

Basically, no one's experience would be too closely relevant to you just going to a specific dealer and trying to order some exact vehicle.

If you can find a salesperson that is honest with you, you'll be much better off.
For example, trying to get the clear plastic protective coating, from the factory, on either the bumper and/or hood for a Prius Prime in New England (what I wanted, a lot), "likely" means my great great great great grand kids could still wait for a Gray Prius Prime Limited with that option to be allocated to any Mass/Conn/NH dealership.

I also wanted factory body side moldings. Again, very very low percentage allocated like that in my area.

Thankfully, I ended up working with an awesome salesperson.
We agreed that I would take any Gray Prius Prime Limited they could get.
When the dealership found a Gray Prius Prime Limited, the salesperson would double check with me, to make sure I didn't mind any extra options (*I* did not) that came with that car from the factory, and I would/could get everything else done by the dealership.


However, I also had a total of 4 orders, with 4 deposits, with Dealerships in 3 States.

Also, no market adjustment with any of the 3 orders that I had.
But, with one dealership (in Mass), I was concerned that they might "forget", and screw me for a dealership nitrogen-filled tires options (that they do with all of the vehicles I've seem it's website.
One out of State dealership was ~2-3 hours away (VT). They have free delivery. But, I still would've taken a day off, and drove up there to physically check out the car.

Again, I got lucky, and found an awesome local salesperson and dealership.
Sorry, the dealership I eventually went with does only local sales (Greater Boston area).

Two of the other dealerships do a lot of New England sales (free delivery to a lot of New England).
Faith's Toyota in VT was doing some National Sales.

Iirc, there's a dealership in NY, ?near NYC?, that was doing National sales.
I forget the name of that dealership.
The name is likely buried in the "what you paid" thread.


Good Luck!

 

I've been trying here in the KC area and all the dealers I called says they don't take any orders and one of them said their manager marks up any Prius Primes by $5k....sigh....of course none for sale right now...I'm willing to go out of state so looks like I may have to just mass email all the Toyota dealers in the New England area!?

Just got my wife a 22 C-HR because it was the only car coming into our local dealer that wasn't already reserved (our 2006 Acura's AC finally gave out and time for a new car upgrade....what a time)

 

You can try Faith Toyota in Vermont.
Before, they were very good at taking reservations, and being willing to ship Nationwide.

However, I, and others, have had a less than "great" experience with Faith in Vermont.
The main thing is lack of feedback and documentation.
Imho, they seem to be a decent Dealership. My salesperson seemed nice.
Still, compared to my local Dealership, my dealing with Faith's in Vermont often made me wonder if they were really a Dealership, or some scammer. To be very clear, Faith's in VT is a real dealership. You can see the dealership on Google Earth. And, many people have bought cars from them. I'm talking solely about "the interaction experience", especially compared to the over 10+ remote dealerships that I dealt with.


Like many people, I had multiple reservations at multiple dealerships.
Imho, that's very common now.
That's also the reason why it's good to deal with local dealerships. There are a reasonable number of cancellations.
And, that's where knowing what "a factory order" really means is important.
And, why you need to decide, what is important/required for your car.
The Trim Level, The Color, The Factory-only Options, and so on.
Note, many options can be installed at the dealership. So, do not requiring those from the factory.

There were some NYC area dealerships that shipped to New England, and the rest of the Country. Last I heard, at least two now do "only local deals".


Fwiw, Toyota reduced to production target twice last quarter. The reduced the production target by ~90,000 units.
This quarter, and forward, even Tesla is looking at reduced targets.

Interest rates are also going up. Iirc, ~94% of people finance a car.
The near-term economy for the Country, and the World may go into a down-turn.
That will reduce a lot of new car buyers, and cause a number of cancellations.

There are supply shortages.
There will likely be reduced demand for some models, while there is still a big back-log demand for other models.
So, it's hard to say how many cars will be available, and when.

From Toyota's financial view-point, building and selling as many Rav4 vehicles as it can, is likely a top priority.
Those have high profit margins, massive demand, and the target buyers market often isn't as hard hit during economic down-turns.

Fwiw, someone else mentioned in another thread, that Dealerships don't make a lot on the base selling of a vehicle. That is very true.
Dealerships make much more on financing, service contracts, and so on.
Plus, the service center often makes the largest percentage of the profit for the Dealership.

So, you can see why many Dealerships will only sell locally. Plus, there are the many potential issues that can come up when a vehicle is to someone that doesn't pick it up in person. Like for Tesla, at delivery, many have had scratches, chips, etc. That is an issue with the selling Dealership, not the factory.


Good Luck!

 

Sorry for the late reply. Actually, this was White River Junction Toyota in Vermont.

 

Thank you!! So I've been in touch with them and I don't know if this is shocking or not but the sales person told me that a factory order for a 22 PP is about 10-14 weeks...which seems pretty crazy short to me with people saying the wait is 6mo+ for many orders currently.

I guess we will see. They do require you finance with Toyota...which is fine and they do MSRP with no crazy add-ons and no mark-ups and they seem to be ok with selling far out of state as I am not in VT or near that state at all but in Missouri.

Let's see how it works out...

 

seems to depend on what has been allocated to the dealer, and how many are on their wait list.
some have been fortunate, and others not. hopefully you will have a new prius soon!