$3000
Toyota Prius markup: Screw the customer?
Monday, May 26, 2008
Subsidizing
Toyota's stupid SUV decisions?
Several months ago, during press days at the LA Auto Show,
I quickly left GM's show debut to check out Toyota's
debut, hoping to learn something about a new Toyota
hybrid. Instead of a new hybrid, Toyota hyped the new
Sequoia - Toyota's biggest gas-guzzling SUV.
How could it be that the king of hybrid
cars was hyping a gas-guzzler, whereas the king of
gas-guzzlers was hyping nothing but hybrid vehicles? Talk
about role reversal.
Fast forward several months and $4.00 gas has made the
already hot Toyota
Prius even hotter, despite the fact that Toyota has
raised the MSRP on the Prius, in addition to the rest of
its hybrids. Even worse, many dealers in hot markets have
added a $3,000 markup to the Prius and other hybrids.
Did the dealers add $3000 worth of add-ons? Nope, they are
simply using high gas prices to extort more money out of
consumers in the guise of supply and demand. Somehow, it's
the fault of hybrid consumers that Toyota's Sequoia is a
flop. Thus, hybrid consumers must subsidize the stupid
corporate decisions of Toyota.
Toyota might claim that pricing is up to dealers, but I
blame Toyota. When the iPhone was hotter than hot, Apple
didn't allow AT&T to add $500 markups to offset supply
and demand. That's bad customer service. Instead, AT&T
sold them at the suggested retail price first come, first
serve, and Apple BUILT more phones. A dealership isn't a
commodity trading exchange, its a retailer.
Apparently, Toyota no longer exists for car customers, but
only as a supplier of screw-the-customer whenever possible
dealerships. Has Toyota tried to screw you over?
Related: Robbed:
Buying a hybrid car today
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