I agree on the sales folks, but the general managers usually seem pretty sharp. They have to consider more than just sales. There's also the finance/accounting/inventory side of things. So tell me, coming from a sales background, if you had a high-volume business moving $15-30K cars (let's assume dealer costs here) and suddenly had a $65K single item sitting on the books accruing cost every day it sat on the lot, that had to be paid for in whole to the mother company, and was now a liability, and you were not receiving anything for it, and you had to maintain the storage costs, insurance, cleaning and upkeep, etc. for the thing (i.e. inventory costs) for 150 days, and you knew most of your profit was going to be squeezed out of it anyway when it sold because nobody wants one (buyer's market), what would you honestly do? On top of that, you knew your alternative was to take that $60K and turn around three cheaper vehicles in 1/10th the time for 1/10th the processing costs (human resources costs, etc.). And you not only had cost concerns, but quota concerns as well that determined your dealership status with the mother company as well as your corporate kickbacks and final profit margins for the dealership as a whole. If you really think it's still a good idea, then I guess there's not much more I can say...
BTW, both Tustin Toyota and Elk Grove Toyota, which are both President's Award dealerships, told me they wouldn't be carrying the Cruiser except by special order. I'll reiterate (despite my passion for Cruisers) that from a purely business perspective, I don't necessarily disagree with them on that decision, or think that they're "idiots" as you put it.
I remember when the 80 Series first came out, there were waiting lists to buy. You couldn't get one if you wanted it. They sold every one they brought in
before they brought it in! Dealerships were desperate to get their hands on the trucks, because they knew they would sell them quick, and at a super high profit margin. To even hear the insinuation that dealers might not want to carry the 200 Series is somewhat disturbing to me, to say the least. I think it is truly the end of an era.