Prius Plug-in Updates

I understand what you are saying.... This is just very different experience compares to ordering a BMW. I was able to track when the configuration got input into system, the stage of car being built, final inspection, at dock, ..., etc.

I was hoping ordering a Prius can be an exciting process....

 

It's quite remarkable to order a vehicle prior to rollout with so little detail. Only a few will actually take the plunge. That's where we come in. As the first owners, we'll be sharing experiences and real-world data. More sales will result, convincing those still interested but a bit apprehensive.

The system is a nice balance of priorities. So, it won't take much to stir excitement. Then it happens. They'll go from curious to obsessed. We'll hit a tipping point, when those who just placed an order start to go nuts waiting.

I remember the same situation as clear as day... 11.5 years ago. From January 2000 to early September 2000, all was rather serene. Then when deliveries transformed to daily stories, people started to freak out. The wait suddenly became intolerable.

So... I shared a few photos online. Whoa! They were gobbled up. I hadn't expected that. This time, I'm preparing for it. Today, it was more practice with HD video... attempting to capture the ScanGauge in action, providing real-world detail on my morning commute at -9°F. Just think how it will differ with a plug.

I'm ready! Bring on the PHV.
.

 

Yes, I am sure it was a BMW that was already in production, as a regular model.

If you can't do the tracking with a regularly built Toyota right now, it's a blessing when we CAN track these units after they are built. This will be a first.

 

I guess this is one of the first commercials for the 2012 PiP. I wonder if they will show it during the superbowl.

 

Volt order status comparison

FWIW, for comparison, Tracking Your Volt Order has an example of what you can see when you order a Volt.

One of my friends who ordered a Volt in early November and now has his car sent me his personal URL where he (and anyone else w/the URL) could track the status of his Volt. What I can see there is roughly the same as Aelbric's post.

As a tangent, I wonder if Toyota or someone else will be able to put up a site similar to http://www.voltstats.net/ but for the PiP. I didn't even realize people here on Priuschat were discussing it since the mentions were often in threads I didn't follow closely. I only became aware when the same friend sent me the URL to the stats for his car.

 

Agreed! I have seen the symbol for so long but never understood that is what it represented. Cool!

 

In my case, as the time for delivery approached I drove past my dealership in September 2000 and saw a green Prius fresh off the truck sitting in the parking area in plain view. I parked and went over to inspect it and noted the VIN. I went inside and asked if it was my car and was told no -- that car was for someone else.

Several days went by as I kept reading about other people picking up their cars (in the old Yahoo Prius group, I think). I called the dealer again and still no car. Finally, I called Toyota directly and asked where my car was. "At the dealer -- it was delivered a week ago" they said, confirming that my assigned VIN matched the car I had seen in the dealer parking lot a week earlier. Grrrrr! I called the dealer and they finally acknowledged the status showed it had been dropped off but said they couldn't find it on the lot so maybe it hadn't been delivered and there was a paperwork error (?!). I told them they had better find it *now* or I'd be calling Toyota again. Finally, they called me back and, yes, it was parked in the corner in a back lot.... but I couldn't pick it up for another day or two.

I drove over a day or two later and picked up the car and all was forgiven. However, to this day, I'm still somewhat suspicious that they tried to sell my car to someone else willing to pay $$$ over the MSRP that I paid. When I ordered it earlier in the year it was an obscure car that few knew about but by September it was getting local press coverage. And this was Silicon Valley and the Internet bubble was just beginning to pop and many geeks were flush with cash.

The Volt ordering process was similar. I ordered it on the 2nd day possible after failing on day one to find a dealer competent enough to place the order and willing to sell at MSRP (the first dealer wanted $10,000 over MSRP....). All I had to work with was a Volt ordering brochure PDF file I downloaded from the Internet as the dealer didn't have the actual paper version yet. I guessed at good color combinations and fretted over whether to pay extra for the polished aluminum forged wheels (ultimately no).

The delivery aspect was much better up until the end.... As others have noted, there is a website that taps the GM factory database and lets you track the entire process from order acceptance, scheduling of manufacturing, VIN assignment after painting of the body, and all the way through final transportation and delivery at the dealer. You can even find out which truck or rail car is transporting your car and then call automated 800 numbers to watch the progress as your car is driven in the truck or switched between trains.

The only aggravating part was that I could see others starting to pick up their cars on the East Coast and others had their cars put on rail cars and were slowly tracking them around the country. My car showed in the database as being still in the factory parking lot waiting to ship. Day after day after day. I called GM. "It's still at the factory undergoing QA testing", they said. Grrrrr! Then somebody in Southern California who was in the same situation said their car had just been dropped off at the dealer by truck. Really? Finally, a couple of days later, my car appears at my dealer in the SF Bay Area even though the GM database still says it is at the Factory. It turns out that they did an unusual special delivery of a few West Coast cars by truck for PR purposes. I picked up my shiny new Red Volt. All was forgiven.

 

Quick Note... Our 1st ten Prius Plug-In orders were just dropped into our Toyota inventory database. Looks the 1st vehicle in the batch will be arriving to our dealership between March 14th and March 17th. I am of course basing these dates off the information Toyota is providing in the vehicle tracking pipeline. I imagine they are someone subject to change. Anyhow get your outlets ready. They are coming!
Patrick Coleman
Jim Coleman Toyota

 

Patrick, very exciting news!
I have some details in my own thread in this folder.

Today, I find that some cars still show a build-week range, but some now show a D-ETA or dealer ETA but frankly, this shows a wide window and these things change often on all the other cars so I expect the same on the PHEVS.

The one thing I did realize is that so far, no one who confirmed their order after 11/17 is on this list. I am looking up some pretty low #'s and finding that anything confirmed on/after 11/18 isn't in my first batch.

Same-day finalization has its priviledge. I'm glad I worked till 11pm that night. It seems to have worked out well for initial same-day orderers!

 

I have a question to the ones with higher knowledge in the subject.
Do the newer build vehicles be distributed to the east coast dealers though a California sea port or we will have a carrier ship dedicated to the East coast market?
I would be very silly to freight all of these by train or tuck from coast to coast.

 

I also have a thread with some details here

http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/101342-just-quick-few-things-dianne-thank-you.html

 

Thanks, Erica! Great stuff!

 

Nice and fulfilling teaser !!!!!

 

Dealer just called with a window of 3/2-3/15 here in Tucson, AZ.

 

Kahuna69, what dealer are you going thru in Tucson? I'm getting mine thru Joe Baechler at Desert Toyota in Tucson. He gave me a build week of week 8, which is 20-24 Feb. Also, a delivery estimate of 0319-0404. My order confirmation # is 1033.

I have a list of ships that Toyota uses and the maritime website to look up their locations. The only problem is that the ships don't communicate with the maritime database when they are away from land. Also the data is usually 3-5 days old. The ships all come out of the port at Tahara, Japan (port of Toyohashi) . Those destined to the port of Los Angeles (Long Beach) a lot of times go to other west coast ports first. Sometimes they go to Los Angeles first. I hope that Toyota will give us the ship that our cars are on so that we can track them.

I just started a new thread with a list of the ships and their links.

 

not sure its posted already but the Dutch price is out for the PIP
almost 39,000 euros base price up to almost the 45000 euro asked for the volt/ampera over here.

a 25 km range is to be expected

i was hoping more of 32000 euros as a base price but this is way higher then i expected.

 

I believe that Toyota is betting on the price of the Euro vs Yen coming down base on what has been going on with Greece, Italy, and Portugal. That's probably why they priced it where they did.