Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Buying a Toyota Prius

This is an open letter to Mr. Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota Motor Corporation.
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I have owned many new cars over the years, including various Toyotas. A Tercel, a white van, two different Celicas, a Corolla, a Prius, and an Avensis (made in the UK). I respect the company, and I think they make great products.
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One time I was flown in and given a personalized tour of one of the Toyota production facilities, and back before I retired we bought lots of Toyota forklift trucks. I guess you could say that I’m maybe a bit of a Toyota groupie.

When I bought my first Prius roughly 4 years ago, I was living in Europe. Every night I would see advertisements on TV for the Toyota Prius. When I went in the local Toyota dealership they had a beautiful one sitting in the showroom. But they didn’t actually sell them. They advertised the hell out of them, but when you went in to actually buy one they told you that you would have to wait, wait, wait. Months or more.

Eventually I got furious with the Dutch Toyota dealer and accused them of using bait and switch tactics. They got to see a really classic example of an arrogant, loud mouth Texan doing the Ugly American routine. It is too bad we don’t have a video of me telling them what I thought of them in a loud and abrasive voice. I’m sure I could be famous on U-Tube for at least 5 minutes.

Toyota in Holland were advertising the Prius on TV every night, but when you went in to their showroom I felt that they were trying to switch you to buying a more profitable model. I finally did buy a Prius from them, and I drove it all over Europe. Truly great car!

Yesterday I went to the two Toyota dealerships in El Paso, Texas USA. I had my check book with me, and I was fully ready to pay cash for a new White 2010 Prius II.

One Toyota dealer in El Paso, Texas was actually rather rude to me. They had only one Prius in stock, and a car lot filled with more profitable models. I ended up walking away mumbling to myself, shaking my head, and thinking, “If I have to walk, I will never, ever buy a car from these jerks!” At the other El Paso, Texas Toyota dealer (where I bought my current Corolla) everyone was professional and was very nice to me, but they were in basically the same situation as far as inventory of Prius cars. So we left it by agreeing that in a few months if their inventory situation improved they would probably maybe call me.

Every time I log onto the internet still one of the first things I see is a prominent ad for the Toyota Prius, but I am in the same situation as before. It is now four years later, and I'm living in America instead of Europe. But they still have the exact same problem. It is hard to deduce anything other than that advertising the Prius is good for their corporate image, but that selling too many of them is bad for their bottom line. As a loyal Toyota customer it sure seems like the perpetual Prius shortage is deliberate.
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As good as the Toyota products are, this type of thing may have something to do with why they are currently losing so much money. This is not an example of proper corporate responsibility. It is so damn hard to earn the trust and respect of your customers, and it is so easy to lose it. Earning their trust back a second time after the customer feels that they have been treated badly is even harder.
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This feels like some kind of unpleasant déjàvu.
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It is now October 29, 2009. I have managed to buy a 3d generation Prius II in the color of my choice. I had to contact many Toyota dealers, and finally Street Toyota in Amarillo, Texas was able to get the car I wanted at a reasonable price. They did exactly what they said they would do and I am happy with the service the dealer provided. But I had to fly up there on Southwest Airlines, and then drive for eight hours back to my home.
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The new 2010 Prius is a wonderful car, and in fact it really does get 50 mpg fuel economy under actual driving conditions. My opinion about the company has not changed however. I still am of the opinion that this vehicle is not profitable for Toyota. Being able to advertise it is real good for their corporate image; so they continue to maintain a situation where the vehicle perpetually stays in short supply.

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