Toyota Australia says it’s dropping its vetting process for sales of Gazoo Racing models as supply improves.
All orders for Gazoo Racing models will be filled on a first-in, first-out basis from July production onwards, with cars allocated to customers based on the date they placed their order, no questions asked.
In previous years, overwhelming levels of demand prompted Toyota to introduce an application process for some GR models in which potential buyers were vetted and ultimately chosen by the manufacturer.
It has also previously sold GR vehicles through a lottery system, or through limited batches.
Toyota Australia’s vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations, Sean Hanley, attributes the shift in policy to improving supply of the low volume GR Supra, GR86, GR Yaris and GR Corolla.
“Having sports cars in hot demand is fantastic, although it can pose a challenge as to how you allocate the limited stock,” Mr Hanley said.
“We always strive for a customer-first approach… so I’m pleased to announce that – for all GR performance cars – we’re moving to a first-in-first-out approach.
“That means – effective July production – we’ll be prioritising the delivery of cars to customers, based on the date they place their order.
“It’s the fairest way given the normalisation of supply.”
The motorsport division of Toyota launched its lineup of GR-branded cars in 2019 with the GR Supra, right before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
In a first for Toyota Australia, the flagship sports car was introduced via an online sales process.
The first allocation of 100 cars sold out in just seven minutes, and an additional 50 cars were gone shortly thereafter.
Next came the GR Yaris, which was launched with an aggressive drive-away offer of $39,950, limited to the first 1000 cars.
Online pre-sales began at noon on the 23rd of September 2020 and the entire allocation was accounted for within one week.
Demand continued to outweigh supply throughout the pandemic due in part to the global semi-conductor shortage, although now it appears that cars across the GR range are more readily available.
