I wonder if anyone could venture a guess on this: How long between the date a Prius is built in Japan and when it is delivered on the US west coast, let's say?? I'm assuming once they get to the dealer they don't last more than a few days. Is the build date stamped or tagged anywhere on the car?? With a couple of months to go, if I'm lucky, I doubt if Toyota has even thought about building MY car. Larry
I knew the Japanese were far more advanced than us, what with their dancing robots and cell phones with TV, but I didn't realize they were this far ahead! Just imagine what they're building today! -m.
On the driver's side door jab there is a black and white sticker. It says Manufactured by Toyota, etc. - after that there is a date (month and year). Mine says 11/03. My dealer got the car on Dec 23, 2003.
So, since the production boost was announced in mid-December, those cars should be showing up now. (and should have already been in allocations since those run ahead of delivery by a few weeks).
Born on Date: 01/04 Delivered: Just got home with it. As an aside, my car was actually supposed to be on a boat that docked in NY Feb 17, but a deal on an identical one fell through and I said sure I'll take it. The one unloading now is supposed to be arriving at the dealership next week. Not sure how long they had mine haggling with the guy (he walked away over trade-in value), but it wasn't long, it only had two miles on it and I got the call at 2PM, was in the Dealership by 4, hehe. But, I thought the VIN number comparison might be interesting for giving a possible clue to production rates: Mine: Serial 375XX The one that docked 2/17: Serial 398XX I asked the dealership if they knew if Serial Numbers were for total production, or for US production. If it's total, it doesn't tell us much, but if those are US only serials, does that mean that they're only bringing in 7K more '04s to the states if 47000 was their target production?
couldn't figure out where to post this, so i'll put it here and y'all can figure out where it belongs... but fyi, all......... from Schwab.com site, quoting Dow Jones.... ============================================ Toyota May Need to Make Hybrid in U.S. Facility Dow Jones, Sunday, February 15, 2004 at 22:40 SAN FRANCISCO -- Toyota Motor Corp. President Fujio Cho said the No. 1 Japanese auto maker, encouraged by strong sales of its gasoline-electric hybrid cars, may eventually manufacture a hybrid model in the U.S., Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. The redesigned second-generation Prius car, which has more power and room than its predecessor, has become a hot seller since Toyota launched the Japan-made vehicle in the U.S. late last year."I would say we have to think about building a hybrid in America eventually,"Mr. Cho said late last week in San Francisco. He added, however, that there are no active plans and there would be several major hurdles to overcome even if Toyota decided to manufacture a gas-electric hybrid in the U.S. The biggest, Mr. Cho said, would be how to source a host of"very unusual"components and materials in a hybrid's drive system, such as electric motors and large batteries. No one in the U.S. makes many of those components, and Toyota would have to import them from Japan to start building a hybrid vehicle in America."It may not make any business sense at all if we brought in too many of those big components from overseas,"Mr. Cho said. The Toyota president also said sales of a hybrid would have to hit at least 50,000 to 100,000 vehicles a year to justify production out of Japan. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter Norihiko Shirouzu contributed to this report. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 02-15-04 2240ET SOURCE Dow Jones 02/15/2004 ============================================ we know they don't move fast on these decisions, but at least the thought is in the right direction.... imagine what the backlog for '05's will be one year from now....
