Big option price increase today

Doug,

Can you confirm that the price of Safety Connect is indeed $680? The Nav packages have gone by that price. This price does not mention the USB is included. Could you confirm if this increase also included the USB, or is there a separate increase in the Base level to compensate for it being added without NAV?

The current Toyota Links only mention "one year trial subscription to Safety Connect with automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle location, emergency assistance button (SOS) and roadside assistance." and say nothing about added USB.

In other words is the price increase 'only' $680, or is there an additional increase rolled into the price somewhere else for the USB? And by the way, thank you for jumping into this thread, many of us appreciate the 'authoritative voice' that you (and your team) add.

 

Can you provide the link or source you're looking at? Safety Connect price is $450, USB is $230. These are usually combined, and whatever you're looking at is probably error of omission (i.e., we did not add USB in the description), rather than an actual misbuild.

Thanks,

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

 

Sending it directly to Erica, as I have her email. I will ask her to forward to you...

 

Like I said earlier Toyota=much higher initial price and then they screw you some more for their overly expensive add-ons. By the time your done for a fully loaded Corolla your in the Camry range where as a Civic EX which has everything the fully loaded corolla does is waaaay cheaper. Why is that?! :0

So does that mean that the each base package ie. II, III will increase? If this happens I'm out and that just Toyota gouging the buyer. Increasing price because of demand; isn't there some sort of consumer price protection, fair trade act for this?

 

Yep, glad I have my SR package already too. I'm not interested in those, especially at those prices!

 

I just got my prius III with solar nav 2 days ago. The USB port is in it-it was a surprise to me as it wasn't written anywhere on the sticker. I just lucked out! Maybe others will too.

 

This was a dealer added option (or Port/ regional). The new cars built with this from the factory are just starting the 30 day journey to the U.S., so you are not part of that batch.

 

As far as I'm aware, the Invisible Hand (Law of Supply and Demand) actually requires that an increase in demand will increase prices. That's not some sort of regulatory violation, that's capitalism. What counteracts a price increase under this scenario is good, solid competition.

All that said, we think the value we're offering for the price increase is going to be appreciated by our customers. If it turns out you all don't want it, know we'll learn from that and fix the problem.

Doug Coleman
Prius Product Manager
Toyota Motor Sales, USA

 

Welcome to the capitalism man...
Supply and demand my brother. Have you watched gas price go up and down daily due to deman and supply? Stock market, commodity price, gold... just about everything you can buy, price will go up and down depending on demand. It's Toyota or any car maker's best interest to raise price if demand is more than supply. To make money and satisfy share holders. That's hole point of doing business. Make money.

Having said that, I don't see Toyota is raising price due to deman here. Like they are saying, safety connect ($450) and USB ($230) has been planned for years and as scheduled they just being added finally.
I don't see that as being price increase. When you are paying more and get more, that's not a price increase.
You can also look at this way, instead of price increase, early builds were getting discounts as these were lacking the safety connect and USB which should have been a standard equipement as they originally planned.

 

That price increase is ridiculous!

 

I agree the Toyota options are ridiculously overpriced. $1800 (now 2400?) for navigation? The top of the line Pioneer nav unit is only $1600 MSRP. And let's be honest, the Toyota nav can't even hold a candle to a $100 nav unit. $4000 for a solar panel? $1000 for JBL stereo? I had a local shop put badass speakers and an amp in for $650. Sounds better than anything Toyota offers. I just can't see how this helps Toyota that much to have all these stupid trim levels and options. 5 different trim packages? Oh my god.

 

Uhmmm.. The 2010 Base Prius is the same cost as the 2009 Base Prius, and they are adding a new Prius model soon for another $1,000 below the current MSRP. I would not call this a much higher initial price.

Additionally, these additional costs will only be borne by those of us buying a Prius that comes with the Navigation package, the Solar Roof package, or the Advanced Tech Packages. For the rest of us, no changes.

Price gouging? Hardly. You are free to purchase any vehicle that you would like to buy. This is not a needed item like a gallon of milk. They are free to price at any level, and we are free to buy or not. However, I challenge you to find a new vehicle today, that offers close to the technology that is available in the Prius for a price close to it. No need to compare a Chevy Aveo to this car, nor a Ferrari. For the money, you are getting a lot of car period.

Otherwise, Economics 101 will tell you that with supply limited, ad high demand, that prices will go up.

 

I don't fully agree with Doug Coleman that greater demand will automatically necessitate an increase in price.
I do agree that meaningful competition may prevent price increases.
If it doesn't cost a company more to produce the product (cost of raw materials, manufacturing, labor) due to high demand than there is no reason for an automatic increase in price............other than the company wanting to make more money by taking advantage of the popularity of their product (capitalism.)
In some cases it is a matter of how much a company can soak the public, in others it may be just a token increase and in some cases no increase at all.
Not knowing if Toyota's costs have risen due to high demand I can't judge Toyota's motives.

 

Toyota's costs have risen to add the Safety Connect and USB Port to the vehicle, and that is whyt the prices have increased. Those of us who have been following the USB and Safety Connect progress were able to notice months ago that the costs would go up slightly once these features were added, and a few of us chose to wait for these features prior to buying the car, as they deemed them necessary.

Being in the markets myself, I also cringed at Doug's comment, but chose not to enter a debate of Supply/Demand with him on this point, as I knew both what he meant by the statement, as well as the fact that their costs did go up, and that is the reason for the price increase.

I would imagine that if the Honda Insight sold many more units, and included these without charging more, then Toyota would have either reduced the price increase, or eliminated it entirely, and just gotten a slightly lower profit per unit to remain competitive. As this is not the case, then they are justified in trying to keep their margins consistent, just as you are justified to purchase a lower priced vehicle, if you disagree.

 

Does anyone know what the highest-selling model of the Gen III Prius is? I think most people on this forum have the Prius IV but I wonder how this translate in the real world?

 

Sorry, but Toyota's total dealer system is just simply designed to increase costs, it wouldn't be as bad as Toyota pretends it not to be, if it was simply a price increase, in reasonable terms, which I don't see this being, the price doesn't really match the options for what you get. The other problem Toyota has is the fact that beyond the factory, they further try gouge the customer with their, you have no choice, port installed options, further increasing prices from the factory. Its just plain wrong, the entire Toyota set up, which is, lets get the customer for as much as possible.

I'm happy with my Prius, but Toyota and their dealership network needs a LOT of work to improve.

 

Maybe someome can help me understand why safety connect is a requirement when ordering the nav option. I'm going to have to pay $450 extra for something that requires a yearly subscription to use? At least with XM Radio, the hardware is bundled with a higher end stereo so you get *something* for the extra money even if you choose to cancel the subscription. But this is $450 for nothing. And I can't NOT buy it? Am I missing something???

 

So...in turn if a company has a product in lesser demand and they offer it at a discount, you as a consumer would refuse the discount and pay a higher price because you know that 'it doesn't cost a company less to produce the product.' I have yet to meet anyone like that, have you?

How can a company soak anyone? It's your decision as to whether you want to purchase or not. Voluntary as far as I know.