Southern CA allocation lookin' better for July! (Early July)

3 6 9 only in Southern CA

We get 3, 6, and 9 at this time, and that's all I expect we will get for quite some time... FYI!

 

I hope so.

I think that they also have learned from experience with pricing and will most probably price the Lexus and the Highlander hybrids pretty high to recoup their poor margins with Prius...and the aftermath of the poor publicity for doing so. They have managed to keep the spin a good thing - "the car everyone wants but is hard to get, wait in line for the ultra cool and popular blah blah" makes it seem far better and more of a "the public and OPEC are responsible for the shortage of this car" than "we messed up and did not bump/double production when we should have, and then Panasonic refused to help us out, blah blah".

Toyota is in the very embarrassing position of STILL being behind the manufacturing curve after having already once lost face by having to renegotiate supplier contracts asking for more part supply on Prius.

Rumor has it that when it was apparent we had a NiMh battery shortage, Panasonic was unwilling to cooperate with Toyota to construct a Toyota or joint owned NiMh battery plant under Panasonic management.

And, despite $2.00++ a gallon gas prices, SUVs, vans and trucks are still selling like hotcakes! Perhaps this is a Toyota economy 101 decision? Someone up there may be asking (justifiably) "Why in hell are we losing face and expending all these resources on a marginal profit product like Prius?"

This is a car... and a car that pulls everyone in many ways... emotionally, politically, and economically.