Is there an online tracking tool for inbound cars?

[avusblue]

Hi guys, I got some good news yesterday afternoon. My dealer called. He told me that per the Toyota Production System, my car (a silver manual) is being built….drum roll….on Wednesday, April 25th. It is officially allocated to my dealer, with my name on it. The dealer expects that, considering the time it takes to get to and through the port in Japan, and across the ocean, through the port in the U.S. and then halfway across the U.S to Minnesota -- my car should arrive for delivery in early-to-mid-June. Yay!

So my question: is there an online tool that lets a consumer track the status & movement of their car? When I special ordered an '07 Chevy Suburban in the fall of 2006, General Motors had a tracking tool that was quite good. I would hope that six years later, Toyota would have something similar -- but I cannot find it.

Thanks,

Dave

[avusblue]

Update: I answered my own question. I asked my salesman about customers’ ability to do online order tracking for inbound cars. He said that Toyota used to have this, but the tsunami disaster last year disrupted their supply chain so greatly that they shut it off, and have not turned it back on since. Dealers can access the system but consumers cannot.

So there's the scoop.

Dave