A few days ago, media learned that all buyers of the shiny new Toyota Land Cruiser 300 have to sign a paper prohibiting its resale. Here is an official explanation along with some less obvious, but important considerations.
Apparently, Toyota is concerned that many SUVs end up shipped abroad, including countries with different safety standards. The dealerships in those countries may involuntarily violate local foreign trade legislations, which may hurt the reputation of Toyota as a car manufacturer.
To prevent this, the company has contacted all authorized dealerships and asked them to take resale ban agreements from all customers willing to purchase the Land Cruiser 300. If a dealership learns that profiteering was the original intention of the person who made a pre-order, the pre-order will be canceled immediately.
Having said that, with over 22,000 orders collected so far, the carmaker has stopped taking them for an unspecified period. Production of the next-gen Land Cruiser will come to a halt next month due to pandemic-related supply issues in Southeast Asia.
There is another compelling explanation for the resale ban, however. Toyota off-roaders are often used in military zones, which hurts the image of the company This, and leaving the profiteering unchecked would ramp up the prices due to low production volumes. All things considered, the decision probably makes sense.
