At least 1 dealer in lower mainland I called on the phone is promising msrp + doc fee, no markup… I’m gonna try to get that in writing this afternoon

You mind PMing me which dealer? Thanks!

hells ya if circuit edition

Soon to see ads on CL and Facebook pay me $5000 and get my reservation spot for Circuit Edition lol.

Called a bunch of dealers, here is the waitlist as of 2pm today

Richmond - 50 people
Surrey - 13 people
Westminster - not taking any
Regency Vancouver - 20
North Van - 15

I am one of those people at Richmond.

The process is BS to be honest........... I really, really, really hate trying to buy anything cool these days, it's like as miserable an experience as possible.

Openroad (in this case Richmond) may be taking deposits, but you show up there with your card and they're like "We have no idea of packages, models, what names it's going to be, costs, time of arrival"... I was like "Okay, but it's pretty clear there's Core... Core + performance package... Circuit.......... I'm only interested in the Circuit" and they're just like "Yah we will call people on the list later when that's sorted out and we can't give you anything with a note of what you're asking for at all.

So basically, they write your name on a list for "GR Corolla", take $500 and they staple the $500 credit card paper onto a business card. That's it. There isn't even a piece of paper given to you saying what you paid $500 for... lol

On top of it all, me and a buddy both put deposits down, and he started on the whole "What you got to trade in?" thing and he very clearly said if you had a trade-in, that your position on the list was very flexible and you'd be bumped to the top depending how valuable your trade-in was. My buddy threw out his fairly new car as a possibility and the guys said for sure he's going to be a priority customer if he trades that in... he turns to me and I'm like dude I haven't bought a new car in 20 years and my newest car is a 2004... I don't have a trade-in and his face basically said "You're fucked then" haha

Fucking brutal games being played these days.

Lol, I don’t know about Toyota, but I jokingly asked about “selling” my spot in line at Hyundai and they said you can only transfer to a family member.

hey Manic did Nanaimo let you pick Core or Circuit with your deposit?

Now that I know it's going to be available for several years and in decent numbers, buying new to ensure I get what I want is sounding like it might be more of a pain in the ass than just waiting and trying to hunt down the spec I want on the used market in a few years. Especially if they're going to be coming out with updates and more special editions, you've got to hope they don't come out with an update or version that you like more than what you have.

That was before the announcement so I did not know of the 2 models . Jim Pattison Toyota in Duncan only has one on the wait list. waiting to hear fro Comox Toyota.

Should I put down deposits at multiple dealers?

That's what me and my friend are thinking... like... lower mainland might be hooped, have to go somewhere more remote and play them off each other.

I got on the list with Duncan. They are not taking deposits yet. Car will be sold at MSRP.

First thing that came to mind is "Richmond" LOL. Then Openroad. I would try your luck at a different dealership.

I been calling around, anywhere that’s not a major city centre said they were told they’re only going to get 1 car

I just wish Toyota Canada would manage the reservations so customers don't get thrown around like chew toys by dealers.

i was convinced the tesla direct model is better, no middle man, no games

but then they jacked up their prices twice in a week lol

How the hell did Toyota’s sales model get worse than Porsche?

With the Corolla GR around the corner, I hope this is a wake up call for Honda.

The quote underscore posted said they literally copied Porsche

Terrible corporate marketing/sales ... it seems like the public knows more than the dealer salesperson about the product and sales system hasn't set up a reservation system. $500 credit card deposit stapled to a business card ... WHAT??!! I'd be concerned that the guy loses it in the drawer of his desk! Too sketch ... let someone go ahead and wait a year or two for the rage to calm down a bit.

Yah I am not down with VP of Marketing Mike Tripp's world view on things... "making 1 less than they can sell" and building a brand image about exclusivity and how unavailable/unattainable something is isn't really a message I think Toyota should be sending. Pretty pompous.

Did Subaru's image suffer having any unsold STI's sitting around? Were there even any unsold STI's sitting around at much higher production volumes? Pretty stupid to purposely not sell a model at production capacity. Subaru was selling 32,000+ STI's in North America alone during peak years and Toyota is talking about moving 8,000 GR's worldwide? Crazy.

I mean, if I am an enthusiast and I can't get my hands on something without jumping through a thousand hoops, and all I see online is spoiled Youtubers and idiots with industry connections hooning around in the car I wanted... I just get jaded and buy something used again... or 5 used things for the price of that 1 car... or even worse I go to a competitor and buy their car instead. Either way, Toyota doesn't get the business.

^ exactly...

I am probably just not "in the correct social circle". But I never ran across someone I know saying "Oh, this is too popular, I am not gonna get one because everyone have one already".

On the contrary, I always try to get everyone I know into the EVO game when I had the EVO, and now I try to get everyone into the miata now that I have a miata. I think it's pretty bause to show up in a line of the same cars... haha

...I was down to put down a deposit... I also called multiple dealers at the beggining of March, most sales don't even know what a GR Corolla is, let alone knowing if there is a wait list there for one

Good to know that this is not a limited run model and there is a multi-year production plan in mind.. The only flip side into getting into the corolla earlier is
A) I think I am at a peak of what my miata could be worth on the market
B) I can finally drive to Vancouver on occasion, not that I go there often at all, but enough times where I always go home to swap to the prius gets annoying...

The thing is the enthusiast community is such a small portion of their demographic that they figured that their regular selling model for their PHEV will work just fine - and sure it will piss some people off, but the majority of people are still down for it.

They're doing the same thing for their trucks which have an even bigger enthusiast following, so it shows that they aren't going to be changing a thing about how they sell.

They may also be trying to put a marketing spin on supply chain issues, that sounds a lot fancier than "we can't get parts." Heck it might be the same deal with the hand-built part, I know some industrial automation equipment that used to be either in stock or a couple weeks out now has a 9+ month lead time. If they're going to be releasing it worldwide then I'm more keen to get an early one in the hopes that North America gets more of those.

When I put my name down on Tuesday it was basically the same as you guys, nobody had a clue what I was actually talking about. The sales guy pulled up pictures of the GR Yaris asking if that was what I was trying to buy lol. I know they wanted to stay tight lipped but maybe at least tell them *something* is coming when you're going to tease it for months.