November 2021 - with Ilya Pinassi
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Since September of this year, I’ve been asked by our clients, my friends and other folks who learn I’m at Upper James Toyota, “where are all your cars?”. I thought I would use this blog as an opportunity to explain what’s going on and how we’re working through the challenge at Upper James Toyota.
Three things are affecting our Toyota new vehicle inventory: a global chip shortage, slow deliveries and the pandemic.
The global chip shortage has affected all vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers. The reach of this challenge goes beyond our industry and has affected appliance manufacturing, consumer electronics (yes cell phones), appliances and even lighting. Toyota Canada has been kind enough to share that this tight supply is, and will continue to be, better.
The back log of shipping is a multi-facetted issue which started with cut backs related to the pandemic and has been made harder to fix by increased consumer demand for goods. This backlog of is making it take longer for parts suppliers to get parts onto vehicles which means it’s taking longer to build these vehicles. There have been encouraging signs that this is getting better, but there’s still a lot of goods that need to be moved.
Finally, while we’ve been very fortunate in Canada with our uptake of vaccines against Covid-19, the global pandemic is a world-wide phenomenon and shut downs occur as municipalities and countries work hard to bring this all to heel.
So, that explains why we don’t have many Toyotas immediately available. What matters is what we are trying to do about our situation to lessen the impact on our Upper James Toyota clients. We are passing on the strong used car values associated with this tight supply to those who have vehicles to trade in. We’re encouraging our guests to pre-order their next new Toyota so they get the exact configuration and colour they want from what is available. And finally, until November 15, 2021, at Upper James Toyota you can take advantage of 2021 pricing when you pre-order a 2022 model (with the exception of the 2022 Toyota Tundra and the all new Toyota Corolla Cross). This is our attempt to protect our clients from any price inflation on the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP).
I hope that explains where we are today with our new vehicle inventory and I encourage folks to reach out to me with any questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Have a great November and don’t forget to get your winter tires and rims before they run out (yup, there’s a shortage on winter tires too).
