Inflation and the yen-exchange-rate are indeed factors, but the main one is that other auto companies have not had the intense negative publicity and the huge legal/PR/liability and defect-investigation/repair expenses that Toyota has had the last couple of years. Those expenses have really added up, and at least part of it, like it or not, is going to be passed along to the consumer.

If Toyota's insurance or Japanese government disaster-aid does not cover all the cost of cleaning up and rebuilding after the earthquake/tsunami, Toyota may (?) be saddled with some of those expenses, too, if they had plants or property in the affected regions.

 

We can all guess endlessly as to why the prices went up (even failing to notice that the increases were in the 1% to 2% range), but without seeing the detailed financials (which Toyota is not obligated to show that level of detail) they are still just wild *** guesses. But what the heck, it's the internet.

Most pricing adjustments related to mass-produced cars (being commodities in a competitive market) are decisions based on more than cost, it's not as simple as cost-plus.

 

i honestly sometimes have no idea what you are talking about... you can check historical data, no need to pull this stuff out of thin air.

it is very simple - cost of inflation every year is between 3% and 5%... yen can easily be compared as well. This means that manufacturers have to somehow offset >5% increasing costs every single year, in order to stay profitable.

Toyota has been doing pricing increases for years now, depending on yen... it can be easily checked.

And Toyota's cost of warranties, even in worst years, has been considerably lower than Big 3's. For instance, Toyota's worst warranty year was 2006, when it did 2 billion in warranties, vs 3bil for Ford and 4.5 billion for GM.

And those costs, compared to inflation and yen, are very small.

 

Agreed, but by the same token, Toyota does not want to be in the position, relative to its competition, where its own prices are going up if those other companies are not following suit....tha could cause it to lose market share. Let's see if those companies (particularly Japanese-based companies that are affected by the yen-dollar exchange rate) follow suit. If they do, then the effect of Toyota's extra expenses of the last two years, of course, will have been minimized.


That detail could not be completely shown even if they wanted to, or were obligated. Toyota's defect/investigation/liability expenses are still an ongoing matter, and are not completely over. And, yes, to try and predict their final figure, and ultimate effect on inflation would be a guessing game. I'm not going to do that. They have had an effect on price-increases, but the truth is we don't know how much of the increase was due to that, even if only 1 or 2%.

But my opinion here (and I admit it is opinion and not necessarily fact) is that 1-2% will not appreciably impact Lexus sales....what it does to Toyota is not as clear. Lower-line nameplates are often more affected by price increases than more expensive lines, although Hyundai and Kia have been 2 notable exceptions.....their sales, due to their increasingly good reputations, keep increasing, despite price increases.

 

There is little, if any, precedent in Toyota's history for what happened to them in the last couple of years. It is a unique situation, and has to be judged by its own merits.

 

I am unsure why this is surprising, the price goes up every year. Rarely does a brand lower a price of a vehicle after its debuted.

Toyota is getting killed on the exchange rate. They already told the govt they HAVE to intervene, which they did, to no avail. They do not want to produce elsewhere but they have to look at the option if the yen stays in the crapper.

Lucky for the company the vehicles are damn good so they are still seen worth the money in many cases. However they do need that price advantage in certain areas.

I mean its pretty shocking an IS F is 60k!

 

Except for Hyundai and Kia (which partly reflects on their increasing quality), inflation in the auto industry has actually been quite low for some years now. That's what makes this round of Toyota/Lexus price-inceases significant (if 1-2% could really be called significant).

 

Hyundai/Kia has protectionist policies and have a very friendly Won to thank. Their prices have raised, I mean we have 30, 40, 50k vehicles from them.

 

but Toyota does this every year....

... Ford increased their British prices 3 times in the UK in 2009 when GBP went down.

 

p.s. Ford increased their US prices 2x in 2011 already, with average around 0.9%.

 

You'll pay that much or more for most of the F's competition, too...the CTS-V, M3, C63, and RS4.