4Runner: 4th Biggest Loser of '09

[TitaniumToy]

Toyota didn't build many 2009 4Runners most likely because they couldn't make any money on them. The currency exchange rate has changed significantly over the past couple years. for example:

In 2007, if a 4Runner sold for $35,000 Toyota would get around 40,000 Yen
In 2009, if a 4Runner sold for $35,000 Toyota would get around 31,500 Yen

 

[gm350reratliff]

I still don't understand why it's not practical... maybe i'm bias because i live in the mountains where there is snow and such... but it gets okay gas mileage for an SUV, 4WD is great, it's very durable - not practical seems a bit over kill.

:iagree:

Praticallity also depends on where you live. In NM I use my truck (not my 4runner) as a truck almost everyday. Around here you need it, or you can pay someone else to haul for you but that takes all the fun out of it. Having the 4runner for over a year now I can say that this thing is the most practical thing I have bought for a while. We use it everyday and use its many capabilities almost everyday. However not everyone lives like us. Most don't. But for those like us this thing is damn near perfect.

I was even contiplating getting another runner (possibly a 5th gen) until the crappy economy finally caught up with the company I work for.

 

[J.A.]

Just posted up year end 2009 sales figures on the History Site.

19,675 4Runners, 2009 calendar year.

Considering that December sales were 4,514 and November sales were 1,689 and most of those units would have been 2010 models, 2009 was very very low as expected. But December was actualy up 13% over prior year .

 

[peter78]

From what I heard, there were very few 09's produced. I am not surprised by this, especially when you consider the way gas prices shot up in 09.

I keep records and the high gas prices were in 2008, 3 to 4 bucks and then it shot down to about $2 to $2.50 for 2009.

I do agree with a lot of members about lack of availability of 4Runners. In 2008 dealers were marking the cars down and in 2009 I rarely saw an ad in the paper for a 4Runner. If they had them, the prices were higher. Dealers just stopped carrying 4Runners. Why sell them for a loss, sell fewer for higher prices and concentrate on other vehicles, like the Highlander or RAV4.

The article says the 4Runners was a loser, but it didn't slam the car just the circumstances surrounding it. 19,675 is pretty poor for 2009.

 

[HouseCat]

I keep records and the high gas prices were in 2008, 3 to 4 bucks and then it shot down to about $2 to $2.50 for 2009.

I do agree with a lot of members about lack of availability of 4Runners. In 2008 dealers were marking the cars down and in 2009 I rarely saw an ad in the paper for a 4Runner. If they had them, the prices were higher. Dealers just stopped carrying 4Runners. Why sell them for a loss, sell fewer for higher prices and concentrate on other vehicles, like the Highlander or RAV4.

The article says the 4Runners was a loser, but it didn't slam the car just the circumstances surrounding it. 19,675 is pretty poor for 2009.

I just bought a 2008 this year and I had to do quite a bit of searching to find on. I think the sales declining are typical for the state of the economy. The roadways are littered with compacts due to people freaking out about gas prices, etc... especially around DC.

(I almost ran over a Honda Fit today.... just didn't see the little bugger its so small! :lookout: )

 

[SubSonic]

So says TrueCar, a company that analyzes sales trends. I would not have guessed that the 4Runner was Toyota's worst selling vehicle of '09.


2009?s Best & Worst Selling Cars | Autos | Smart Spending | Mainstreet

"...Toyota’s worst performing car in 2009 was the 4Runner. Sales of this model have declined 66 percent compared to last year."

Several issues in play here:

1) 2009 4Runners were 2008s with 2009 tagged onto their VINs - the Gen 5 was coming and Toyota was switching over their factory for it - which leads to 2->

2) There were fewer 2009 4Runners available for the market than any other year of the Gen 4 run.

3) The economy and climate - and the Dems taking over. Dems hate SUVs, talk them down every chance they get (bad for gas mileage and the environment*), and the media runs with it and the pleebish public at large buys into it, hook line and sinker. See, it's OK for them to travel around in their posh, fuel-hungry private jets and limos, but we shouldn't be allowed to drive a genuine SUV if we want to...do as they say, not as they do.

4) Fuel prices back on the rise. SUVs, even small ones with anemic little 4 bangers, will never yield 50 mpg and be worth a darn as an SUV. When fuel prices reach $4 per gallon again, and they will with our current administration, the 4Runner will not be the only SUV whose sales suffer.

*There may be some hope on the environmental front since ClimateGate broke and is finally exposing the gargantuan hoax that AGW really has been since day 1. They want us to see in glaring full color the decline in SUV sales but want us to ignore the decline in global temps over the past decade...so they can continue to blame SUVs for "global warming"...err "climate change" or whatever buzz word they change it to each time it's proven more and more false.