Local Toyota dealer has a new camaro?

I was driving home today, and I passed by the local toy-yoda dealership. Out in front they had a brand new Inferno orange camaro. It had the hood and trunk open, and it had balloons on it. It looked pretty clear to me that the Toy-yoda's were trying to sell it.

How?
Why?

The only thing I can guess is that toy-yoda bought it from chevy for MSRP, and now they are selling for a huge markup. This is a small town area, and new camaro's are hard to come by at the chevy dealers. Furthermore, toyota just built the biggest, brightest, gawdiest, most expensive dealership I have ever seen in a really sleepy NC town. It was finished right as the recession hit in full force. They are probably trying to do anything to keep thier dealership afloat since they aren't really selling cars anymore.

I can't imagine that someone has already traded in a camaro for a toyota. It's too early for that.

Blasphemy.

pics or it didnt happen.

A lot of non GM dealers are getting them to increase the traffic to their lots.

http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/showthread.php?t=696288

What does it tell you when a Toyota Dealership needs to buy a Chevy to catch people's eyes and get some traffic? It tells me GM is doing something very right. I think it makes Toyota look pretty bad and demonstrates just how bland their lineup is.

At the same time, I think the Chevy dealers that are selling cars for this purpose are doing themselves and GM as a whole a huge disservice in the long run. The Chevy dealers need to take advantage of the increased foot traffic this car brings and convert them into sales both now and in the future. Don't let the Toyota dealer down the street convert the guy interested in a closer look at a Camaro (with no intent to buy it) into a customer that gets a Camry as his next daily driver! The Chevy dealer needs to take this opportunity to give the interested person a good impression so they come back for a Malibu when they're shopping for a new car!

pics or it didnt happen.

I took a cell phone pic and emailed it to myself, but it's in HTML format and it won't upload anywhere.

http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/showthread.php?t=696288

Yeah, thats probably what happened.

What does it tell you when a Toyota Dealership needs to buy a Chevy to catch people's eyes and get some traffic? It tells me GM is doing something very right. I think it makes Toyota look pretty bad and demonstrates just how bland their lineup is.

At the same time, I think the Chevy dealers that are selling cars for this purpose are doing themselves and GM as a whole a huge disservice in the long run. The Chevy dealers need to take advantage of the increased foot traffic this car brings and convert them into sales both now and in the future. Don't let the Toyota dealer down the street convert the guy interested in a closer look at a Camaro (with no intent to buy it) into a customer that gets a Camry as his next daily driver! The Chevy dealer needs to take this opportunity to give the interested person a good impression so they come back for a Malibu when they're shopping for a new car!

THis local Tojota dealer would definatley do that. THey built a massive multi million dollar dealership that opened last december right when the car market crashed. The dealer is WAY too big for this sleepy town. They would probably stoop really low just to sell a car. Supposedly, the mortgage on the new complex is north of $70,000/month, and they really don't have many customers on the lot.

Well..... I just called them. The curiosity was killing me.

Supposedly, it's a "brand new" car. I don't know how, but thats what the guy said.

inferno orange 2SS/RS automatic for........... $43,990!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He asked me if I was interested, and I politely replied that I was "not interested for that price".

I wouldn't buy a camaro from a toyota dealer even if it were $20 and came with a free case of beer, but that proves that these guys are jackals.

I wouldn't buy a camaro from a toyota dealer even if it were $20 and came with a free case of beer, but that proves that these guys are jackals.i would and i don't even drink beer.

Isn't there something that can be done about this? I mean, legally, don't you need to be a GM franchisee to sell a "new" GM vehicle? :think:

For crying out loud, you couldn't even bring the car back to the dealership you bought it from for service. :rolleyes:

Isn't there something that can be done about this? I mean, legally, don't you need to be a GM franchisee to sell a "new" GM vehicle? :think:

For crying out loud, you couldn't even bring the car back to the dealership you bought it from for service. :rolleyes:

Does the owner of the Toyota dealer also own a Chevrolet dealership? I know the guy I work for has 2 Chevrolet dealers and we're constantly moving cars back and forth between them.

Isn't there something that can be done about this? I mean, legally, don't you need to be a GM franchisee to sell a "new" GM vehicle? :think:

For crying out loud, you couldn't even bring the car back to the dealership you bought it from for service. :rolleyes:

Meh.... Fools and thier money. The car is SURELY under a used title once they sell it. Assuming the warranty will transfer, which I'm sure it will, you could still take it to any chevy dealer for service.

You would simply have a used 2010 camaro with about 100 miles on it(I've seen it driving around town too). You Would have also paid approx. TEN THOUSAND dollars more for the car than you would have had you bought one new at MSRP.

If some mid life crisis dude wants to swing that, let him.

This toyota dealer had a black 09 challenger sitting in front of thier lot all winter, and it never moved. They are probably hoping for more foot traffic above all else. I'm sure they need it, since they are surrounded by corn fields, forrests, and a mini storage. It's not in a popular part of town.

Does the owner of the Toyota dealer also own a Chevrolet dealership? I know the guy I work for has 2 Chevrolet dealers and we're constantly moving cars back and forth between them.

That could be possible, but I doubt it. The local chevy dealer is Joe Alcoke chevrolet, so I would assume that if Joe Alcoke owned a toyo dealer, it would be called "Joe Alcoke Toyota"

Ya never know.

If he does own the toyo dealer, he obviously put all his money into it. The chevy dealer is little and quaint, and the toyo dealer is crazy futuristic and big.

The car is SURELY under a used title once they sell it.

Selling it as a used car is the ONLY way I could see them getting away with it. The salesman on the phone misrepresented the car (technically) by calling it "brand new" though.

I still think GM could pursue it - not that they would have the resources to do so right now. :lol: Heck, the truly stupid might think it's the all-new Toyota Camaro.

We've had some non-GM brand car companies buy them from us, stick them on their lot and raise the price. I don't think they can still sell it as new though. Not sure.

I think JasonE has seen a couple of brand new, never titled Camaros go thru the auction recently.
As long as they aren't titled, then they are brand new cars.

The dealers are shooting themselves in the foot. Like Jeremy said above; a guy comes into the yoda dealership looking at the Camaro and then he purchases a Camry for his next DD. If the Chevy dealer kept the car, that guy maybe would have bought a Malibu instead.

I don't think GM can do a thing about it, either. Once the dealer purchases the car from GM, they're free to do whatever they want with it. JasonE could clarify more.

My wife just got home and I told her the story. She is more brazen than I am. Tommorrow she is gonna go to the tojo dealer, and test drive the wheels off of the car. Then she is gonna get thier faces and find out the real story behind the car.

Would it be possible or in this case even plausible that the Toy dealer is in a group of dealers owned by a corp./owner that also has a Chevy franchise. This way the dealer group takes ownership of the car to sell but just decides to put it in front of the Toy dealer because as you said they need some sales/foot traffic. Just a thought.

I could see a GM Dealer rep not looking kindly at this if indeed the car is new and non-titled rather than used.

That could be possible, but I doubt it. The local chevy dealer is Joe Alcoke chevrolet, so I would assume that if Joe Alcoke owned a toyo dealer, it would be called "Joe Alcoke Toyota"

Ya never know.

If he does own the toyo dealer, he obviously put all his money into it. The chevy dealer is little and quaint, and the toyo dealer is crazy futuristic and big.

Joe Alcoke doesn't own the Toyota store. Just a FYI. I saw the Challenger too when it first came out and was :think:

Joe Alcoke doesn't own the Toyota store. Just a FYI. I saw the Challenger too when it first came out and was :think:

Can you think of any loophole that would allow new Bern Toyota to somehow get a new, untitled Camaro? I can't, but I don't know the industry that well.

I really don't see this as a big deal. If anything it is flattering to the car we all love. With car sales down by nearly 40% at Toyota they like all other dealers have to find a way to get some attention. This is the cheapest advertising they could do. Lets say they get a Camaro at MSRP and let it sit on their lot for weeks gathering attention and generating foot traffic to the lot. At the end of these weeks or months they will sell the car for at least MSRP and would have gained a lot of attention for essentially nothing other that the hassle of picking up the car and perhaps paying interest for the line of credit they maintain. To get 20,40,60 people per day to drop by a lot costs thousands of dollars perhaps tens of thousands in this economy. To me this is really smart business.

We have a bunch of small dealers in Scottsdale that specialize in used European cars some of them will have on Ferrari or Lamborgini on the lot that is there more to get attention then to sell. This to me is no different.

I am just waiting for a Ford dealership to do this to try and get folks to look at the Mustang.

I really don't see this as a big deal. If anything it is flattering to the car we all love. With car sales down by nearly 40% at Toyota they like all other dealers have to find a way to get some attention. This is the cheapest advertising they could do. Lets say they get a Camaro at MSRP and let it sit on their lot for weeks gathering attention and generating foot traffic to the lot. At the end of these weeks or months they will sell the car for at least MSRP and would have gained a lot of attention for essentially nothing other that the hassle of picking up the car and perhaps paying interest for the line of credit they maintain. To get 20,40,60 people per day to drop by a lot costs thousands of dollars perhaps tens of thousands in this economy. To me this is really smart business.

We have a bunch of small dealers in Scottsdale that specialize in used European cars some of them will have on Ferrari or Lamborgini on the lot that is there more to get attention then to sell. This to me is no different.

I am just waiting for a Ford dealership to do this to try and get folks to look at the Mustang.

agreed.

I didn't think it was the end of the world that this was going on. I just saw the camaro on the toyo lot and I was like :think:.

It might be a slightly dastardly advertisement, but it's working. Hell, it's working for chevy too.

Some non GM dealers are getting Camaros from dealerships that have closed. A independent dealer near me has Camaros(new and old), challengers(yes more than one), mustangs(new and old). I asked him about the cars and he told me he gets them straight from the factories.

Can you think of any loophole that would allow new Bern Toyota to somehow get a new, untitled Camaro? I can't, but I don't know the industry that well.

I asked my GM about this. Technically you aren't supposed to sell a new car from another dealership. It would be breaking a service contract agreement. Most of the cars like you see at different dealers are simply cars bought by that dealership and sold as used, although they are going to tell you it's new. The clock is ticking on the warranty on these vehicles so be careful.

What did Chevy do when they bought Hondas and Toyotas to put in the show room to compare with the Malibu when it came out? Did they sell those cars as new/used/auction?