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It's due to their reputation for rock-solid reliability, better torque and MPG with hybrids and making sure a hybrid option is available across all vehicle size

It's due to their reputation for rock-solid reliability, better torque and MPG with hybrids and making sure a hybrid option is available across all vehicle sizes. Typically Honda would compete with Toyota with similar offerings but their hybrids aren't matching up to Toyota yet in MPG and you can't get it in large SUVs. So now you have a situation where nobody is competing with Toyota because everyone's busy making EVs. True or not, it's now assumed you can drive a Toyota for 150k miles without breaking a sweat. Toyota Sienna and Toyota Grand Highlander are three row vehicles rated at 36 MPG. These cars are selling out before they even hit the dealer lot.

winphone1974 3y ago
Everything you say is true, but where the financial success comes from is leveraging this (well earned) reputation to support high, no negotiation, take it or leave it prices, and often mandatory financing. We'll see if the market continues to support fixed pricing and turning away cash buyers.
- vsskanth 3y ago
  Their financial success comes from a lack of competition from other OEMs. They spent a lot of time refining that hybrid powertrain. There is simply no direct competition to the Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid, so they charge whatever they want
  - Solvency 3y ago
    It's too bad that car is absolutely garish looking. Why can't the world produce a single EV that looks like the new Bronco, a Wrangler, or even the Defender 90?
    - AmVess 3y ago
      Generally, Toyota buyers don't like to stick out in a crowd. They do have a new, reasonably priced Land Cruiser coming out, which is styled after their older, very popular Land Cruisers. I would'nt be surprised if they come out with a 2-door version of such to fill the long vacated slot left by the FJ Cruiser.
- sgerenser 3y ago
  I haven’t heard about mandatory financing, and it surprises me. Any links?
  - nixass 3y ago
    Likely r/usdefaultism
  - AmVess 3y ago
    I haven't heard of that, either. I've worked with two of the region's highest volume Toyota dealerships, and neither one cared how I paid them.
    - freedomben 3y ago
      I bough a new Sienna recently and cash was definitely an option for people with that kind of savings (not me unfortunately haha).
  - catlikesshrimp 3y ago
    In my country, Toyota dealers (there are two) have the same price for cash than for bankloans. It is not mandatory to use financing in here, but the last three times I have asked in showrooms, across some 15 years, the assistants have no idea how to process a full payment. They always took 30-60 minutes to ask around. The price is pretty much fixed, except for cars which weren't sold after receiving a downpayment for them.
  - sgerenser 3y ago
    I also bought a RAV4 Prime in April of 2022, when they were very hard to come by. Arranged my own financing with a credit union at 1.99% (really got in under the wire with low rates). Dealer argued that I should at least try applying for Toyota financing but when he admitted they’d never beat 1.99% he relented and took my check. This was in Maryland, US. Would really like to hear of a situation where a dealer literally refused a cash or outside financed transaction.
    - 93po 3y ago
- AmVess 3y ago
  Toyota has a built in customer base that is growing. With the exception of Tundra trucks, their parking lots are usually empty while Ford, GM, and Stellantis have new vehicles stacked all over with no buyers. Of the 3 Toyota dealerships I worked with during Covid, not a single one of them charged over MSRP, even for in demand vehicles. I was at the local Toyota dealership a few months ago, and they had a long line of new vehicles parked out front, all with large SOLD signs in the windscreen. Toyota has learned from C19 and not to overstuff their dealerships with products that do not sell and cost dealerships big money in floorplan financing. It is a similar story at the 2 Honda dealerships I've dealt with in the same time period. MSRP sales, new vehicle lot empty because vehicles are sold before they arrive.
natch 3y ago
150k miles is not much. And the problems begin eventually.
jseliger 3y ago
"Blackberry's keyboard-first strategy is delivering big profits" – headline from 2009. https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/bb/revenue/ https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/bb/revenue/ notice the years and how they coincide with the iPhone.
- freedomben 3y ago
  An interesting parallel to be sure, but for many people smart phones were a luxury rather than a necessity. For people outside of well-covered public transit cities (and even many people inside of those) cars are a necessity. Also when I think about this personally, I was 5x or more faster at typing on my old blackberry than I have ever been on modern phones. When thinking luxury v. necessity, things like that I think will matter a lot more than they did for phones.
  - adrianN 3y ago
    BEVs are cars too.
- vsskanth 3y ago
  Replacement timelines for cars are way longer, around 7-10 years, and way more money. I don't think this is comparable
- readthenotes1 3y ago
  It would be more like a headline saying AT&t's landline first strategy is delivering big profits in 1985. The price, technology, and infrastructure for supporting EVS is not appropriate for the majority of us.

winphone1974 3y ago

Everything you say is true, but where the financial success comes from is leveraging this (well earned) reputation to support high, no negotiation, take it or leave it prices, and often mandatory financing. We'll see if the market continues to support fixed pricing and turning away cash buyers.

vsskanth 3y ago
Their financial success comes from a lack of competition from other OEMs. They spent a lot of time refining that hybrid powertrain. There is simply no direct competition to the Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid, so they charge whatever they want
- Solvency 3y ago
  It's too bad that car is absolutely garish looking. Why can't the world produce a single EV that looks like the new Bronco, a Wrangler, or even the Defender 90?
  - AmVess 3y ago
    Generally, Toyota buyers don't like to stick out in a crowd. They do have a new, reasonably priced Land Cruiser coming out, which is styled after their older, very popular Land Cruisers. I would'nt be surprised if they come out with a 2-door version of such to fill the long vacated slot left by the FJ Cruiser.
sgerenser 3y ago
I haven’t heard about mandatory financing, and it surprises me. Any links?
- nixass 3y ago
  Likely r/usdefaultism
- AmVess 3y ago
  I haven't heard of that, either. I've worked with two of the region's highest volume Toyota dealerships, and neither one cared how I paid them.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    I bough a new Sienna recently and cash was definitely an option for people with that kind of savings (not me unfortunately haha).
- catlikesshrimp 3y ago
  In my country, Toyota dealers (there are two) have the same price for cash than for bankloans. It is not mandatory to use financing in here, but the last three times I have asked in showrooms, across some 15 years, the assistants have no idea how to process a full payment. They always took 30-60 minutes to ask around. The price is pretty much fixed, except for cars which weren't sold after receiving a downpayment for them.
- sgerenser 3y ago
  I also bought a RAV4 Prime in April of 2022, when they were very hard to come by. Arranged my own financing with a credit union at 1.99% (really got in under the wire with low rates). Dealer argued that I should at least try applying for Toyota financing but when he admitted they’d never beat 1.99% he relented and took my check. This was in Maryland, US. Would really like to hear of a situation where a dealer literally refused a cash or outside financed transaction.
  - 93po 3y ago
AmVess 3y ago
Toyota has a built in customer base that is growing. With the exception of Tundra trucks, their parking lots are usually empty while Ford, GM, and Stellantis have new vehicles stacked all over with no buyers. Of the 3 Toyota dealerships I worked with during Covid, not a single one of them charged over MSRP, even for in demand vehicles. I was at the local Toyota dealership a few months ago, and they had a long line of new vehicles parked out front, all with large SOLD signs in the windscreen. Toyota has learned from C19 and not to overstuff their dealerships with products that do not sell and cost dealerships big money in floorplan financing. It is a similar story at the 2 Honda dealerships I've dealt with in the same time period. MSRP sales, new vehicle lot empty because vehicles are sold before they arrive.

natch 3y ago

150k miles is not much. And the problems begin eventually.

jseliger 3y ago

"Blackberry's keyboard-first strategy is delivering big profits" – headline from 2009. https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/bb/revenue/ https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/bb/revenue/ notice the years and how they coincide with the iPhone.

freedomben 3y ago
An interesting parallel to be sure, but for many people smart phones were a luxury rather than a necessity. For people outside of well-covered public transit cities (and even many people inside of those) cars are a necessity. Also when I think about this personally, I was 5x or more faster at typing on my old blackberry than I have ever been on modern phones. When thinking luxury v. necessity, things like that I think will matter a lot more than they did for phones.
- adrianN 3y ago
  BEVs are cars too.
vsskanth 3y ago
Replacement timelines for cars are way longer, around 7-10 years, and way more money. I don't think this is comparable
readthenotes1 3y ago
It would be more like a headline saying AT&t's landline first strategy is delivering big profits in 1985. The price, technology, and infrastructure for supporting EVS is not appropriate for the majority of us.