Toyota Dealer Wants Porsche Money For A bZ4X

May. 22, 2022 8:41 PM ET by Chase Bierenkoven Electric Vehicles / 14 Comments

Koons Toyota is charging $77K. Laugh now, cry later.

Look. Objectively, the Toyota bZ4X is a fine car. It's Toyota's first real EV effort, so we've got to give the brand some slack there. It does have some charging issues, in addition to a somewhat disappointing range (252 miles isn't much compared to the Mach E). But, it's supposed to be a competitively-priced entry to EV ownership for those familiar with the Toyota brand.

Toyota of Portland and Koons Toyota don't see it that way. Both dealers want used Porsche money for a mid-level electric crossover. Koons is by far the worst of the two and is selling a bZ4X at an eye-watering $77,278. We understand a small markup. A quick search reveals these models are still trickling out of the factory, with few available right now. But these markups are downright ridiculous.

In theory, the bZ4X should top out at around $50,000. Give or take a few grand depending on spec and installed options, of course. We built a similarly-specc'd model on Toyota's online configurator, and the price comes out to $50,835 after destination. In theory, this should be pretty darn close to your out-the-door price on one of these.

So charging $77k? Insane. You could buy any number of larger, more luxurious cars at MSRP for that money. Here's a few: Jeep Grand Wagoneer ($60,995), Genesis GV80 ($51,295), and even an Audi Q8 ($71,995).

We're 99.9% sure no one would be crazy enough to pay that for a mass-produced car that'll be flooding dealers as soon as it can, but seriously, don't buy this car. Toyota of Portland's trio of $10,000 markups seems almost reasonable in comparison. At least that dealer lists the original MSRP.

Toyota has taken a relatively soft-ish stance on markups in the past. And it seems like that'll continue in the future. Back in April, we reported that Toyota was going to make the GR Corolla more exclusive than we previously thought. Basically, the brand plans to meet demand without diluting the car's exclusivity.

To us, that sounds like a recipe for markups. Until Toyota takes serious efforts to curb these ludicrous markups, they'll continue. Perhaps they could take a page from Ford's stance on dealer markups instead of allowing a dealer to charge $80K for an EV that'll be mass-produced anyway.

Toyota Dealer Wants Porsche Money For A bZ4X

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