Shouldn't Toyota Make More Upper Trims of Tacoma?

I just visited a local dealership to pick up some parts.
They have exactly 7 Tacomas on the lot. 2 Are TRD Sport, the rest are SR or SR5.

Obviously people are just devouring the TRD Pro, TRD Off-road, and Limited trims
I'm sure Toyota hires very talented product planning team members. Any reason why they don't make more of those higher trims?

 

Covid ....

 

Yeah it’s depends on what people are buying. And I’m sure they adjust their numbers to account for customer preference and demand.

 

Here in northwest Indiana 3 dealerships I have been to in the last two weeks have had 1 Tacoma each and no Tundras. Its crazy. Hardy any new cars for sale. I expect used cars to sell out or be crazy priced if they can't make new ones soon.

 

Yes, this is a great time to sell your truck too. It's madness right now for used prices. I just paid off the truck so I can get the title and sell it quick and easy. Got my sr5 4x4 4 door new for 33k, added all the cool kid bull shit (Icon, CBI bumpers, tires, sliders) plus brand new paint job from Toyota corp due to "factory defect". I'm thinking it will go for 33-37k used based off all the listings I'm seeing. I mean I guess it's an ok truck so far but woah dude people are bananas for these Tacoma's. Some dudes are selling their 1st gens for like 12k+. Sell sell sell sell sell !!!

 

My dealership got 5 200 series land cruiser, and sold 2 of them in a week. People want the yotas man

 

Local dealer has 'em by the boat load - but they don't last long... and they get TIP-TOP-DOLLAR for them as well.

https://www.autonationtoyotatempe.com/new-inventory/index.htm?search=&saveFacetState=true&model=Tacoma&lastFacetInteracted=inventory-listing1-facet-anchor-model-19&_custom=ATNTracking={"WTK":[{"key":"WTK","value":""},{"key":"AID","value":"."}]}

Lowest priced SR5 V6 W4D is $37,000

 

So are we young, or do we have amnesia, or did we just emerge from our rock about what's been happening for the last 14 months?

 

My local dealer has like 3 Tundras and 5 Taco's on their lot. They have so much blacktop showing they moved the Supras out by the road lol.

 

Chip shortage has impacted production across several manufacturers, I believe Toyota is one of them...

 

TRD Pros now running with RTX 3090s

 

right, I get that. But shouldn't Toyota conserve their limited chips/resources and build the much demanded upper trims instead of tons of SRs?

 

Was at the dealership yesterday had 4 Tacoma’s 1 sport 3 Sr 5, had about a bit over half of their lot was empty. On the plus side they had 3 real sweet Supra’s on the showroom floor.

 

I own a TRD Pro and a 3080. Bask in my wealth.

 

From what l was reading Toyota has a small surplus of chips, but maybe they are having trouble sourcing rear lockers or some other Off Road and Pro only items.

 

Lexus Tacomas when?

 

You know the market better than Toyota? Personally I'm buying an SR5 as I don't want to pay an extra $10-15k for upgrades I did't choose myself. I'm sure the majority of people are in my same shoes, just might not be what you see on the hardcore TW forums.

Just because theres no TRD Pros on the lots, doesn't mean they haven't sold 3-5x the amounts of lower trim levels (SRs/SR5s). In addition, their profit margins between lower trims and the PRO might be closer than you think.

 

I don't believe you can make accurate assumptions based on just one Toyota dealership inventory. Particularly one that just has 7 Tacomas in inventory.
McGeorge Toyota (my local dealer) only has (4) TRD Sports but (9) TRD ORs currently in inventory.

 

You mean more TRD OR/PROs or come up with higher trim tacoma?

As far as I see it's not a production issue rather than a dealer inventory issue. Periodically I see dealers with only low trim stuff then a few weeks/months later all they have all high trim. Right now the local Toyota dealer only has TRD Sports at $38k each. All the same color and same options. Few months ago it was just SR5s. I think there is a major distribution issue with Tacomas not related to corona because its been like this for a while.

 

I think it depends on the demographics where these dealers are located for what they prefer to stock. When i visited a couple dealers they had little call to stock a lot of upper end models. Seemed the sr to the trd's were their main bread, and butter.