Is the price realistic?

[TEG]

So I went to cars direct and did a search for used 2006 Highlander Hybrid, and all the listings that came up where "Bluestone", "Milenium Silver" "Sonora Gold" or Black. Then I looked for 2007s and came up with "Oasis Green", "Milenium Silver", or "Bluestone".

So I think through the year they make a bunch of colors, but they do them in batches. When I came into the dealership at the end of 2006 they had just received their last shipment of 2006s and their first shipment of 2007s. All the 2006s coming in were Gold and all the 2007s coming in were green. Probably if it were a slow selling model the port would slowly amass a collection of colors and the dealer can order a mix as these chose. But when a model has a waitlist or sells off the lot immediately you get to see more how it isn't such a random/rotating mix of colors.

2006 Hybrid Highlander colors
2007 Hybrid Highlander colors
So it looks like they had only 5 colors for the hybrid in 2006, then they added green for 2007. Maybe that is why I saw nothing but green when I was shopping for a 2007 when they first came out... Perhaps all the dealers ordered that color since it was the "new color" for 2007...

If you look at the colors for the non-hybrid there were a lot more:
2007 Highlander colors

So, Toyota decided that the Hybrid Highlander doesn't get "Salsa Red Pearl" "Indigo Ink Peal", "Crystal White", etc.

I am sure they lost a few customers by not offering all the color choices for the Hybrid, but someone somewhere probably did a cost analysis to say that the line should only produce hybrids during times when the paint booth is only doing certain colors.

 

[mpt]

I'd also expect less on the basic model; here's my prediction:

• 
  Cloth Seats - Nice but cloth
  Basic paint - non-metallic
  No nav - $400 upgrade for the map licence
  Plastic not leather steering wheel
  Solid roof
  Basic wheels
  No floor mats
  Basic heating/cooling; not climate control
  No fog lamps
  Basic halogen headlights
  No luggage treatment - nets and tie-downs

But, it'll be $57k as promised; Elon did say that building a car as a BEV from the ground up was much easier than converting an Elise. The engineering is so much simpler; so much more elegant than an oily car.

I bet you'll be able to spec it up to $80k with leather, sport, nav, luxury, etc. then take it to $100k with the really big battery.

I'll be specing it to the hilt; I spend most of my time driving inside the car.

MPT

 

[TEG]

Yeah, that would be about what I would expect too in terms of what you typically expect to see on a base model. I wonder about the cloth though. I have said many times that I appreciate having that option, but I am sure there are some out there saying that every model S should have leather.

I went to great lengths to get my IS300 with cloth seats, but still with power moonroof and limited slip differential which were options usually only on the fully decked out packages.

(That is another weird packaging phenomenon - being forced to take luxury items to get performance options like the LSD).

 

[iknowdoyou]

Though I agree with TEG that leather should be standard, the only one that I think might have to be standard in you list would be "Basic heating/cooling; not climate control". Don't they need that system for battery cooling, anyway, so why not pass that on to the cabin space?

 

[TEG]

Though I agree with TEG that leather should be standard...

On the contrary, I would like to see some sort of fabric as either base model standard, or some kind of option, but my point was there are many in the USA that think a luxury car should only have leather. I think I am in somewhat of a minority preferring cloth, so that is why I pondered if MPT's prediction of base cloth may not end up being true.

 

[vfx]

We made a stink about this way back on the Roadster. (mostly on the Tesla blog)
Our efforts were probably part of why Tesla added the Microfiber option. I believe Tesla had never even considered a non leather option. The "Greenies" wanted it for obvious reasons but I railed for it because I like cooler seats that don't slide around.

TEG makes a good point though. The Microfiber seats in the Roadster are at an additional cost. The standard seats are leather. :frown:

 

[Cobos]

Add me to the I prefer cloth over leather group. Though that is not really because of any enviromental concern rather I feel leather gets clammy and uncomfortable after a little while. This might be because I've never tried high class leather though so I would have to try it out I guess.

Cobos