New incentives on July 9th

[Charlestonleafer]

Does anyone think the incentives will go to $10k on July 9th? Stay at $7500? Any chance they'll go away?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Does anyone think the incentives will go to $10k on July 9th? Stay at $7500? Any chance they'll go away?

That will depend on what sales were for June.

 

[Vach]

I think the 10k will come back eventually; but I think they'll bait people for at least a couple months... unless these two months the sales were particularly horrible.

 

[Charlestonleafer]

Looks like they only sold 84. Not sure if that qualifies as terrible, but lets hope the 10k comes back!

 

[ehelmholtz]

Actually, they only sold 44 in June which is way off what they need (~70). This ought to mean the 10K incentives will be back sooner than later.

 

[liuping]

Actually, they only sold 44 in June which is way off what they need (~70). This ought to mean the 10K incentives will be back sooner than later.

They are sort of stuck now. Once you do $10K discounts, people will tend to wait for that again.

An extra $2500 off pays 1/2 the sales tax and is nothing to sneeze at...

 

[TonyWilliams]

Actually, they only sold 44 in June which is way off what they need (~70). This ought to mean the 10K incentives will be back sooner than later.

They are sort of stuck now. Once you do $10K discounts, people will tend to wait for that again.

An extra $2500 off pays 1/2 the sales tax and is nothing to sneeze at...

Now that Toyota has played their hand publicly (hydrogen car for CARB compliance starting 2015), everybody who wasn't crystal clear that this is a dead end car now knows different.

We are selling over 7000 plug-in cars per month in the USA, and Toyota sells 44 Rav4 EV's, I think you can expect OVER $10k discounts. I also won't be surprised if they cancel the program and just pay Tesla or Nissan for the CARB credits.

Particularly with the several ongoing problems with the car.

 

[user 340]

I also won't be surprised if they cancel the program and just pay Tesla or Nissan for the CARB credits.

Particularly with the several ongoing problems with the car.

A brutal analysis, but I agree that this could be a good business decision for Toyota (given their EV posture) and it may come to pass.

 

[camiev]

I trust Tony analysis. There will be OVER $10K incentives.

I don't think Toyota will cancel the program. I can see Fiat doing that, but Toyota is one of the big boy. That will create a PR nightmare that will haunt them for years.

They will just give more incentives to move their 2600 Rav4.

 

[Vach]

That plays into the whole "recall" discussion. As not a safety recall, but just one to avoid further warranty cost damage... such as cost over time supporting the car being more than just passing people off.

I wonder how many they have sitting around waiting to be shipped.

 

[liuping]

I wonder how many they have sitting around waiting to be shipped.

It seems like inventory in San Diego is up quite a bit.

When I first started looking last month, one dealer I was looking at had 1 in stock and the other had 2.

Now the first one has 6 and the second one has 4.

 

[jlhodges]

Tony wrote: "I also won't be surprised if they cancel the program and just pay Tesla or Nissan for the CARB credits."
Would that depend on whether all 2,600 RAV4EVs have already been built? If they have, wouldn't they try to recover at least some of the costs by selling the remaining fleet at what ever price will move the inventory? "Everything Must Go!" "The Manager is Gone and We're Selling at Insane Prices" "The More You Buy, The More You Save!!!" "Act Now! Supplies Are Limited!!!"

 

[pchilds]

Toyota already paid Tesla $100 million for 2600 drivetrains. They will most likely, will make all 2600.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Toyota already paid Tesla $100 million for 2600 drivetrains. They will most likely, will make all 2600.

Well, we don't know if they paid that up front, or per unit shipped.

In addition, Toyota could tell us how much more awesome-o hydrogen is than those old fashioned battery cars, and launch that early.

But, I agree, they'll likely stick with the assumption that 2600 Rav4's will disappear during 2012-2014 model years to make way for the hydro car.

 

[snoltor]

Has anyone ever seen a commercial or advertisement of any form?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Has anyone ever seen a commercial or advertisement of any form?

Nope.

 

[eschatfische]

Has anyone ever seen a commercial or advertisement of any form?

I've seen a couple. There was the sponsored review at http://boingboing.net/2013/06/10/my-week-with-the-2013-toyota-r.html, and I saw a few sponsored tweets on Twitter. They also had a booth at Maker Faire. Everything seemed very targeted to tech/maker geeks, though, nothing mass market.

 

[n3ckf]

Well with only 2600 of these cars available, they could likely sell *all* of them in Silicon Valley & LA to geeks if they want to.

How many of the V1 Rav4EVs did they make? even less than the Rav4EV?

I know lots of people ask me about the car when they see it and the only people who seem to know about it before they see mine is people who already own other alternative fuel vehicles (like nat gas F-150s or Civics or a Leaf, etc.)

 

[snoltor]

How many of the V1 Rav4EVs did they make? .

1484 leased or sold according to Wiki

 

[SeaMonster]

Has anyone ever seen a commercial or advertisement of any form?

I saw a sidebar ad for the Rav4 EV on The Verge. That was a couple of weeks ago.