And the ‘extra’ allocation was gone in 22-minutes.
Despite criticism from some quarters regarding the ‘purity of inception,’ it seems that Toyota has absolutely no issues selling the new GR Supra. The modern ‘reinterpretation’ of the legendary Supra nameplate, with a chassis & powertrain shared with the all-new BMW Z4, appears to have fans across Australia that don’t give a flying rats arse about where it’s from or what it’s based on. They want a Toyota Supra, and they want it now.
In fact, when the first allocation of 100 GR Supras went online for the randomised ballot among pre-registered interested buyers, they were all gone in just 7-minutes. Seeing how mental demand was, Toyota Australia quickly sorted out another 50 cars to offer (of the total 300 annual allocation), and those were all gone in just 22-minutes.
Toyota Australia is employing a randomised ballot system that, in theory, should negate the possibility of price inflation among early buyers. But the company is overwhelmed with the response the GR Supra has managed to garner here in Australia, though sales & marketing VP Sean Hanley can hardly hide a grin.
“We did not expect that selling online would be an issue for us, but we were just amazed at how quickly the first 100 reservations were made.” – Sean Hanley, Vice President (Sales & Marketing), Toyota Australia
Of the 150 cars sold, some 80% were flagship GR Supra GTS models, with the remaining 20% going to the more affordable GR Supra GT. The first order in fact was a GT model, made by a buyer in Melbourne who decided that they wanted their new Toyota sports car in Monza Red.
Those who managed to successfully get their reservation in during those 22-minutes will soon be called by a Toyota Supra concierge executive, who will then ask for a $4000 deposit to lock in the order. And those who haven’t managed to get their Supra order in, the next opportunity will come on July 17th, when at noon, the order books will open for the remaining 150 allocations for this year.
You can read more about the Toyota GR Supra here.
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