Quote:
Originally Posted by sandforblood
Let me clarify,
They will produce continue to produce the Sequoia however, it will be exported to everywhere but here. The exporting story is substatianted through Toyota. I believe that they wont sell it here.
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I believe you are mistaken on the demise of the Sequoia in North America. I think just the opposite is true. In fact, I believe the Land Cruiser and LX570 will be dramatically reduced globally and replaced with the more modern and up-to-date independent rear suspension platform of the Sequoia.
Toyota has a major capital investment in 2 new plants in the US that need to be capitalized over more units than are currently being sold due to the decline in the US auto market. My guess is that the LC/LX platform has been fully depreciated (they are made in Japan) and my further guess is they will be slowly killed off or at least reserved to Asian markets with the Sequoia being the only full size Toyota suv platform sold in the Western Hemisphere. Here's an Oct 2008 press release from Toyota on the subject
Toyota Vehicles : Sequoia / Toyota
In fact, the Sequoia was one of the few models in the Toyota lineup that had growth in units sales during 2008. The Scion Xd had signficant growth (+151%) however it was a relatively new model in 2008 with limited sales in 2007.
The Land Cruiser was up 16.5% in 2008 however it had relatively insignificant sales with only 3801 units sold in 2008. Likewise the LX570 had growth of +220% however the units sales were also quite insignificant at 7915. In total Toyota sold less than 12,000 units of the LX/LC platform in the US. Given the $ vs Yen exchange rate on these Japanese made models and the cost to import them, they may very well have lost money on each unit sold, even at the exhorbitant price they charge for the LC and LX ($65-80K).
The only real significant "star" in the entire Toyota lineup and that includes Lexus, was the Sequoia with a unit sale increase in 2008 of +31.5% and a total units sold of 30,693.
Of the North American made Toyota products, only the Sequoia (+31.5%) and the Camry (+2.1%) had more units sales in 2008 than 2007.
There were no imported Toyota models that sold more in 2008 than they did in 2007.
Based on Year end numbers for 2008, the Sequoia was the only high volume model with any growth and its not surprising they will likely look to replace the LC/LX platform in South America to take advantage of the manufacturing proximity of the Sequoia made in the US.
As an interesting side note, the Prius unit sales were down -12.6% with approx. 159,000 umits sold in 2008. The scary number for Toyota is the fact that only 7800 units were sold in Dec 2008 or an annual run rate of 94,000 units. If Toyota doesn't turn these Prius numbers around, their flagship hybrid will be looking at a 40% reduction in units sold in 2009.
So much for the death of the full size SUV and its replacement by hybrids like the Prius. The Prius has always been a poor economic decision which became even worse when gas dropped to $1.50.
Pressroom : Toyota Reports 2008 and December Sales / Toyota
To Custom Order OR not to Custom order A SEQUOIA?!!
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