RAV4 Prime

Make
Toyota
Segment
SUV

With the semiconductor chip shortage forcing manufacturers to cut production due to supply issues, demand for new and used cars is at an all-time high. Predictably, dealers are taking advantage of the low supply and high demand by charging extortionate markups. Last week, a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Convertible C8 was spotted for sale by a dealer in Florida for $169,995 - more than twice the MSRP. This means the C8 Corvette now costs Porsche 911 Turbo money. But it's not just sports cars that are being marked up. Dealers are also charging insane markups for mainstream models that are in high demand.

Case in point: a dealer in Oakland is charging almost $100,000 for a 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime. Normally, Toyota's popular plug-in hybrid SUV will set you back $38,350 for the base model before options are added. This example for sale is based on the top XSE trim, which starts at $41,675 and combines a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine with two electric motors to produce a combined 302 horsepower.

But as this photo shared on social media shows, the Toyota Oakland dealer is charging a whopping $96,442 for the RAV4 Prime XSE - comfortably more than double the sticker price. To put this into perspective, that's more than the MSRP of the base Porsche Taycan, which starts at $82,700.

Until recently, Toyota was largely unaffected by the semiconductor chip shortage as the Japanese automaker had been stockpiling chips. Eventually, however, Toyota's luck ran out, forcing the Japanese automaker to cut global production by 40 percent, and this is the result. However, Toyota's situation is improving in contrast to other automakers.

Toyota recently announced production is getting back on track in Japan and will be at full capacity in December for the first time in seven months. Hopefully, it won't be long until production can be ramped up in America too because these outrageous markups will continue until dealer inventories return to normal.