[PhishPhood]

Originally Posted by vsd

June 2007 was a completely different time than June 2008. In June 2007, you could go to a Toyota lot and find a sizable selection of Priuses, in June 2008 the best you can hope for is a Brochure and your name on a list. The reason is indeed poor product planning at the corporate level. This can explain the problem better than I can. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/...ess/hybrid.php and http://www.hybridcars.com/decision/r...ting-list.html

There is another issue that may be coming on strongly. The devaluation of the US$ is making all imported products, Prius', TVs', you name it, less and less attractive. I can see where there might have been a corporate decision NOT to over supply the least attractive market. The hybrid models that can be made may be staying at home to supply that demand or ending up in Europe where they bring $10000 - $15000 more per unit.

From the referenced article on hybridcars.com

Unless Toyota sends a lot more cars, we’re going to see Prius wait lists spin out again to about six months,” said Toby Parks, sales manager at Toyota of Berkeley, Calif., in an interview with HybridCars.com.

What if they choose NOT to send a lot more cars? It's just money, it's just business.

When I was a supplier to Chrysler I had to go to Auburn Hills to tell them that their price was going up by $200 / ton due to currency issues and potential governmental duties. If they didn't agree then we'd have to cut them off. They didn't agree and barred me from entering the building in the future, but we did end up cutting them off. It was just business.....$50,000,000 worth of business.