Talking to dealers around me about stock and MSRP...

[Doomed]

So I am on the list at my local dealer. Way down the list. I decided to start calling dealers farther out from me. I am seeing that some dealers are only selling to people in their home state and some are saying "we only are selling the Land Cruiser to anyone in a 100 mile area". Interesting way of doing business with a highly sought after vehicle. The best part is a lot of dealers I am calling are selling at MSRP.

 

[Teebo]

A few dealers around me said the same. Seattle said they were prioritizing Seattle residents but later they called and asked if I was still interested. I guess their strategy didn’t last long.

 

[LCNorth]

More money for the dealership in service than the vehicle. If you’re over 100 miles away, you’re definitely not coming back for oil changes!

 

[solidbrix]

Probably talked to 10 dealers earlier this week, if they had a LC allocated and were selling at MSRP, it was already spoken for with a deposit. There is about 5-6 dealers within 100-150 miles of me willing to sell a LC FE with 5-10k markups (no thanks). None of them were in the color I was interested in anyways, so it wasn't worth the hassle in an attempt to get rid of it.

I still believe we'll see an S curve in sales over the coming months once the trucks start showing up at dealers. Demand will be high, but not that high as supply meets it (not everyone has 70k to blow on a new vehicle with dum high interest).

 

[muskrat43]

The three dealers in my area I talked to are asking MSRP + $10k-20k for FE’s. There must be a lot of stupid money around!

 

[Impatient]

Probably talked to 10 dealers earlier this week, if they had a LC allocated and were selling at MSRP, it was already spoken for with a deposit. There is about 5-6 dealers within 100-150 miles of me willing to sell a LC FE with 5-10k markups (no thanks). None of them were in the color I was interested in anyways, so it wasn't worth the hassle in an attempt to get rid of it.

I still believe we'll see an S curve in sales over the coming months once the trucks start showing up at dealers. Demand will be high, but not that high as supply meets it (not everyone has 70k to blow on a new vehicle with dum high interest).

Yeah, I am curious to see how these dealer lists work, since some people clearly have certain things they want and there are significant differences in pricing and features between the three trims. All I really want is a meteor shower 1958 (would rather aftermarket anything else and I don’t do hardcore off-roading), and I am guessing most people have specific preferences like me and will probably turn down the things they don’t want. That said, there will be vulture buyers of the first editions who immediately try to sell them, I am sure.

 

[voxel]

I went through the same thing with the new Sequoia last year. Markups from $10K to $20K. These days it’s MSRP or a tiny discount. Some dealers still think they are rare and unicorns but they can sit on it for for a few months. What pushed demand was overseas buyers (Sequoia was only built in Texas) which won’t happen with the LC since it is made in Japan and shipped worldwide.

 

[djnemo]

There won't be many vulture buyers in California with the 10%+ sales tax that you don't recoup on resale.

 

[voxel]

There won't be many vulture buyers in California with the 10%+ sales tax that you don't recoup on resale.

Large population + deep pockets... there will be plenty who will pay ADM without the intention of flipping it. Same with Miami folks... plenty of dinero willing to overpay there.

Toyota needs to ramp up supply to meet the demand - which I don't see happening for the first 6-12 months.

 

[chris_in_phx]

I've called 5-6 dealers in the Phoenix area and unfortunately most of them don't seem to care much about tracking customer interest - or maybe the sales persons didn't. A couple dealers said they would add me to a list; I followed up 2-3 weeks later and they never put me on any list so now I'm deep on any list. So I've given up on the chance I might buy one this year.

You know, when the Bronco came out, at least you could pre-order, pay a set price, and dealers couldn't mark up if you pre-ordered. This process Toyota has is frustrating and gives all the power to the dealers - who don't care about loyalty or customer preference.

 

[voxel]

I've called 5-6 dealers in the Phoenix area and unfortunately most of them don't seem to care much about tracking customer interest - or maybe the sales persons didn't. A couple dealers said they would add me to a list; I followed up 2-3 weeks later and they never put me on any list so now I'm deep on any list. So I've given up on the chance I might buy one this year.

You know, when the Bronco came out, at least you could pre-order, pay a set price, and dealers couldn't mark up if you pre-ordered. This process Toyota has is frustrating and gives all the power to the dealers - who don't care about loyalty or customer preference.

Toyota in the US doesn't do custom orders... same with Hyundai and Kia (except for the Telluride that is built in GA). Ford, BMW, MINI, etc are the carmakers that custom build to order.

I might be wrong about demand though... I thought new Tacomas would command markups for a year but it seems some are sitting. There's simply an excess new vehicle supply and if somebody is asking $10K markup on a LC... then can just buy a Sequoia or discounted Bronco instead. The whole resale/reliability argument is thrown out the window if you are paying $10-20K over.

 

[IceColdNorth]

I've called 5-6 dealers in the Phoenix area and unfortunately most of them don't seem to care much about tracking customer interest - or maybe the sales persons didn't. A couple dealers said they would add me to a list; I followed up 2-3 weeks later and they never put me on any list so now I'm deep on any list. So I've given up on the chance I might buy one this year.

You know, when the Bronco came out, at least you could pre-order, pay a set price, and dealers couldn't mark up if you pre-ordered. This process Toyota has is frustrating and gives all the power to the dealers - who don't care about loyalty or customer preference.

Many wait lists for the LC250 were already quite long 7 months ago. The non-responsiveness of dealers in your area makes me wonder if they just don't want to tell you, now, if you'd be way down on their respective waitlists. Sheer speculation on my part; I can tell you I ended up in the low 20s on my dealer's waitlist when I added my name last September.

 

[Teebo]

I feel lucky to be on the coast. It seems like we have many more dealers or something. I contacted about 40 dealers within a days driving distance. I got one locked down at MSRP but just about every day I get a text or email from dealers saying they have some. Larson Toyota of Tacoma just did today saying that they have 6 still available. I'm guessing that they are not all FE but I didn't ask.

 

[Impatient]

It's getting odder and odder that there are no drive tests of any vehicles with the new hybrid engine.

The allocations are weird, particularly that Texas has NONE (particularly odd in light of Toyota saying that allocations would be based, at least in part, on locations that sell 4runners well). But the fact that nobody has driven it is the bit that's really striking.

 

[jnsplace]

It's getting odder and odder that there are no drive tests of any vehicles with the new hybrid engine.

The allocations are weird, particularly that Texas has NONE (particularly odd in light of Toyota saying that allocations would be based, at least in part, on locations that sell 4runners well). But the fact that nobody has driven it is the bit that's really striking.

There is/was an embargo. Supposed to be lifted this week.

 

[Impatient]

There is/was an embargo. Supposed to be lifted this week.

I’ve seen speculation on that, but haven’t seen it confirmed. If so, I guess that makes sense. Just wild that they are on the ground and headed for dealerships but there still isn’t any real review out there.

 

[Bronconomore]

It's getting odder and odder that there are no drive tests of any vehicles with the new hybrid engine.

The allocations are weird, particularly that Texas has NONE (particularly odd in light of Toyota saying that allocations would be based, at least in part, on locations that sell 4runners well). But the fact that nobody has driven it is the bit that's really striking.

Yes it’s almost unheard of that there is no driving reviews at this point. Stranger than fiction.

 

[solidbrix]

Yes it’s almost unheard of that there is no driving reviews at this point. Stranger than fiction.

European embargo just hit, I'm sure we'll see US reviews no later than the end of next week. Very exciting.

I'm not gonna lie tho, once the reviews hit in the US, dealers are going to be flooded with calls and requests for the LC. I've been trying for the past 3 weeks talking to dozens of dealers, none of them want to sell a FE at MSRP, and the color I want is impossible to find available (Heritage Blue). Maybe I'll get lucky in a few months...