[Mephistopheles]

I came across some info, in case anyone is hesitant to reserve a vehicle. I was told, that only the Santa Cruz vehicles that are reserved will be produced this year. I was told that if you are looking to just walk onto a lot and buy one (unless someone decides not to buy once it arrives) you will have to wait until next year. I was informed this was due to the chip shortage, so anyone who even 70-80% wants one, you might want to give it a lot of thought so you don't miss out (or just wait until next year, which is fine).

Again, since this is secondhand info, I cannot guarantee this is the case, but it is what I was told. I really hope they don't price me out of the vehicle I reserved, as that would be very frustrating. I don't know if this is new info, but this is what I was told. I was also told that Hyundai is roughly building them to the reservation spec to make sure you get what you asked for. It doesn't seem to just be random, but meant to satisfy the 'pre-orders'.

 

[sladd]

I'm getting that sense also the first batch will be spoken for, the next bath hard to get or longer wait and price likely move higher if demand is strong....the first batch out in the wild is what Hyundai wants, will help to build demand as more people see them on the road....my 2 cents...

 

[ToadVine]

Maybe they're waiting until they get more reservations before deciding on the MSRP. Now that is what you call "no-haggle pricing!"

Sure, you can still cancel. But can you get them to budge on the price after building all this pent-up demand?

 

[JMII]

Well since there is no way to reserve exactly what you want I guess I'll be waiting for next year.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Maybe they're waiting until they get more reservations before deciding on the MSRP. Now that is what you call "no-haggle pricing!"

Sure, you can still cancel. But can you get them to budge on the price after building all this pent-up demand?

I'd say pent up demand is pretty low. Those who know about it and love it are their current solid word of mouth army. If they run off 1/3 to 1/2 of them due to pricing, that would leave a bunch of unsold cars and not enough people to jazz up new interest.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Well since there is no way to reserve exactly what you want I guess I'll be waiting for next year.

What do you mean?

They are supposed to be building per the requests in the reservations, at least as far as I was told and from what I heard from the Hyundai showroom.

 

[ToadVine]

I'd say pent up demand is pretty low. Those who know about it and love it are their current solid word of mouth army. If they run off 1/3 to 1/2 of them due to pricing, that would leave a bunch of unsold cars and not enough people to jazz up new interest.

Yep. All 1300 of us.

 

[JMII]

What do you mean?

There is no build to order page... so A) I have no idea what to order, B) how much it would cost and C) I wouldn't order anything without a test drive anyway. So this deli counter "get a ticket" system isn't how I play the game.

And yes all signs (so far) indicate the pent up demand is pretty limited. Another factor - that first round of buyers might be paying over MSRP if these are truly "limited". Regardless at some point the chip shortage will end and production will get rolling.

 

[charlesBear]

Pent up demand isn't what they 'claim' it to be. Remember...they 'claimed' the first years production was nearly sold out when they had 'reservations' for 50% of the expected production. My Guess: At least 30% of the 'reservations' will drop as soon as pricing/packages/details drop. Hyundai marketing has really dropped the ball on this release vs the Ford team that is building real interest with the Maverick. I'm still all in on the Santa Cruz but the lack of information when they are already in production is very frustrating.

 

[CASD]

I'm just not sure how they can start building again, without any directions. Reservations. Oh wait.. you want a a SE...a SEL....was that 2WD or was it AWD or was it a Limited....Blah..blah blah..How can they start back up with nothing but generalizations ??? Seems pretty stupid to me, Hopefully they drop the prices before they start production again. And by the way... All they know is I want a FWD SEL and color...nothing else, Is that leaving the door open to load it up for me and charge me a arm and leg? So the $100 was us paying them to find out the interest in the Cruz... We are just Puppets... I smell "Con-Job"

 

[JMII]

Oh wait.. you want a a SE...a SEL....was that 2WD or was it AWD or was it a Limited....Blah..blah blah..

Exactly. How do they know if I want 18 or 20" wheels? Or some other package we know nothing about currently?

They are using the reservations to determine allocation and distribution - nothing more. Basically send some some blue turbo AWD to dealer A and a few white FWDs to dealer B. I bet all these first shipments will be fully loaded vehicles, because of the "take it or leave it" reservation system. In general they already have a good idea of product mix (IE what most people want). Beyond that they will build what dealers demand based on what is selling. Remember Hyundai's customer is the dealer NOT you. The dealers job is sell you what they have on the lot. The upsell will be strong here.... "sorry we only have the 20" wheels. now let's finish up this paper work, sign here please".

 

[ToadVine]

I was surprised to learn that is not the way it works at Honda (no idea about any other brands.) Honda dealers cannot order cars for customers from the factory. They do not even have any say in their own allocation -- whatever Honda sends to them is what they get. They get a list of what is going to be shipped and sometimes work out trades with other dealers to facilitate a sale.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Exactly. How do they know if I want 18 or 20" wheels? Or some other package we know nothing about currently?

They are using the reservations to determine allocation and distribution - nothing more. Basically send some some blue turbo AWD to dealer A and a few white FWDs to dealer B. I bet all these first shipments will be fully loaded vehicles, because of the "take it or leave it" reservation system. In general they already have a good idea of product mix (IE what most people want). Beyond that they will build what dealers demand based on what is selling. Remember Hyundai's customer is the dealer NOT you. The dealers job is sell you what they have on the lot. The upsell will be strong here.... "sorry we only have the 20" wheels. now let's finish up this paper work, sign here please".

You state this on the concierge call.

 

[Chuck]

I was surprised to learn that is not the way it works at Honda (no idea about any other brands.) Honda dealers cannot order cars for customers from the factory. They do not even have any say in their own allocation -- whatever Honda sends to them is what they get. They get a list of what is going to be shipped and sometimes work out trades with other dealers to facilitate a sale.

Not exactly how it works for Honda. The dealers are allocated what the factory thinks they need. On most models, the dealer can request something different, keeping the same powertrain. For example they may offer a blue Accord Sport with black interior - you can request a black Accord EX with beige interior in its place, just no guarantee you'll get it. If they don't give you what you ask for, you usually will be offered the original car once again. Before inventory got as tight as it is now, you would normally get the bulk of what you asked for. These days very few changes are filled, but some still are. You are correct there is no system to specifically order a car as a sold order for a customer and dealers are able to swap on order cars with other dealers.

 

[Chuck]

You state this on the concierge call.

In reality though, the concierge call means nothing... all it controls is what information is sent to the dealer. Nothing actually goes into the ordering system except by the dealer itself. When the dealer gets your info, they should call you to try to get more specifics on what you want and they can put a sold request for it in their priority order bank. It is just a REQUEST for the car, not an actual order. When the dealer is allocated that model, they will try to fill a set percentage of their earnings (varies - usually 30-50% max) from the priority bank and then allocate remaining units based on what they are scheduled to build. The thing is someone at the dealership has to manually put in your request, and they set the priority order for the requests - it's not dictated by when the deposit was put in (it should be, but it's totally at the dealer's discretion). The dealer can also put in requests for regular customers, it's not exclusive to customers using the reservation system.

 

[Mephistopheles]

In reality though, the concierge call means nothing... all it controls is what information is sent to the dealer. Nothing actually goes into the ordering system except by the dealer itself. When the dealer gets your info, they should call you to try to get more specifics on what you want and they can put a sold request for it in their priority order bank. It is just a REQUEST for the car, not an actual order. When the dealer is allocated that model, they will try to fill a set percentage of their earnings (varies - usually 30-50% max) from the priority bank and then allocate remaining units based on what they are scheduled to build. The thing is someone at the dealership has to manually put in your request, and they set the priority order for the requests - it's not dictated by when the deposit was put in (it should be, but it's totally at the dealer's discretion). The dealer can also put in requests for regular customers, it's not exclusive to customers using the reservation system.

This is not what I was told. I was told Hyundai builds based on your reservations, and then tells the dealers "these people want these particular vehicles", do you want to buy them and take on their reservation or not. Thats what a dealer seemed to indicate to me. He indicated Hyundai will not be building any cars that aren't part of the reservation system. That could be wrong, but thats what I heard.

 

[Chuck]

This is not what I was told. I was told Hyundai builds based on your reservations, and then tells the dealers "these people want these particular vehicles", do you want to buy them and take on their reservation or not. Thats what a dealer seemed to indicate to me. He indicated Hyundai will not be building any cars that aren't part of the reservation system. That could be wrong, but thats what I heard.

Do you really think it's possible for them to build based on the reservations? They opened reservations April 15th and were scheduled to start production June 15th (ended up the 22nd). They already knew what ratio they expected the models to sell and had parts ordered accordingly long before most reservations were made.

As for the dealer indicating that they will only be building cars that are part of the reservation system... to be blunt he's full of BS. He just wants you to put in a reservation so he will feel you are a more serious buyer.

The customer info is sent to the nearest dealer.. there is no asking if they want to take on the reservation or not. You submit your data, it goes to the concierge (outside 3rd party company), they send it to the dealer closest to you. A good dealer will contact you right away and put your request in with the first customer at the top and working down. A bad/lazy dealer could just ignore the information when it comes in or try to contact you once and if they don't reach your/get a response could do nothing further. I would recommend calling and following up regularly with your dealer.

Remember the fine print from the reservation site:

 

[Mephistopheles]

Do you really think it's possible for them to build based on the reservations? They opened reservations April 15th and were scheduled to start production June 15th (ended up the 22nd). They already knew what ratio they expected the models to sell and had parts ordered accordingly long before most reservations were made.

As for the dealer indicating that they will only be building cars that are part of the reservation system... to be blunt he's full of BS. He just wants you to put in a reservation so he will feel you are a more serious buyer.

The customer info is sent to the nearest dealer.. there is no asking if they want to take on the reservation or not. You submit your data, it goes to the concierge (outside 3rd party company), they send it to the dealer closest to you. A good dealer will contact you right away and put your request in with the first customer at the top and working down. A bad/lazy dealer could just ignore the information when it comes in or try to contact you once and if they don't reach your/get a response could do nothing further. I would recommend calling and following up regularly with your dealer.

Remember the fine print from the reservation site:

View attachment 906

Why would it not be possible to build based on reservations? All they would be doing is building cars in proportions to what they know they have demand for, and then telling dealers: Hey this is what we got, oh by the way, here is a list of people in your area that want X White SEs, X Gray Limiteds, etc.

And concierge on the phone last night told me they are not partnering me with a dealer yet, and my info will be provided to local dealers. On my first reservation (I have two to spread out risk of not getting information) has been contacted by me 3 times and they have not heard from Concierge yet about me. Second dealer has not called me about concierge yet either, but it was more recent. First dealer seemed to think it was similar to what the other dealer said, they thought Hyundai was going to roughly do the matchmaking and forward it to dealers to decide what they wanted to do.

I told the second dealer I already made a reservation elsewhere and told him I was trying to find what dealer was going to get them first to get my business, and that if I make a reservation it is just to hedge my bets and they are not my first pick. We discussed timeline and such. He also informed me that even if a person orders one through them and cancels he would not be in any bad shape since that means one more unattainable vehicle on his lot.

Of course Hyundai would say there is no guarantee that they are building your exact car. Otherwise it would be a lawsuit waiting to happen. Imagine the scenario. You reserve one car, they build it, you change your mind. Someone pipes up "Bait and Switch".

I am not saying OMG this is exactly what is going on, but its what I have been told, and it explains how and why Hyundai would even bother letting you pick anything in a 'reservation'. I was told this was due to their lack of chips they can't make any more than roughly the reserved amount (more than likely they can't make more than the unknown amount of max reservations.)

 

[Mephistopheles]

The differences between trims is largely small things except for the Limited. Almost everything is shared between at least 2 trims except some Limited only items. This doesn't even include the fact large chunks such as the motor, transmission, interior, all are either slight tweaks of or directly ripped from other vehicles. Otherwise there is really only paint and dealer assigned packages. The computer chip and similar semiconductor components are the main point of limited supply chain access.

 

[JMII]

You state this on the concierge call.

Based on what? Do they run down a list of options with you on the phone? If so why hasn't this list appeared anywhere?

We have heard rumors of a green interior, but there are no pictures, no price and no indication of how you get this interior.

The reservations system appears to be a matching making game, I see it playing out like this:
Hyundai - we made 2,000 blue turbos this week, oh look a dealer in Happy Town has a "reservation" for one so send it that way.
Happy Town Dealer - hey that blue turbo showed up, call Joe Buyer he paid $100 for us to hold one for him.
Joe Buyer - (arrives at Happy Town). Hey my blue SC, so awesome... but what's up with this grey interior?
Dealer - well that's why Hyundai sent us. Do you want it?
Joe - ummm, maybe... how much is it?
Dealer - well seeing its a limited edition, we don't get many with THIS interior, we'll let it go for $1,200 over MSRP
Joe - no thanks