The Drive: Toyota Supra Sales Plunged Nearly 50 Percent in 2023

[Axix23]

One reason sales are down is the APR to buy a car these days. The rates are insane. It’s not even practical to spend that kinda money on a weekend fun car… I was definitely WOW’ed lmao.

Sponsored

 

[concept]

One reason sales are down is the APR to buy a car these days. The rates are insane. It’s not even practical to spend that kinda money on a weekend fun car… I was definitely WOW’ed lmao.

I bought my 2024 on Nov. 9th. With a credit score of over 800, my APR was 6.08%. Yes, that is historically high but I will refinance the loan at some point.

 

[bk5]

Supra haters currently coming up with a theory..."becuz it sukks, it's not even a real Supra, no one wants it. It's slow. I can beat it with my Maxima."

This is r/cars in a nutshell. According to them, all the potential Supra buyers picked up Miatas instead.

I got an assload of down votes for pointing out that just maybe Supra sales are down because of inventory, not demand, pointing out that I had to put a bunch of legwork into getting a '23 and deal with several months of delays. I venture to guess most potential buyers went with something else because Toyota dealers are completely clueless as to if and when they will get Supras.

 

[SupraYYJ]

 

[trev_rs]

Road & Track just posted similar click bait garbage.

A poor selling car is one in which dealer lots are overfull with heavily discounted and unsold units. If there are none on the lot, and there's a waitlist, it's in demand.

Journalism is dead.

 

[Syeeee]

This is r/cars in a nutshell. According to them, all the potential Supra buyers picked up Miatas instead.

I got an assload of down votes for pointing out that just maybe Supra sales are down because of inventory, not demand, pointing out that I had to put a bunch of legwork into getting a '23 and deal with several months of delays. I venture to guess most potential buyers went with something else because Toyota dealers are completely clueless as to if and when they will get Supras.

Fortunately the top comment gets it on that post on R.

 

[BMWAF]

That could only happen if they were made in Japan. Without the American market there would be no point in keeping the production contract going in Austria. They are paying someone else to build them, there is very specific ratios required to justify or it’ll just stop. No way they would keep a line tooled for Supras just to make a few and the costs to shift lines should not be underestimated, that is why Toyota and Honda and the like make their cars in batches

Time out greenbay! The North American market isn't necessarily as important as you think. You guys literally just got the Type R a few years ago while the rest of the world has been enjoying them since forever!

And for reasons above our pay grades, Toyota has decided to begin sunsetting the Supra early by manufacturing fewer vehicles. It is therefore inevitable that sales will continue to drop as the end of the line approaches in 2025/26.

Nothing to see here, really.

 

[KahnBB6]

Not a very well written article when the reality of how unavailable any new Supra MKV is at dealer is completely ignored by the author.

As has been pointed out above it's mainly a manufacturing volume and supply problem, not a buyer demand problem.

...Although it certainly would help matters if customers were allowed to order the exact specs they want from the factory and if all dealers sold these cars at MSRP. But even if those things happened Toyota and Magna Steyr would still have to actually produce enough of the cars in various specs to meet the real world U.S. demand.

I'd love to see how the sales numbers are in other countries where you can place an order for one of these direct to Toyota.

 

[jtsang25]

Not a very well written article when the reality of how unavailable any new Supra MKV is at dealer is completely ignored by the author.

As has been pointed out above it's mainly a manufacturing volume and supply problem, not a buyer demand problem.

...Although it certainly would help matters if customers were allowed to order the exact specs they want from the factory and if all dealers sold these cars at MSRP. But even if those things happened Toyota and Magna Steyr would still have to actually produce enough of the cars in various specs to meet the real world U.S. demand.

I'd love to see how the sales numbers are in other countries where you can place an order for one of these direct to Toyota.

I dont think any country has direct order.

 

[zrk]

Time out greenbay! The North American market isn't necessarily as important as you think. You guys literally just got the Type R a few years ago while the rest of the world has been enjoying them since forever!

And for reasons above our pay grades, Toyota has decided to begin sunsetting the Supra early by manufacturing fewer vehicles. It is therefore inevitable that sales will continue to drop as the end of the line approaches in 2025/26.

Nothing to see here, really.

I 1000% agree with this.

There's a lot of armchair economists and CFOs in here. I've said this a million times, and I'll say it again, but the shareholders don't give a shit about anything like demand for a moderately priced sports car.

 

[Avarela99]

I think another factor that plays into this besides low production is the 2.0 Supra’s being undesirable. Although they are more affordable then the big brother 3.0 those cars are the ones that actually sit at dealers given that the vast majority of buyers want the 3.0.

Not trying to dump on the 2.0 but that’s reality it’s not a desirable car.

 

[BMWAF]

I think another factor that plays into this besides low production is the 2.0 Supra’s being undesirable. Although they are more affordable then the big brother 3.0 those cars are the ones that actually sit at dealers given that the vast majority of buyers want the 3.0.

Not trying to dump on the 2.0 but that’s reality it’s not a desirable car.

The bean counters at Toyota worked out that there was a market for the 2.0 Supra in North America, so it exists. Amongst "enthusiasts" - whatever the fuck that means - the 2.0 gets a lot of hate, so desirability for my mind is largely in the eye of the beholder.

I am glad we don't get the 2.0 in Australia because <insert personal views that don't matter one bit.> Of course, the reason why it's not available here isn't because of my personal views, it's because the bean counters at Toyota decided it wasn't financially viable. Maybe it would water down the 86/GR Yaris/GR Corolla sales; maybe it doesn't meet some obscure regulations; maybe they calculated that Australian's just don't want 4 cylinder sports cars.. who knows?

As for the actual reason for the reduction in Supra production (and sales) numbers, my guesses - and they are just guesses - are as follows:

1. The factory producing Supras has more Z4 orders and production capacity is shared.
2. Toyota is simply sunsetting the car in preparation of its 2025/26 exit.
3. Toyota is making way for the next car they want to market to the Supra's demographic.
4. Sales in markets other than North America are being given precedence.

As @zrk so aptly put, (Toyota) and the shareholders couldn't care less about fanboy enthusiasts' feelings about their cars. I'll go further to say that anybody that does think Toyota (or any other corporation cares) really needs to have their head examined.

Toyota is a business and they exist to increase profits and the share price. Nothing more; nothing less.

 

[Emspilot]

As @zrk so aptly put, (Toyota) and the shareholders couldn't care less about fanboy enthusiasts' feelings about their cars. I'll go further to say that anybody that does think Toyota (or any other corporation cares) really needs to have their head examined.

Toyota is a business and they exist to increase profits and the share price. Nothing more; nothing less.

^^ This

 

[Tacoma714]

Funny how this article make it seem like Supras are just seating on dealerships (30+ days) and you can easily walk in to any dealership and drive off with one.

Anyway, I enjoy this car a lot. So if it sells or not, it doesn’t affect me

Exactly. "For the same price you can get something faster and better..." Like what the G87 M2 that is marked up to $68k-$72k for the base?

If the Supra abruptly ends its going to be because of half baked articles like this, the shitty economy and Toyota pencil pushers that misforcasted demand. And history is going to repeat it self. Sale will end in NA then Japan will have it for a couple more years then gone.

MKV will end similar to the MKIV with "lackluster" sales and Toyota axing the car until the MKVI comes out in hybrid or electric.

 

[Tacoma714]

This is r/cars in a nutshell. According to them, all the potential Supra buyers picked up Miatas instead.

I got an assload of down votes for pointing out that just maybe Supra sales are down because of inventory, not demand, pointing out that I had to put a bunch of legwork into getting a '23 and deal with several months of delays. I venture to guess most potential buyers went with something else because Toyota dealers are completely clueless as to if and when they will get Supras.

My neighbor got a 2023 Miata because he said the Supra 6MT was marked up too much. Supposedly Mazda gave him a deal slightly under msrp.

Sponsored