Notice to dealers - 22 BRZ orders are closing Thursday Jan. 13th at 5:00 PM EST

[Tr4ck_day]

Just received this notification in my store via our back end dealer tool, Subarunet. Looks like they are shutting down 22 orders at the very least for a while, if not the rest of the year.

If you were waiting to place an order I would get one in sooner than later.

[Strat_FRS]

Is this because they have so many orders queued up or a shortage of parts/cars?

[jvincent]

Wow. Really glad I didn't wait until spring.

Picking my car up tomorrow!

[Tr4ck_day]

Originally Posted by Strat_FRS

Is this because they have so many orders queued up or a shortage of parts/cars?

They didn't really give an explanation, but it doesn't look like they planned on making a public announcement about it. I figured I'd pass it along to the community in case someone was holding out for an extra few hundred dollars off.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by Tr4ck_day

They didn't really give an explanation, but it doesn't look like they planned on making a public announcement about it. I figured I'd pass it along to the community in case someone was holding out for an extra few hundred dollars off.

I'm going to wait for the '23.

Unless the Z Performance trim isn't as bad as I think it will be.

[fredzy]

I wonder if this has to do with VIP program? The VIP discounts are generally only offered on ordered cars. Do away with orders, and at least get MSRP reliably. Maybe Toyota is making Subaru do things their way, where they decide what all cars they're going to build and let you pick one out if it suits you (meaning match "orders" - which are really just requests - to production.)

I was curious how Toyota and Subaru's very different "car ordering" systems work side by side, considering all cars are coming from the same plant.

[dragoontwo]

They only build 4 versions of each car. The only things to decide at the factory are color, trim and transmission. They aren't "accessorized" until they hit the port.

[fredzy]

Right, that's true for almost all cars for USDM today. Very few actual flavors. I believe Subaru's production plans are (usually) influenced by customer orders, and a car that matches your order is earmarked for you very early on in the process when you place one. With Toyota, my understanding is that their production plans are basically fixed. Getting a car that matches your request is basically random, as it depends on what the district and dealer where you place your order is allocated. BRZ/86 is built at Subaru Gunma plant, so I'd think overall it would work the Subaru way, but who knows.

I've ordered a Subaru before so I know how that goes. I joined this forum to learn how Toyota's system works (didn't get answers) and after pressing the dealer for information on the process and placing an order, I'm still pretty unsure, hah.

[Desertnate]

Hello everyone! New member here and soon-to-be owner. Should take delivery in a week or so.

I can confirm you cannot order any BRZ's as of last night (12 Jan 2022). I was at my dealership and they attempted to order a BRZ for me while I was there. I watched as the salesman attempted to order a car for me and witnessed first hand as they were denied the ability to order in any trim or color. They hadn't seen the note posted above so it took several of them by surprise. Demand exceeding production through the rest of the MY was their assumption, but it was not based on any facts.

I got REALLY lucky in finding/securing my car. Now I feel even more fortunate than before. I'll share the full story when I take delivery and post up a couple pictures.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by fredzy

I wonder if this has to do with VIP program? The VIP discounts are generally only offered on ordered cars. Do away with orders, and at least get MSRP reliably. Maybe Toyota is making Subaru do things their way, where they decide what all cars they're going to build and let you pick one out if it suits you (meaning match "orders" - which are really just requests - to production.)

I was curious how Toyota and Subaru's very different "car ordering" systems work side by side, considering all cars are coming from the same plant.

Very unlikely they will stop taking orders and risk sales just to save $500 each on a handful of cars. When you look at their volumes and not individual sales the BRZs and 86s are just a speck in the corner of the spreadsheet.

The much more probable cause is further anticipated parts shortages. The chip shortage is just the tip of the iceberg as to what may be coming. Over the last year shortages have been trickling down the supply chain to the point where even such basics as iron ore are running out. When the car companies have to assign their priorities as to where they plan to use the dwindling resources it is pretty easy to figure out what will get cut.
At this moment (in Canada at any rate) there is a 4 to 6 month wait for a base model Corolla or Crosstrek. These are two of the top sellers for Subaru and Toyota and their "bread and butter" vehicles. It doesn't take a high level automotive exec to figure out where the limited production that may occur is going to go!

[Desertnate]

Things are just as bad here in the US if what I've heard is true.

My first stop on this journey was to a local Toyota dealer who had three GR86's inbound. All AT's. He told me that he's not able to special order ANY Toyota model right now, and he best he could do would be to try and snag allocations as they rolled out of the factory. Of course he also told me Toyota was only shipping AT's to our region and I found at least two MT's inbound to other local dealers...

[fredzy]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Very unlikely they will stop taking orders and risk sales just to save $500 each on a handful of cars. When you look at their volumes and not individual sales the BRZs and 86s are just a speck in the corner of the spreadsheet.

The much more probable cause is further anticipated parts shortages. The chip shortage is just the tip of the iceberg as to what may be coming. Over the last year shortages have been trickling down the supply chain to the point where even such basics as iron ore are running out. When the car companies have to assign their priorities as to where they plan to use the dwindling resources it is pretty easy to figure out what will get cut.
At this moment (in Canada at any rate) there is a 4 to 6 month wait for a base model Corolla or Crosstrek. These are two of the top sellers for Subaru and Toyota and their "bread and butter" vehicles. It doesn't take a high level automotive exec to figure out where the limited production that may occur is going to go!

Heh, I am no stranger to the realities of the market forcing this very assembly line to break my heart. Yes, you likely hit the nail on the head. My speculation can be filed under optimism. I don't have a good feeling about getting my car any time soon.

Since the Levorg (Subaru WRX wagon) was first revealed back in 2013, it was all I ever wanted. I'm sure Subaru had countless reasons to deny us it. One of the biggest was the fact that they had so many better things to be sending through that assembly line besides a wagon that would be hard to sell.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by fredzy

Heh, I am no stranger to the realities of the market forcing this very assembly line to break my heart. Yes, you likely hit the nail on the head. My speculation can be filed under optimism. I don't have a good feeling about getting my car any time soon.

Since the Levorg (Subaru WRX wagon) was first revealed back in 2013, it was all I ever wanted. I'm sure Subaru had countless reasons to deny us it. One of the biggest was the fact that they had so many better things to be sending through that assembly line besides a wagon that would be hard to sell.

Ya is sometimes just isn't worth their while to meet North American testing and safety standards for a small sales volume car. There are loads of examples of Japan or Europe only cars out there.
I was always sort of surprised that they even brought the BRZ and FRS/86 to the North American market at all.
When you consider that up until 2019 (the last "normal" production year) the BRZ was 2% of Subaru's and the FRS/86 was .03% of Toyota's North Americian sales then it is easy to see how they could have just said "ahhh forget it" right from the start.

[fredzy]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Ya is sometimes just isn't worth their while to meet North American testing and safety standards for a small sales volume car. There are loads of examples of Japan or Europe only cars out there.
I was always sort of surprised that they even brought the BRZ and FRS/86 to the North American market at all.
When you consider that up until 2019 (the last "normal" production year) the BRZ was 2% of Subaru's and the FRS/86 was .03% of Toyota's North Americian sales then it is easy to see how they could have just said "ahhh forget it" right from the start.

My guess is that there was real value for them in the image that it helped to project of their company making interesting cars. Especially for Toyota, who by the late 2000's had probably the most hardcore/universal "boring car company" image.

They made a big deal about trying to shake that - I think they've done it. Once the GR Corolla and Manual Supra are here, I will personally consider them as the all around best enthusiast brand for non-rich folks. Still, I was surprised they did a second gen of the twins. Real glad they did.

Semi-related - It's funny that the Camry is still used as the golden standard method to sick-burn sport compact fanboys, like "oh wow nice [affordable enthusiast car] .. it must suck getting beat by moms Camry tho!" Well yeah, her Camry has a freakin' 300hp V6...