I'll be at a meeting at my regional offices Friday the 18th (morning) for the Highbrid Highlander intro -- for the new online ordering system. What I can tell you is that the first wave of these cars for the summer of 2005 will bring us a mere 1,600 units. That's right. 1,600. That's all I hear we'll see all summer and into fall so for the most part, cross country, expect markups. Or, your small dealerships to get 1 or NONE cars. :roll: They plan only 1,600 cars for the 2005's. Serious. My online INTEREST form -- what you'd fill out and send if you intend to buy a Highlander hybrid frrom me in Southern CA and either pick it up here or have it shipped to your home state etc, is here: http://carsontoyota.com/html/highlanderhybridform.html I'd like to ask that you NOT fill this form out if you do not intend to do a purchase request thru me. This is an order-related form for my dealership - not the entire country, LOL! The reason I am sending this link is that over the last year or more, I have had an interest form at our website for the "interested" to do if they wanted a Highlander Hybrid thru me. That's upgraded now to "do the form if you WANT a car so I can see what to order you" level of interest. I still have no pricing. I still have no specific build dates and I will take no deposits for time line and make no promises as per delivery at this point. If you have done my "fleeting interest in a Highlander Hybrid" form and would like to bring that fleeting interest to a higher level of "I want to buy" when cars come available, do the form and I will return the email! Thanks so much! Dianne Whitmire Carson Toyota Internet | Fleet Sales Manager 310-522-2317
I suspect Toyota is intentionally be creating a collector's item by making so few of the 2005. When they begin the 2006 production and how many they plan to build will confirm that.
Hmmm, interesting. My dealer called the other day to confirm that I'm 4th in line and that they are sharing 8 cars/month (what they were told they'd get) with 2 other dealers--that is, they are to get 1.7 cars/month. And this is a pretty darn small, mid-west market. Glad I got my signed 'contract' with MSRP on it now. Also, Di, please come back and tell us what you learn about the online ordering...seems my dealer sometimes gets behind on these issues and I like to keep him abreast.
The Highlander is in its last (well, supposedly) year of its cycle so technically, there should be a redesign for the 2006MY unless Toyota extends this current cycle for an extra year. Could this (partially) explain the low unit counts? If it's 1,600 in the US, I wonder how many will be shipped to Canada. 100? lol
