- Toyota’s SmartPath is meant to let shoppers buy online and have their vehicle delivered from their local dealership without ever needing to go there in person. Or, they can start shopping online, then go in and haggle.
- Only around 50 Toyota dealers use SmartPath today, but that number will double this spring.
- Lexus is involved in this, too, with a similar program called Monogram. Only a few dealers use Monogram, but Lexus will “aggressively accelerate availability through 2021.”
Toyota customers like smart things. Lexus drivers prefer to have their things monogrammed. That’s one way to look at an upgraded online car-shopping service the two brands are offering to U.S. Lexus and Toyota shoppers. The online tool is functionally similar no matter if you’re looking for a new IS or a fresh Prius, but Lexus calls its service Monogram while Toyota’s is called SmartPath.
The idea behind the year-and-a-half-old comprehensive retail program was to make buying a new Toyota or Lexus as easy as possible but, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mostly contact-free aspect has been a selling point as well. Toyota says a Cox Automotive digital shopping study from last April showed that two-thirds of shoppers are more likely to want to purchase a vehicle 100 percent online. Toyota first introduced SmartPath in September 2019 as a way to connect a car buyer’s experience across a number of Toyota shopping sites, including Toyota.com, buyatoyota.com, and local dealership sites.
So far, out of the company’s 1200-plus dealerships in the U.S., only around 50 currently have their inventory synced in SmartPath. Another 50 dealerships will get added later this spring. Only a small number of Lexus dealers are currently using Monogram in a pilot test in select markets, but Lexus says it plans to “aggressively accelerate availability through 2021.”
One of the big changes Toyota is making to SmartPath and Monogram this month is the ability to complete the entire purchase without ever visiting a dealership. The only non-digital part of the transaction is the handwritten signature that is required in some states, but even that can be done when the vehicle is dropped off at your home, according to Automotive News.
Toyota said it made changes to SmartPath and Monogram by working hand in hand with Toyota Financial Services as well as dealers across the United States, and there’s one obvious way the system prioritizes dealerships over customers. When browsing, shoppers can only check out one dealer’s inventory at a time, instead of seeing all of the vehicles available regionally or nationally, or even by comparing prices at two dealerships.
Once a shopper has started selecting a vehicle and options in SmartPath or Monogram, they can visit the dealer to see the car or to haggle over the price. Everything they’ve entered into the site gets added to what Toyota calls a “digital garage,” and this information then becomes available to the salesperson, which can save time during the visit. Dealers are not being forced to use SmartPath or Monogram and pay Toyota an undisclosed fee if they want to be included in the system, Automotive News reports.
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