Essentially a replay of April sales results, except it happened in half the regions in the US as FJ sales increased at a greater rate than 4R sales. Also, 4R had customer and dealer cash back, while FJ had nada. This was forecast. Eventually prices will fall, and already have in a very few places, but not in the big truck/SUV regions like Portland.

 

Well, hopefully one more got built at the end of May with my name on it, and it had better be on the next boat here.

 

pretty obvious that this would occur... i mean a new and exciting model sold more than a 3 yr old model?? no way!

thats like saying "hey the taco outsold the tundra when it was launched in 05"

 

New Taco, with good availability, missed forecast and was outsold by Tundra for months until the fuel price shock occurred and incentives were applied.

Inventories at beginning of May:

-- 4Runner: 21,000

-- FJ: 2,100

Replenished during the month with new arrivals of course. IIRC, naysayers on every Toyota board said FJ didn't stand a chance against 4R because it was too (fill in the blanks).

I expected an initial surge, but to see more than an initial monthly sellout followed by increasing sales velocity might have Toyota ready to increase Hino-Hamura production if they aren't maxed out.

 

bad example, but you get what i mean

im glad the fj is doing well... it turns my head every time i see one

 

Not sure where you get the FJC outsold the 4R.

Apr
4R 9406
FJC 5649

May
4R 8888
FJC 6670

The FJC will have good demand from its new introduction. However it is less of a general purpose vehicle for the SUV market which will limit its potential once the new hoopla wears off. Besides the production capacity was not set up to be that high, that might change however I think Toyota knows what they are doing. No need to spend the money the money on huge production capacity for a vehicle more focussed at a niche market. I doubt they will change their plans on only the first 3 months of sales of a new model. Time will tell.

 

The linked in the first post tells where.

 

That link still doesn't tell me where the data comes from, just tell me where you got the data since I seemingly keep missing the actual data source.


And maye change the thread title to FJC outsells the 4R in Portland area, since it seems misleading. It would be good news if it actually did, as that would send Toyota a clear message that offroad orientated vehicles are in high demand.

 

Sounded like you wondered where, geographically, FJ outsold 4R. Source: Toyota Sales And Stock Summary Report, 5/31/06.


FJ did, in half the regions of the US as described in the first post. I guess I could change the title to "FJ outsells 4Runner in May in Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Hawaii regions", but it's unnecessary after reading the post and embedded link.

Except that it isn't true...yet. We can hope. Sales of 4Runner and Land Cruiser are "problematic" and require incentives. The only off-road Toyota selling to plan is FJ. It's the other SUV's that are flying off the lots: RAV, Highlander and Sequoia, sourced from above report.

 

Yeah lets see how it pans out. I woudl wait at least a year so the new model effect drops before making any serious claims. Where I live, SF BAy Area, there has not been any real incentives on any of the SUVs, maybe a slight interest rate drop, but nothing really.

The RAV4 and FJC are the only Toyota SUVs that are doing well in sales this year. Both new models so I think it figures. The Highlander actually lost more ground in May/YTD (lost 12% and 11% respectively) than the 4R (4R actually grew sales YTD 5.6% and flat for May), The Seq has dropped substantially and so has the LC/LX (both 35%+). The GX also got hit hard this year. SO I think it is just an SUV trend with high gas prices as all, but the models lost ground.

I think the 4R is selling OK, grew YTD and flat for May. Probably not as well as Toyota planned, but not too bad considering how the other models are doing. It is down form the high of 10-11K sales a month when it was still a new model, but it is in the 4th model year so over the halfway point for such a model.

SOmewhere Toyota has to add up, as they were saying 40-50k units for FJC per year to be produced. This does not add up to the sales figures they are showing.

 

Those numbers are retail + fleet. FJ sells only a handful to fleet users, not really a factor. What the trends don't show is that sales declines are forecast. A better measure, shown on the summary report, is sales as % of objective. Except for 4R, L/C and Sequoia (in some regions only) most are close to or, in RAV's case, well over objective.

That's the beauty of the Toyota system. The short development cycle time combined with industry leading design, manufacturing and distribution channels allows an entirely new series of vehicle either to be all-new or completely overhauled in response to changing market conditions.

Total FJ retail sales in the US were 6,635 last month, 122.8% of objective and 118.8% of prior month, well ahead of plan. Not bad for very little advertising. Sales momentum like that gets noticed at TMS and inspires added R&D to expand the series. Maybe wishful thinking, but I'm hoping this accelerates new FJ models in the near future.

 

[QUOTE=The FJC will have good demand from its new introduction. However it is less of a general purpose vehicle for the SUV market which will limit its potential once the new hoopla wears off. Besides the production capacity was not set up to be that high[/QUOTE]

I'm hoping they never make the same production numbers as the 4runner or other trucks, because it will keep the demand high, and with that comes better resale value.

 

I think the FJ has the same sales surge as the new beetle had when it first came out. There are a bunch of people who like the previous generations and will buy on when it's new. Once the novelty wears off we'll see how the FJ really does.
If it goes the same route as the beetle did, then you can pick them up cheap in a couple of years. The beetle is not all that practical though, it just had the novelty going for it.

 

I heard on the news that the Rav4 outsold the Exploder in April knocking it off as the reighning champ for suv sales.

 

It's still hard to get a beetle under retail, at least here in the NYC metro area.

 

This is hard for me to believe because it seams that the dealers only get one or two fjs at a time and they do sell quick but then they have no stock for a few days...where as the 4rnr they have loads of them.

I will say though that the fj has a nice calling and has much more interest. always see one or two people around one looking all over it.

I would trade my 4runner for one for sure.

 

200,000 4runners are produced each year for the US, while Toyota only plans 48,000 for the FJ. It's supply vs demand, and hopefully Toyota will keep true to producing less FJ's than 4runners.

 

Looks like it did in april,
RAV4 13,854
Explorer 13,772
but...
Escape 16,011

the explorer bounced back some for may though, selling more than either. I doubt Toyota is too worried about any of this, slow and steady wins the race seems to be their motto. Thinking back 30 years, it seems to have always been their motto.

 

Over here used ones sell priced well below the golf and jetta. I've thought about buying a commuter beetle for the wife, because for work she doesn't have to carry anything and they were cheap.
I haven't checked recently.

 

depends on which motor & tranny. A Beetle TDI 5 speed manual sells above retail new, and hard to find used. It's capable of getting 50mpg & lasting well over 300K. I think this comparison is very similar to the FJ in that its the most capable of the 4WD models Toyota sells equipped with the 6 speed manual which uses a Torsen rear diff, along with a locking rear diff & 3.91 axle. This combination compared to the auto FJ is night & day, which I think will keep the resale value on the manual FJ high.