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FJ sales were in the mid 50k's a year when it debuted. (2006). Now 10K's.
Not sure it should be a surprise however to the OP that a 9 year old model is not selling in high volume.
Over the past 4 years, sales have been hovering in the teens and have actually increased slightly in 2013. The OP is making it sound like this plummeting is a new thing. Of course, you're right, sales of a novelty are going to taper off when it's no longer a novelty.
My post was to point out that when you make such a strongly-worded claim, you should probably back it up with data. OP is well-known for spouting off opinion and passing it off as fact, then ignoring those who point it out to him.
Because Jeep lemmings who drive to the mall want to look cool in their zombie apocalypse jeep that has 2k pounds of body armor, lights, winch, recovery gear and huge wheels and mud tires all turned by a weak 6 cyl to get to the mall parking lot. Most people buy a vehicle for the image it projects not because it can climb the rubicon. Most 4x4s might see the occasional dirt road, maybe a local mud hole or some inclement weather driving. But real hardcore off road? That's such a small percentage. Out of those 156,000 jeeps sold how many do you really think go off road? Maybe 10% let's stretch it to 20%. Out of that 20% how many do you think go run the rubicon? Yeah show me the yuppie who buys a 45k rubicon, hangs $ 8k in accessories on it then goes rock crawling. Not a chance. However, he will tell you all day long what the vehicle is capable of. Most get used as a cool looking daily commuter.
Interesting rant but it has nothing to do with the vehicle's actual capabilities, which by most accounts are formidable.
So tell me Sparkie, what do you do to project an image?
The fatal flaw for me (I test drove one for a few hours, on and off road) is that the limited visibility in the back means that my kids would have almost nothing to look at if we were using it as the "family vehicle" that we putz around in (the back windows are small and located very high up on the vehicle, so all they would have seen would be sky). That's not a problem per se, because I could make it "MY" vehicle that I would use. But I drive quite a bit for work, so then the poor gas mileage enters the picture.
I would have LOVED to buy one, but those two factors were unsolvable for me.
So what? I'd love to see where this plummeting is taking place. To me, selling 10K in one year and then 5K in the sell-down year isn't plummeting. Neither is realizing you aren't making much money off a low-volume curiosity and cutting bait. On the other hand, selling 100K one year and 10K the next - now you're talking. But this isn't happening here, so OP is just editorializing and doing a rather poor job of it (as usual).
I could at least grasp at the straw of validity if MrWillys started a thread titled "Why do so few people drive the FJ?" but even then it would be indulging someone who will find any reason to drive his "Buy 'Murrcn!" agenda for no reason in particular. The FJ is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of the automotive industry, but it's not like MW can pick on the Camry or Corolla with any degree of credibility...
In 2006 they sold 56,000 of them. The last two years they sold about 13,000. Interest in that vehicle died off. A couple of reasons why that happend IMO. Th economy tanked. Add that fairly expensive niche vehicle with a thinner wallet and top it off with NO sales incentives from Toyota and then add the fact that the thing got horrendous fuel mileage in a not so user friendly vehicle well you get dwindling sales( user friendly as in day to day use) . Toyota wasn't planning on making the FJ a regular production car. Its cool but cool doesn't mean functional. Besides with coming up CAFE standards it wouldn't make it without some major redesign. Its a 18 MPG car at best.
A turkey? "Turkeys" dont have the highest resale value of any vehicle period like the FJ does. Its lead that for many years. Theres plenty of documented stories of people driving them for 2-3 years and selling them for within 5 % of what they paid for them.
Btw. Look at the ONLY manufacturer that has 4 vehicles in the top 10 of highest resale values. It sure aint Jeep.
I drive a 7.3 diesel f250. Its a 99. Main issue with it is its freaking long and I can't take it on tight trails. My off road consists of wooded trails and muddy dirt roads and I get pin striping on it some areas where I go hunting I have desert type of terrain. But nothing wild like the rubicon. It would never do the rubicon with this truck. It's not set up for that type of off road.
My wife has a actually fairly capable 4x4 ( from reviews I read) but it has never been used off road. It has not even seen a dirt road. It's never towed a trailer or been raced or abused. Once in a while when its raining I throw it in 4 hi and drive it down the street just to make sure 4x engages. But its a mall X 4. I offered to take it hunting once. She laughed at me. We bought it because the 2wd was not much cheaper and I usually get her hand me down vehicle when we buy a new one.
I agree that the major off-road limitation of a full-size 4WD pickup is its physical size. That is why I keep an old "beater" 4WD SUV (modified to be VERY off-road capable) for use on tight trails. That said, if the narrowness or tight turns of a trail aren't a limiting factor, the 3/4 ton 4WD pickup that I drive for my work will go anywhere that my smaller 4WD will, and carry a lot of tools and equipment while doing it.
Interesting rant but it has nothing to do with the vehicle's actual capabilities, which by most accounts are formidable.
So tell me Sparkie, what do you do to project an image?
Never said the vehicle wasn't capable. I was simply replying to the sales figures and partly the reason the FJ is going away which has nothing to do with capabilities off road. But how much off road does a average person do? Lots of 4x4s going over speed bumps on the way to the mall. Two of my wife's friends have those 4door wranglers. Neither one has ever been off road.
Project a image? I do nothing. A vehicle is what I drive not who I am. On my personal trucks I set them up for camping fishing hunting. Winch bumper, winch, a little more aggressive all terrain tires and a camper shell so stuff doesn't get wet/muddy/dirty/stolen. I only add those things because if I go and get stuck I want to have the ability to get out.
I'm not trying to project a image. I have those things out of necessity.
Last edited by Electrician4you; 04-26-2014 at 04:15 PM..
My brother owns a 2008 and has racked up 320,000 break-down free miles. Only had to do general maintenance to it. Off-roads in it about once a month, leaves the Jeeps in the dust and no Jeep I know of, goes 320,000 miles without major problems. Usually they start at about 60,000 miles. His FJ still looks almost new when he washes and waxes it up.
Toyota is discontinuing them. They set out to only sell 100,000 per year since they started them in 2007 and met that quota each year running shortages at most dealerships. In other words, they sold what they intended to and sold them for as long as they set out to sell them.
I'm all for American made products and such, but even "American made" vehicles are not really American made anymore, it's just a brand name thing.
Resell on them is great too. They hold their value and have a cult-like following of people out there. There are very popular websites dedicated to FJ owners and these people are religious about owning them.
They are a great, reliable, hard working rig, but not for everyone I suppose.
Over the past 4 years, sales have been hovering in the teens and have actually increased slightly in 2013. The OP is making it sound like this plummeting is a new thing. Of course, you're right, sales of a novelty are going to taper off when it's no longer a novelty.
My post was to point out that when you make such a strongly-worded claim, you should probably back it up with data. OP is well-known for spouting off opinion and passing it off as fact, then ignoring those who point it out to him.
Had you actually read my link in my original post you would have noted documented sales figures that started in 2006 with 56,000 units and gradually declined to 13,000 in 2013 with the exception of 2011. However, understanding the subject matter really isn't you fortis now is it? Otherwise you would know your claim that 2013 sales increased is completely incorrect.
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I was simply replying to the sales figures and partly the reason the FJ is going away which has nothing to do with capabilities off road. But how much off road does a average person do? Lots of 4x4s going over speed bumps on the way to the mall. Two of my wife's friends have those 4door wranglers. Neither one has ever been off road.
