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According to Toyota's Open Road blog, Magnussen’s Toyota in Palo Alto, California was "doing what Toyota encourages its dealers to do:" Take customers' money. The Silicon Valley dealership had apparently been deluged with requests for a plug-in Prius hybrid ; knowing Toyota was working on such a vehicle, Magnussen's decided to take "deposits" for plug-in Prii, despite the fact that Toyota had not yet announced any timetable for retail sales. Irv Miller, Toyota VP of Corporate Communications, then attempted to spin away Magnussen's shady business practices as a simple case of a dealer trying to make its customers happy. Some choice quotes after the jump. A lot of people can’t wait to try [the plug-in Prius], so it’s understandable that one of our dealers created some confusion recently by taking deposits on future Prius plug-in hybrids. Magnussen’s Toyota in Palo Alto, California was doing what we’ve always encouraged our dealers to do...to listen carefully...
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There may be no better indicator that many carmakers have been unable to adjust to the sudden increase in gas prices and the resulting shift in consumer demand than hybrid sales. Although there was an obvious run to more fuel-efficient cars — witness the Civic besting the Ford F-150 in overall sales for the first time ever — hybrid sales overall were down 11% from April to May, down 24.3% month-to-month from 2007 and even the market-leading Toyota Prius experienced a 31% drop in sales for the month. How did that happen? There are a few factors at work here, which we've helpfully outlined below the jump. First off, there was an overall drop in vehicle sales in the United States — that's obviously going to affect sales of the largest fuel-suckers first, but the current economic situation affects anyone looking to buy right now, even in the hybrid marketplace. But the biggest factor isn't the issue of demand, it's supply. Toyota decided to only create about...
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