Recent Supply Issues?

20 years ago a Prius was nearly the only option. These days not so much. It's baffling that these dealership think they're still going to be selling cars three years from now if they can't sell to their existing buyers who are ready right now until three years from now.

Have you looked at the Chevy Bolt? @bisco bought one and he has lots of great things to say about them... And seeing as the lowest price Tesla is now cheaper than the new Prius, maybe it's time to give up stopping at gas stations?

 

I don't think there is any supply-chain issue. This is Toyota's new tactic to eliminate rebates and incentives to increase their profits. They especially do that with the currently popular cars. By reducing the supply by only 10%, they can perhaps double their profit. It is like stock dilution—a small number of new stock shares offered greatly reduces the stock price.

There are plenty of RAV4 Primes and Prius Primes around here if you want to pay the markup.

Prius availability could increase as early as the summer when the gas prices come down more and the excitement about the redesign diminishes. This is not a good time to buy a new car, especially a new Prius, unless you must.

 

toyota is making record profits on trucks and suv's. why would they want to increase prius production?

 

Here in Ottawa, Canada. I put down a deposit for a 2023 Prius Prime on May 22, 2022. I'm told it will be delivered at the end of January, 2024. So a wait time of about 18 months.

 

It's not helping anyone in North America, but the delays seem to be more than just supply-related. I ordered in Germany in June '23. The initial delivery date was supposed to be in December '23, but it's now moved to February. Apparently, the car arrived in Europe last year, but who knows what Toyota is doing. There might be logistical issues as they have to be transported by truck to dealerships.

And with the Houthis causing trouble around the Suez Canal, completely new logistic challenges arise. Even Tesla has shut down its plant here for now.

 

This interesting. I looked as far away as the East Coast to find a Prime without a dealer markup. Found what I wanted in Portland, OR in about four days. Made an internet purchase, on a whim, to see if I could really snag this car that was on the boat from Japan. It worked! Ten days later I was driving home in it to CA.
Is this a Canadian and/or European market issue? Or is it some buyers are limited to only a few dealerships?
I don’t understand it. It must be incredibly frustrating and discouraging. I can only say it’s a fantastic car and I hope yours arrives soon for you.

 

congrats!

but it is a worldwide issue. you got lucky, be thankful. the fact that you had to go to portland should tell you everything you need to know.
before covid, these cars sat on the lots rusting

 

I think the supply is also really highly dependent on region and the allotment size various retailers receive. I’m in upstate NY (1 hour south of Montreal, Canada) and the local dealers here always seem to have a relatively small inventory. I’ve been looking for a LE in supersonic red for 7 months now without any luck. Eventually, I gave up on that idea and was lucky enough to reserve a Prime SE in supersonic red that’s due next month (at a dealer 3.5 hours away).

 

We ordered a prime SE in November 22 and just got told ours is arriving this week in the west end.

So you'll have yours soon! I've also seen *two* of the gen 5 Prius out in the wild, one was a prime just 3 days ago in Kanata. They're finally arriving!!

 

I would say based on my experience there may yet be hope but it’s all dependent on Toyota’s allocation system. I placed my order in April of 2023 and got word 2 weeks ago that I won the allocation lottery and my Prime XSE Premium was being built and to be delivered mid-March. That said, I was 5th on the dealers list (they’re no longer taking orders on Prius or Rav 4 Primes because of expected low allocations) but there are now still 4 people above me on the list waiting - some of whom ordered well before me in 2022. It’s all dependent on where you sit on the dealer’s list, what your desired trim/options are relative to others on the list and then ultimately what Toyota allocates to your particular dealer which is really the key dependency. It used to be that you’d place a factory order and they’d slot you for a build at some point in the future when they had the capacity and parts. With the allocation system that Toyota is currently using, there’s no easy way to tell what will get allocated to any one particular dealer as they decided what to build and to which dealer to allocate it.