I took my 70 Series wagon in for the annual service today (Tokyo) in advance of the annual Japanese govt. inspection that this vehicle requires. My 70 is a '1' license plate vehicle (truck category) and requires an annual inspection. Most passenger cars are inspected only once in 2 years.
Spoke with my Tokyo Toyota Mobility salesperson and got some insights.
Spoke with my Tokyo Toyota Mobility salesperson and got some insights.
- 70 Series, 300 Series are not able to be ordered; basically the allocation for these vehicles in Japan is very limited. There's one time in the year where orders open up, and there's way more demand than supply, and once the annual allocation is hit, orders close. My salesperson doesn't know for sure but we discussed it and think that Toyota makes more profit from selling the 70 and 300 in other markets (Australia, Middle East, etc.) and thus the Japan market allocation is limited due to that.
All of the Japanese car companies are struggling (some more than others) due to increasing demand for cheap Chinese vehicles and due to that Japanese car companies have to be careful about profitability, not just market share.
- 250 is available for ordering. In Tokyo the gasoline version is available to be ordered. The diesel is currently not able to be ordered but apparently it's due to some testing, and once it passes, orders for diesel 250s will be opened up again.
- Land Cruiser FJ orders are starting; most dealers won't even get 1 per salesperson. Very limited supply. I saw an order sheet for a new LC FJ around 4.5 million JPY (around $28K USD at the exchange rate today.) These are built in Thailand and imported to Japan.
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