First Gen 5 2023 Toyota Prius cars show up at the dealers!

Thanks for sharing your experience! This is my first time buying a car from them. Lots of happy repeat buyers based on what I've been reading. Coincidentally, my sales rep emailed me today, so now... the waiting game lol

 

bro, when the prime launches do you homework call dealers and see what they have I bought my 2010 from Longo but I’m not going to wait around I’m going to call every dealer w/in a 100 mile radius and see if they want to sell

 

After reading the last few pages, does anyone think there ought to be a better way?
I really don’t believe these cartels should be legal, much less protected by law.

 

@Petern your attachment in #261 is coming up blank, at least for me; reformat as a jpg?

or just cut-and-paste the text of the email?

 

In order to be a cartel usually requires an agreement between independent manufacturers or suppliers. Have you ever wondered why your incandescent light bulbs have the same lifetime (about 1000 hours) regardless of the manufacturer or model? The Phoebus cartel was an oligopoly that controlled the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs. They appropriated market territories and lowered the useful life of such bulbs. Corporations based in Europe and the United States founded the cartel on January 15, 1925 in Geneva.

But Toyota dealerships are not a cartel. Definition: : cartel; plural noun: cartels

1. an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition.

Once upon a time, price fixing was illegal. I have not heard of any agreement between the dealers to sell only with exorbitant fees. It was not that long ago that shell, chevron, et-all fixed prices by the simple expedient of looking at the sign outside the gas station on the other corner of the intersection.

In recent years the internet has enabled legal price fixing using the web browsers to find out what the competition is charging for their services and products. If the competition is selling "unlimited service* " for $75, you can legally sell the same service for the same price or near to it. You can even copy the "unlimited service* " idea where there is a fee when you exceed a limit or use it at certain times of day.

I would rather that the car manufacturers encouraged the dealers to drop the extra fees. I liked the Saturn brand's sales technique of sticker price and no haggling .

 

Hey sorry about that. I did not mean to include any type of attachment and I actually have no idea how that .png file was attached. Must be a server-side glitch. I think "Clear" is usually some kind of spacer or organization tool.

 

Dealerships may not be a cartel, but they are protected by law. Dealership associations have kept Tesla stores out of more than one state.

 

Ill conceived laws in most cases. Written by the auto dealers associations themselves.
In states where the auto dealers are strongest (i.e. own the most politicians), they have been successfully banning forms of business that are otherwise legal.

Luckily, the auto dealers haven’t run over every state’s populace. And they are getting pushback regarding some of the more ‘overhanded’ state laws that serve the auto dealers, rather than the citizens.

 

It would be worth pointing out that the laws that favor dealerships go hand in hand with the regulations that require that spare parts are in stock for the expected life of the car. And the dealership network also ensures that someone nearby has the tools and knowledge to diagnose and fix the fancy new models.

It's smart planning, actually. When sales are down, repairs go up, evening out the revenue stream.

 

The prime was just announced in Japan, will show up at Japanese dealers March 15, and I just heard a rumor about a 25k tesla in the works (which may qualify for a tax credit). Patience folks, as like minded people get more options, prices will come down.

 

With the weather we have been having, I would think, yes, they are telling the truth. The roads are brutal right now due to snow.

 

Not if people are buying the XLE and Limited they ship.

 

Why are you waiting on a wait list. Check inventory online and start making calls and emails to dealers.

 

I did a tally of which trims and colors were being allocated in my area of the Midwest so far and here are the totals:

LE: 50
LE AWD: 0
XLE: 50
XLE AWD: 33
LTD: 5
LTD AWD: 3

Guardian Gray: 25
Wind Chill Pearl: 29
Cutting Edge: 26
Reservoir Blue: 19
Supersonic Red: 20
Midnight Metallic Black: 22

I talked to my sales rep yesterday and their first allocation was an LE that was actually not spoken for upon allocation (it’s taken now) because almost everyone on the list wanted Limited AWD.

 

Anyone have ETA average for new builds? Ordered new 2023 Prius LE model back in 2/16. Dealer keeps saying it's still at the port. Oddly enough I can't track it using the Toyota tracker. Any help? VIN-JTDACAAU3P3000487

 

Just to provide more details - I am located in Fresno, CA. Assuming port in question is Long Beach. Any info is appreciated.

 

Why would that be? I've got some ideas, but the spare tire seems to be a no-show now, on all levels. Factors that are left, pro or con, at least a few I can think of:

1. It's cheaper
2. It's 17" wheels are very likely more fuel efficient.
3. It's 17" wheels have cheesy plastic covers, and uncovered, well...
4. Head room may be marginally better? Due to lack of sunroof?
5. Only one door touch-to lock/unlock.
6. Cloth seats (for me at least that's preferable)
7. Speculating: less proximity sensors, lower fidelity entertainment system and so on.