(Feel free to move sub forum but I think everyone should know this).
So…
Getting a car these days is really difficult. Before you can just find the car online or pass by a dealership and find it on the lot. Today, you’d be lucky to find the exact car you want on the lot. With how limited and popular the GR Corolla will be, I think people need to understand the ugly system they’ll be experiencing when it comes to getting their car.
Personal Experience:
I took delivery of a 2022 GR86 after reaching out to almost every dealership in Northern California. As a frequent member and moderator of the ‘22 BRZ/GR86 Facebook Group, I’ve seen and personally experienced the painful task of buying a Toyota. I work in the car industry and Toyota has one of the worse approach to distributing cars.
The Toyota Distribution and Allocation Process:
I’ve been in the auto industry for 7 years alongside a Toyota dealership. I have a glimpse of their allocation/distribution system but might need some clarification/correction from experienced Toyota salespeople. I’ll try my best to describe it as simple as can be:
Know these terms:
Region
Dealership
Allocation Pool
Allocation
Preferencing
Region: Toyota’s division of markets based on different geographic areas and population density.
Dealership: The physical location where you purchase the car from.
Easy so far right? Not so fast.
Allocation Pool: The allocation pool is the region’s incoming inventory. Toyota decides allocation pool size based on the whole region’s sales performance and market needs. A majority, if not all, of this allocation pool are cars that have already been built at the factory and are now entering transit. We don’t need to go in to how the factory decides which region the cars go to before they’re built. Just know completed and built cars from factory get assigned to region, not specific dealers.
Allocation: The allocation is when the region select cars from the allocation pool and distributes/assigns them to their respective dealerships.
The ugly thing about the allocation system: Ready? This one is for the ones who are number 1 on their dealer’s list.
Because of the region’s control on the allocation pool, the dealership technically has no control on what color, trim, and options they’re getting…This means even if you’re first in line for a car you told them you wanted…for example, White Core with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package, your dealership MIGHT get that or they MIGHT not.
This is where the lack of clarity comes in. You tell them 5 months early you want White Core, PP, and CWP, then they call you and say they got the Red Core PP and CWP. Or worse,
they say they got a White Core with no options.
Preferencing
So what can you do about it? You can work with a dealership you can trust and willing to work with you. Why? Because in the system, the dealerships do have a way to get a specific configuration.
It’s called preferencing.
The dealership can “preference” their allocations (before it happens). Basically the dealership can tell their region “hey we want a White Core Model with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package in our next allocation”
^^^This privilege to the dealership is the reason why some dealerships will tell you that you can “order” a car. And they will usually give you a wide timeframe, like 4-6 months. It does not take 4-6 months to build a car so what’s the deal?
The deal is that the dealership HOPES to get it in that timeframe. Why do they have to hope? Because sometimes, Toyota does not accept or cannot fulfill the allocation preference. The reason why? There wasn’t enough of that configuration in the allocation pool.
However, fear not…the allocation preference isn’t deleted or erased! Once next allocation comes, Toyota Region will still see it and try again to fulfill it if there’s availability in the allocation pool. This is again why the dealership would give you a timeframe—to be able to account for this situation.
Applying what we know…
So for example, let’s say you want the White Core with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package. Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes:
(Going to make up numbers and names here)
San Francisco Region
50 dealerships
Allocation Pool Size: 1000 cars
100 GR Corollas
Out of the 100 GR Corollas, only 10 of them are White with Performance Package AND Cold Weather Package.
(Again making this up) Let’s say there’s 50 dealerships in the San Francisco Region. If there are 10 White+PP+CWP the Region will send it to 10 dealerships or possibly 1 dealer would get 2.
Let’s say you’re first in line at ABC Toyota. If you were in this make-believe region, your dealership has a very low chance of getting this car during this allocation unless they preferenced it.
Let’s say they DID preference it and didn’t get it. This is probably because another dealership preferenced it first.
So Region recognizes that and says, sorry ABC Toyota…we’ll see if a white core with pp and CWP is in the pool next time and we will prioritize your preference if it is.
And a few weeks later, ABC Toyota calls you and says they finally have a White Core, PP, CWP coming in for you!
Think about this process and think about the long waiting lists especially at stores promising MSRP.
Technically every store is getting 1 Circuit Edition and 4 Core editions—for the year! Think of all the possible combinations a dealership can AND can’t get. And if you want the Circuit Edition in a specific color from your dealer? Ouch.
And this is why this is why this launch of this car will be ugly.
Unless Toyota distributes the GR Corolla in a completely different way, like a build-to-order process (just like what Subaru uses), be prepared to be frustrated.
Or let’s just all write emails to Toyota Corporate to distribute the GR Corolla via build-to-order process?
So…
Getting a car these days is really difficult. Before you can just find the car online or pass by a dealership and find it on the lot. Today, you’d be lucky to find the exact car you want on the lot. With how limited and popular the GR Corolla will be, I think people need to understand the ugly system they’ll be experiencing when it comes to getting their car.
Personal Experience:
I took delivery of a 2022 GR86 after reaching out to almost every dealership in Northern California. As a frequent member and moderator of the ‘22 BRZ/GR86 Facebook Group, I’ve seen and personally experienced the painful task of buying a Toyota. I work in the car industry and Toyota has one of the worse approach to distributing cars.
The Toyota Distribution and Allocation Process:
I’ve been in the auto industry for 7 years alongside a Toyota dealership. I have a glimpse of their allocation/distribution system but might need some clarification/correction from experienced Toyota salespeople. I’ll try my best to describe it as simple as can be:
Know these terms:
Region
Dealership
Allocation Pool
Allocation
Preferencing
Region: Toyota’s division of markets based on different geographic areas and population density.
Dealership: The physical location where you purchase the car from.
Easy so far right? Not so fast.
Allocation Pool: The allocation pool is the region’s incoming inventory. Toyota decides allocation pool size based on the whole region’s sales performance and market needs. A majority, if not all, of this allocation pool are cars that have already been built at the factory and are now entering transit. We don’t need to go in to how the factory decides which region the cars go to before they’re built. Just know completed and built cars from factory get assigned to region, not specific dealers.
Allocation: The allocation is when the region select cars from the allocation pool and distributes/assigns them to their respective dealerships.
The ugly thing about the allocation system: Ready? This one is for the ones who are number 1 on their dealer’s list.
Because of the region’s control on the allocation pool, the dealership technically has no control on what color, trim, and options they’re getting…This means even if you’re first in line for a car you told them you wanted…for example, White Core with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package, your dealership MIGHT get that or they MIGHT not.
This is where the lack of clarity comes in. You tell them 5 months early you want White Core, PP, and CWP, then they call you and say they got the Red Core PP and CWP. Or worse,
they say they got a White Core with no options.
Preferencing
So what can you do about it? You can work with a dealership you can trust and willing to work with you. Why? Because in the system, the dealerships do have a way to get a specific configuration.
It’s called preferencing.
The dealership can “preference” their allocations (before it happens). Basically the dealership can tell their region “hey we want a White Core Model with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package in our next allocation”
^^^This privilege to the dealership is the reason why some dealerships will tell you that you can “order” a car. And they will usually give you a wide timeframe, like 4-6 months. It does not take 4-6 months to build a car so what’s the deal?
The deal is that the dealership HOPES to get it in that timeframe. Why do they have to hope? Because sometimes, Toyota does not accept or cannot fulfill the allocation preference. The reason why? There wasn’t enough of that configuration in the allocation pool.
However, fear not…the allocation preference isn’t deleted or erased! Once next allocation comes, Toyota Region will still see it and try again to fulfill it if there’s availability in the allocation pool. This is again why the dealership would give you a timeframe—to be able to account for this situation.
Applying what we know…
So for example, let’s say you want the White Core with Performance Package and Cold Weather Package. Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes:
(Going to make up numbers and names here)
San Francisco Region
50 dealerships
Allocation Pool Size: 1000 cars
100 GR Corollas
Out of the 100 GR Corollas, only 10 of them are White with Performance Package AND Cold Weather Package.
(Again making this up) Let’s say there’s 50 dealerships in the San Francisco Region. If there are 10 White+PP+CWP the Region will send it to 10 dealerships or possibly 1 dealer would get 2.
Let’s say you’re first in line at ABC Toyota. If you were in this make-believe region, your dealership has a very low chance of getting this car during this allocation unless they preferenced it.
Let’s say they DID preference it and didn’t get it. This is probably because another dealership preferenced it first.
So Region recognizes that and says, sorry ABC Toyota…we’ll see if a white core with pp and CWP is in the pool next time and we will prioritize your preference if it is.
And a few weeks later, ABC Toyota calls you and says they finally have a White Core, PP, CWP coming in for you!
Think about this process and think about the long waiting lists especially at stores promising MSRP.
Technically every store is getting 1 Circuit Edition and 4 Core editions—for the year! Think of all the possible combinations a dealership can AND can’t get. And if you want the Circuit Edition in a specific color from your dealer? Ouch.
And this is why this is why this launch of this car will be ugly.
Unless Toyota distributes the GR Corolla in a completely different way, like a build-to-order process (just like what Subaru uses), be prepared to be frustrated.
Or let’s just all write emails to Toyota Corporate to distribute the GR Corolla via build-to-order process?