Japan Car Auction Finds: Toyota Prius Alpha G (2011)

The Toyota Prius Alpha has been in the news a lot lately. Not only is it the first new iteration of the standard Prius model since its launch in 1997, but the strength of the Prius brand is such that the minivan Prius Alpha has generated such interest that production is completely sold until well into summer 2012. You can’t get your hands on one of these for love or money. Or so I am told.

Which makes it somewhat odd that someone would be thinking of selling one of these in the used car auctions in Japan. After all, there is surely a premium to be made selling these to a consumer wanting to jump the line – someone with the temerity to actually want to have his or her car delivered this year, and not next.

The only reason why you might not want to do this –  if you were a Japanese Toyota dealer, for example – would be if this would then result in a big penalty from your manufacturing parent for engaging in such uncouth behavior. Which is why you might try selling it in the auto auctions to someone else who has a bit more freedom to play with the pricing when selling on to the end customer.

This is a 5-seater G model which has a list price of 2.8 million Yen. On the other hand, the start price for bidding on this one is 2.680,000 Yen, which is only 120,000 Yen below the full list price. With just 13 km on the odometer, it is a new car with just delivery mileage and is fully worthy of the “S” grade given it by the auction inspectors.

I don’t think it will take much to push the bidding up over the list price, which will just serve to confirm the levels of demand for this car.