From an economic perspective, explain Toyota's exclusive TRD Pro grille

Hardly anyone who has the Pro grille on a non-Pro truck is trying to pose their truck as a Pro. Most Taco owners dont really give a shit about the Pro and think it's an overpriced waste of money.

Most if not all of the Pro grille installs are about that retro Landcruiser look. Most of us would rather have "TOYOTA" stamped into the tailgate like the pickups of old instead of Tacoma but since that's not a thing we go with retro grille.

 

Amen bro!

 

It's not as popular as you think it is. Enthusiasts are just a tiny fraction of total sales. It's popular here, not in real life.

 

I don’t think this is the case, at least it wasn’t with me. I think the OP’s dealer is just jerking him around.

Pro Grilles all day at the dealer in my city. No VIN required

 

This is what I found last night when I was trying to buy an OEM grill online.

 

The grill is fine, I love it as well. I just agree that Toyota throttled the sales for the actual pro owners, and the rest of my statement was to illustrate how ridiculous people were with buying them on the black market.

 

Well mine is OEM so either I’m an idiot for paying too much, OCD, or a loyal customer. Lol. I just like the look, but I would be a little sketched out trusting an eBay one. I’m sure it would be fine but I don’t want to try my luck.

 

I was in the boat of trying to decide between spending way too much on an OEM Pro grille vs. buying a cheaper after market at a fourth of the cost. My biggest fear with aftermarket was the inconsistent quality control, but ultimately, I figure for the amount of money I saved and Amazon's pretty good return policy, I went with the cheaper option.

I bought the Seven Sparta grille, and everything fit perfectly, and actually looks really sexy. With it, I was able to save $300 bucks that can go towards other mods. Personally, I think Toyota making their grille cost that much just for a piece of ABS plastic is questionable on their part, wayyy too overpriced.

 

I agree, I really don't see many non-pro tacos with pro grille around town (colorado), and there are tacomas everywhere here. It's definitely popular on the forums though. I personally just don't like how much chrome there is on the tacomas, so replacing the stock grille makes sense aesthetically.

 

When I bought OEM wheels online from the dealer, they too asked for a VIN. I skipped that part as I was buying 4Runner Pro-Sema wheels which weren’t listed as fitting a Tacoma and I didn’t want them to question my purchase (I knew they would fit from researching TW). The sale went through anyway with no VIN entered. For wheels, I definitely wanted genuine Toyota, for the Pro grille though, aftermarket and it fit great. I did have to use different screws than what were sent to attach the Tacoma logo, but it was a minor, easy fix. Sheepishly, I’ll admit that I liked the grille so much I actually bought it and had it ready to install before picking up my truck.

 

Already have 2 FJ’s I kinda got used to the TOYOTA grille.
When I got the Tacoma with the cheese-grater grille I know it had to go.. looks stupid.

Went with Ebay. Zero problems (knock on wood)

 

It’s all the same plastic regardless of the country it’s made in.

Owners will try to argue there’s better plastic, don’t believe it. All plastic is worth fuck all.

It’s really cheap and there’s a reason why a lot of auto parts are made with it, especially bumpers and grills.

If you want to find out how cheap plastic is, go buy a metal grill.

 

I haven't really seen anyone argue that the OEM Pro grille has better plastic, but I guess it's more about better quality control.

Regarding plastic vs. metal parts like bumpers and grills, unless it's built for protection, I think plastic is still better than metal. I mean, any sort of collision you get into, a metal grille will get screwed up just as much as a plastic bumper.

 

Everybody wants to have a truck that looks good,in the end the grills are all cheap plastic junk.

 

I agree. I'm sure the percentage is small, but it is enough to disrupt the supply chain that Toyota forecasted for this as a replacement collision part. They spend a lot of time analyzing and forecasting needs and clearly they didn't expect this. When the numbers jump beyond plan it has a negative impact one everything from manufacturing to logistics. The bean counters don't like deviation. The VIN requirement is their way of keeping the numbers in check. They seem unimpressed by the potential additional revenue. In the business world it is fairly common by those that are not paid by either revenue or margin.

 

Mercedes-Benz restricts the sale of AMG parts in the same fashion. I tried to buy some interior trim and got shut down.

 

So does Ford when trying to get Shelby parts.

 

Lmao!!

 

It has some to do with exclusivity. There are still dealers out there that will sell it to you though.
Fun Fact: Toyota is worth $234B. Ford is worth $46B. Toyota could buy Ford and Chevy and never miss a beat except the following year when everyone who thought that was a good decision was fired.

Selling a few Pro grilles for $400 a pop is not in their strategic sales plan.
They would have to sell 585,000 grilles to get to 1/1000th of a percent of worth.

 

But then he's laughing because he has so much money that he could wipe his ass with $12K and then light it on fire and not even feel it. He just buys what he wants when he wants and doesn't give a shit what it costs.