2024 Toyota LandCruiser hit by huge price hikes in the US

Dealers in the US are slapping enormous mark-ups onto the price of the new 2024 Toyota LandCruiser Prado, with some examples of the highly sought after SUV rising to nearly AUD $160,000.

The 2024 LandCruiser Prado has only recently gone in sale in the US and dealers are clearly looking to cash-in on high demand with some adding up to USD $21,000 (AUD $32,000) in “dealer adjustments” to the new SUV’s MSRP.

The price hikes are most prevalent among dealers in California, where several have added circa-$20,000 in dealer adjustments.

4

Carscoops [↗] is reporting Future Toyota of Yubu City, for example, has listed a pair of LandCruiser Prado First Editions for US $96,690 despite the SUV carrying an MSRP of $76,695.

Price gouging is a fairly common practice in America and we’ve seen similar ‘price adjustments’ here in Australia when demand far exceeds supply.

As Australia's biggest car brand, Toyota is especially susceptible to price gouging due to high demand and long wait times on popular models that can extend as far as three years.

4

Happily, as well as improving supply, Toyota has recently taken action to help prevent dealer gouging here.

Last year, the brand changed the rules around how demonstrators are classified by its dealer network to help prevent brand-new vehicles being reclassified as ‘demos’.

New vehicles are bound by rules that prevent dealers from charging higher than a brand’s set national drive-away pricing, but demonstrators aren’t bound by the same guidelines. Instead, dealers can offer demos with low kilometres at inflated prices to customers willing to pay more if its means jumping ahead of the queue.

4

The fifth-generation Toyota Prado, which is the first all-new Prado in 14 years, will go on sale in Australia in ‘mid-2024’.

Toyota is yet to release pricing for the new line-up that will boast 48-volt mild-hybrid tech, retro styling and higher standard equipment levels, although price rises over the current Prado are almost guaranteed.