Delivery dates

[tundradg]

Originally Posted by bobstcyr

here's an observation - for what it's worth?

Most, if not all the dealers in the NE area only have a couple Venza's in inventory and are advising 6-8 weeks order delivery from the factory.

They have a few on-hand for the potential buyer touch and feel interest and test drives. Seems toyota's strategy is build-to-order with a built-in delivery lag that supports a batch-build for factory economy and efficiency.

The new national Ad campaign on TV also seems to be geared toward building buyer demand and delivery towards the spring time. Unless you want to buy a fully loaded V6 Venza now.

A fundamentally sound strategy - it'll be interesting as to how it plays out.....

The only potential downside is losing a current customer who wants/needs to buy now and moves on to another heavily discounted make/model. Given toyota's akcnowledged slip in it's commitment to Kaizen during the past several years, current brand quality perceptions may not be enough to fend off today's steep competitive discounts??

Your thoughts and observations?

I think Toyota's strategy is pretty similar to most manufacturers. If you want to create hype about a product, make it hard to find. People see it, feel it, fall in love with it, hopefully buy it. The tragedy is that they are releasing a new product in some pretty thick economic turmoil. Sales of every model are down. They announced closing their JAPANESE plants for 11 days to reduce their inventory supply. I think that people looking for the best deals on crossover wagon type vehicles will see the Venza, and some will find that it's worth the wait. Others will be comparison shopping and find STEEP discounts on similar type vehicles and jump at the opportunity. I don't think Toyota is counting on the Venza to be a revolutionary new product to save their brand from future slumps. They'll sell as many as they think they can, at a pace that they think is best. Gas prices are not outrageous at the present moment, so it's not like there is this huge demand for crazy fuel efficient vehicles. They're just trying to fill what they believe is a gap in their product line - a "niche" (sp?) so to speak...

[bobstcyr]

To some degree I agree, scarcity works well in normal markets with built-up demand. However in the current and foreseeable market, new product in reasonable availability can drive incremental sales because the Venza meets a demographic interest - a wagon for the boomers (who have the money to buy).

Although Toyota dealer inventories are lower than other dealers, it's obvious that they are trying to move excess inventories of current models while half-heartedly rolling out a new product.

I will tell you that I have been offered a Venza by two dealership at a $3K discount off sticker. Unfortunately that still does not meet my needs (i.e., I don't need a fully loaded vehicle) at high price (loaded cost) point.

I am ready to buy but won't be forced to buy what I don't want at a price I don't want to expend. I'm hearing the same form other people I meet at the dealerships and even from some of the sales people.

Developing a viable sales model in these market conditions can't be easy but I sense that the flash of a new product rollout is going to go for not if enough customers are turned away because of the price point of available Venza inventory at their dealers. Once these customers move on to a deeply discounted competitor product, they are gone for several years - if they ever come back. Marketing 101: It costs exceedingly more to capture new customers than to retain customers in the base. For the first time in Toyota's recent history, their brand premium can be effectively challenged by competitors because the buying behavior is being driven by price versus marginal variances in perceived qualirty.

This is by no means a criticism of Toyota - just an observation from my experience. The time-proven sales models are broken and nobody really knows what will work going forward. Retrenching works in the short-term but may not carry the day in the long-run against competitors who are dumping inventories.

At any rate, the Toyota marketing team must have an end-game in mind.