Toyota Supra sells out in 22 minutes
Australian wait list could stretch for years as GR Supra sports car demand outstrips supplyThe first allocation of 100 Toyota Supra sports cars have sold in just seven minutes during a randomised online ballot.
It's understood that as many as 5000 buyers are vying for the 300 vehicles that will be sold in the first 12 months on sale, creating a wait list that could span years, depending on future allocation.
"We did not expect that selling online would be an issue for us but were just amazed at how quickly the first one hundred reservations were made," said Toyota Australia VP of sales and marketing, Sean Hanley.
Toyota Australia is desperately trying to allocate more Supra stock to alleviate the intense demand for the car.
In a bid to avoid gouging and scalping, the Japanese brand set up an online reservation system and after the initial batch of 100 vehicles was snapped up in less than 10 minutes, the company added another 50 vehicles, which were accounted for in 22 minutes.
Toyota wants to avoid the situation faced by the HSV GTS W1, where opportunistic buyers on-sold vehicles at incredibly inflated prices, cutting many genuine buyers out of the market.
"We're always monitoring what the market conditions are like. We will try and secure more volume. At this stage the first 12 months looks to be pretty locked in," a Toyota spokesperson told carsales.com.au.
Deliveries of the 250kW six-cylinder rear-drive coupe will begin in September 2019 and according to Toyota Australia, around 80 per cent of pre-orders opted for the more expensive Supra GTS, a $94,900 proposition.
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The rest have opted for the Supra GT at $84,900, including the first order, which was placed by a Melbourne buyer who chose Monza Red exterior paint.
Popular colours included Goodwood Grey, Monza Red and Fuji White, while the limited edition Nurburg Matte Grey colour is sold out for the entire year.
A Toyota Australia spokesperson told carsales.com.au that the company has a list of all interested parties who have registered with the company that they want to purchase one, each of whom were in the randomised ballot to secure a car.
"That figure is in thousands; it's a moving target," said the spokesperson.
Successful customers will be called by a Toyota Supra concierge service within a few weeks to confirm their order, which requires a $4000 deposit.
Operating not unlike music festival ticket sales, the next Supra ordering 'window' will open on July 17th at 12 noon (AEST), with the remaining 150 cars expected to be offered.
"The next window is on July 17 and we're still determining numbers for that window. We're still working through reservations now," said the Toyota spokesperson who cautioned that until a deposit was accepted, the successful orders were reservations only.
"Not everyone can get their first choice of vehicle. Some people will want to wait."
If customers cannot get their desired model grade or colour, they can forgo their reservation, which may open up availability for the July ballot.
According to Toyota, the reservations were made via 63 different dealers across Australia, and not just metro showrooms but rural dealerships too.
The Toyota GR Supra is powered by a 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder turbo-petrol engine (250kW/500Nm) built by BMW but tuned by Toyota. With a little help from launch control the GR Supra can accelerate to 100km/h from rest in a claimed 4.4sec.
The car shares its platform architecture and some interior switchgear with the BMW Z4.
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