Toyota production (or lack thereof): this is getting weird

So according to sales numbers apparently Toyota had one of its worst quarters ever when it comes to pure numbers - i.e. the total number sold vs previous years is much lower.
But, as Paul Harvey so famously put it for years, what about the rest of the story...
The reason there's a drop in total overall numbers is Toyota simply didn't make very many trucks. This is proven out by anyone with two eyes and a capability to go to a dealership lot - there's just hardly any trucks available.
And ordering one is, quoting my local dealership, a 9-14 month wait. Meaning if you order one right now the 2024 versions will be out before you even see your truck.

My question is, why?

Yeah yeah yeah I know - supply chain, chip shortage, yadda yadda yadda. But I see the other manufacturer lots starting to fill. Ford certainly seems to have figured it out, and a GMC AT4X order is now just 3 months (buddy just ordered one).
So why does it seem (to me anyway it's apparent) that Toyota is so much more adversely affected by this? Is it a trade issue maybe? Or something us plebians simply don't understand?
Cause I'll tell you now, Toyota could bring a hundred Tundras to the dealership in Birmingham Alabama and sell them almost immediately. IOW, if demand is so high and people are willing to pay the asking price, why would you NOT build as many of them as you can?

What say you?

 

I think Toyota chooses to give you a full truck instead of features missing, to be added in the future type of deal.

I was shopping last month (before getting my 23 Tundra) for GMC Sierra 1500 AT4. Every single truck I saw and tested had features not installed, either small refund or to be added later.

 

That's a fair point. But it would mean there's some location somewhere with tons of Tundras rotting out in the sun awaiting chips, right? Or do you think they just won't build them until ALL supplies are available? That seems like a chancy business model.

 

Drove pass the Chevrolet dealer the other day and saw 15-20 truck parked side by side of the same color. And they had 5-6 different colors in the parking lot

 

I think they are just not building them until all the parts are secured. That should be part of Toyota’s allocation process. The first part of the built process usually takes 3-4 months.

When the parts are secured, the trucks are built in one day. Mine was build, on the train to Port in just one day.

 

Trucks in the U.S. are a very small portion of Toyota's overall sales. It would not be surprising to see them prioritizing vehicles that are their bigger sellers instead of the Tundra. Most buyers want an SUV of some sort.

 

I dunno, does it have anything to do with the price tag too? I went to my dealer twice a month apart late last year, and they had more than a handful both times, and while I can't say for sure 4 of them looked like the same trucks still sitting there, whereas before you'd be lucky to find one on the lot. The truck guys I know in my area are also of the opinion that no V8 for $60-$80k, I'd rather have a Tacoma for less or even a F-250 Super Duty at that price. And Tacomas for as long as I can remember are the harder model to find in my area, and generally still are.

 

Here in Dallas, the dealerships with no markup can’t keep a single truck on the lot. The greedy ones with dealer markup still sells most of them.

I just purchased my 23 Tundra this week, and literally missed two platinums because I had to ask my wife. They were gone within two hours of arriving on the lot.

 

The chip storage is real. My 23 tundra was delivered this week with just one key fob. The 2nd one should arrive around late May to June.

 

Sell less make more business model.
Nike can make more air jordans but they’d rather have their customers sleep outside for 3 days for the “privelage” to buy a new pair of AJ and fork out $350 for a $20 shoe.

If they’re always in stock nobody pays premium. This whole supply demand bullshit is just that, you control demand by controlling supply.

 

That's a tricky game to play. At some point customers just go elsewhere. Right now I'm thinking about ditching for available trucks (there's a Ford Platinum and a Chevy ZR2 right up the road that both cost less and are available right now). Understand it probably plays a bit of a role, but I can't imagine them not taking advantage of the sky high demand right now. Makes no sense.

 

I don’t think they are doing this on purpose. The dealership where I got my 23 Tundra literally had one Sienna came in over a course of 2 weeks. Really think Toyota is just having a real hard time securing all the parts for the vehicles, especially hybrids.

 

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43440185/average-new-car-prices-50000-dollars-2023-toyota/

Toyota is seriously limiting production, for whatever reason we want to believe.

I've been on a list for a GR Corolla, but I'll probably never get one.
Toyota said they only plan to make 50k new Prius for USA each year, but that car will likely have far higher demand. The few that showed up at my local dealer were +$12k over.

And I haven't seen a Tundra in a month on their lot, they did get quite a few in February....

 

There are 5725 Tundras for sale on Autotrader.com. I am sure many are still in transit and are spoken for. But, my local dealership, that had zero availability in September of 2022, now has 25 trucks on the way, 15 aren't spoken for, and they even have 2 in stock on the lot. There is a running post on this forum with a dealer listing their availability. If you can't get one local, you might have to ship it in or fly out and drive back home with it.

 

Ford has nothing figured out. I ordered a new truck in October. Might get it in September I have been told.

 

I'm lucky, I guess. My local Toyota dealer does NOT mark up from the MSRP. I will not, ever, pay over list price for 'market conditions' or some other BS reason. I will sit out of that game.

 

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/gm-100000-unbuilt-vehicles-sitting-parking-lots/
https://www.hotcars.com/fords-unfinished-truck-pile-visible-from-space/
https://www.journal-news.com/news/t...dway-cant-be-sold/CL5X67MX6NFAFBZLDOQCOCRR7I/

Literally hundreds of thousands of brand new vehicles from other manufacturers sitting in lots across the country waiting for parts to finish them. This doesn't include the mass amounts being sold without standard features for the trim levels purchased for the promise of installing them later. Toyota isn't doing that. They are only making what they can completely finish and sell with the exception of a second key fob. Toyota is selling every vehicle it makes and they're selling as fast as they can make them. They aren't getting over their skis like the others. The amount of money being spent to store these vehicles and the associated cost of carrying them on the books is expensive and cuts into profit margins. Which leads to a higher priced end product or a percentage of lost revenue. I think Toyota is being smart about this. What happens to all of those stored vehicles if the chip shortage gets worse? Toyota doesn't have to worry about that. They only build what they can complete.

 

I was going to replace my previous Ram with a new one last fall. The chip delete trucks were not selling and about all you could find. Here is $200 off on a $65k truck missing 6 features. No thanks. Not the only reason I moved on to Toyo but in the top 5.

 

Ford doesnt seem to have issues selling $80000 V6's even when they have a V8 option or an F250 on the same lot.

 

They figured out how to ship 170000 trucks in Q1 to Toyota's 27500

While this might be true, they still have a plant they are sitting on that they are not maximizing and probably workers that are not doing anything. That also costs money.

 

So I guess we're going to pretend production capacity doesn't matter? Toyota barely has the production capacity for 200K trucks max, Ford is closer to 2 million if they wanted to. Toyota should totally throw billions into new/more plants to build a vehicle that isn't part of their main, most profitable segments......

considering that non of the US based Toyota plant workers are unionized, they aren't paying workers to sit around and do nothing. If they aren't working, they aren't paid. And what's the point of ramping up to full capacity if you can't finish a vehicle completely? I would be willing to bet the people who know what the hell they're doing and in those positions because of that have a better idea of what they need to do or not do than anyone on this forum.

 

I agree it’s odd I ordered my 22 in Oct 21 and got it apr 22, thought that was the height of supply issues. I was impressed only took 6 months and now it’s worse. I also have a f350 they are the same though sounds like good luck is the best for getting a 2023.

 

I hope it shows up that soon for you. I ordered my '22 on Feb 9 2022, and it was supposed to arrive in mid May. It wasn't built until June and I picked it up in the second week of August after it had been pushed back twice. It may have just been early production stuff though.

 

I spec’d out an F-250 Lariat, nicely loaded with a diesel and Ford built it and I had it in my driveway in 8 weeks. I was told it would be 9-10 months.

 

Well they must be happy about that!

 

Dealer had an ETA for the truck when you put the deposit on it, right?

 

hmmm. That’s interesting.

 

I think production is all kept low on purpose to make more money and still blame “covid”. I don’t think the world will ever go back to normal before covid time.

 

I totally agree with you.

However, I'm hoping someone is the first to say "eff it, let's out-produce everyone else" because with all the different manufacturers out there, run by humans, eventually someone's gonna make that call ...

But for now, they're enjoying being able to substantially increase MSRP and build only higher trims, and the dealerships certainly prefer making $15k profit per vehicle whilst being overall less busy.

 

Just to point out that it is possible to get the truck with "minimal" wait time if it's been allocated already. I remember last year when I was getting ready to put the deposit down my thinking was "Oh, it's only gonna get better now, worst is behind us". And now, year later...