[RahulNagaraj]

Toyota has announced a new and interesting direct sales channel in Brazil for its customers in the agricultural sector. Dubbed the 'Toyota Barter', the Japanese carmaker has announced that it will accept soybeans and corn in exchange for a new vehicle, such as the Hilux, SW4 (Fortuner in India) or a Corolla Cross SUV.



According to a media report, the company launched 'Toyota Barter' in Brazil on August 4, which is aimed specifically at customers in the agricultural sector in the country. Toyota will consider the market price (by weight) of the soybean or corn, at the time of the transaction. However, before going ahead with the exchange, Toyota will check if the customer is certified for rural production and the products are from sustainable plantations & of good quality.



The pilot project for the Toyota Barter program was introduced in 2019. The company has now taken the opportunity to offer this facility officially. The exchange program is currently available in only certain states of Brazil, but Toyota is working on expanding it to other areas as well.

The agribusiness sector currently accounts for 16% of Toyota Brazil's direct sales. The introduction of this new channel is, however, expected to help it grow even further.

Source: Motor1 Brazil

Link to Team-BHP news

[Dhillon]

So, a farmer instead of selling the crop in the market and then buying the car, he can directly go to Toyota and get his car? And how many people in agriculture sector will have the required certifications? And what if the customer wants to finance the car? Will Toyota buy the corns on monthly basis

[2000rpm]

Interesting Experiment!

They should have a similar scheme for software designers in Bangalore so that their outdated looking infotainment systems become more interesting

[Bibendum90949]

I'm just visualizing myself driving into a Toyota showroom with truck load of my farm produce(rice) and driving out in a Fortuner. Errr ..Not truck load, convoy of trucks instead. An Indian corn farmer may have to part with three times of his produce as against his Brazilian counterpart

[libranof1987]

Is this a nice and easy workaround to get that agricultural produce back to Japan as Toyota's income, cheaper than it would be to import the food?

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

They should have a similar scheme for software designers in Bangalore so that their outdated looking infotainment systems become more interesting

Perpetual buffering to simulate the amount of time developers spend in traffic?

[TDCi4Life]

This is an excellent and a unique initiative. Hopefully this doesn't encourage flattening the already endangered rainforests of Amazon. I am not sure if Toyota or the Brazilian govt cares much about this

https://www.courthousenews.com/land-...n-rain-forest/

[aargee]

Just me or anyone feels the same as well

[RedTerrano]

Smart chaps these Japanese. It's totally like them to come up with smart schemes to make the most of their natural resources (or lack there of).

Heard this anecdote decades ago:
Chowgules (Maruti dealers) are a huge conglomerate and they also own (or owned back then) iron ore mines in Goa. The ore was mined and shipped to Japan on Chowgule's own shipping line. This meant a slight problem for the Japanese.

They certainly wanted the ore, but definitely not the impurities which also were part of the ore. Any logical person would have taken the problem head on. But not the Japanese.
They sold Chowgules the technology to purify the ore so it could be shipped in pellet form.
They essential made Chowgule pay to solve the Japanese problem.

After having read this recent discussion, https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...gger-role.html (Toyota working against shift to EVs; wants hydrogen-fuelled vehicles to play bigger role), I wouldn't be surprised if they are working on making Hydrogen out of Soya/Corn

[HKP]

Originally Posted by aargee

Just me or anyone feels the same as well

Exactly what I was thinking. Thought the next step is Bitcoin, but they went to corn!

I think they can start in Kerala with coconuts! Imagine buying an Innova with coconuts or cashew nuts!

\\hkp

[clementw]

Kudos to Toyota for this initiative. Hope this helps them deepen their relationship with farmers. Also hope that this will be a fair price for the farmers considering it will be possibly just an one time transaction.

Makes you wonder why is Toyota not innovating more in India and just giving us rebadged cars

[xway]

On a lighter note, I hope our government does not get inspired by this and launch
"Pradhan Mantri Kisaan Ann Gaddi Yojna" and showcase smiling posters all around hoardings and newspapers to show benevolent it is towards farmers.

On other side opposition politicians will block roads and strike stating that its cruelty towards farmers to get cars but on other hand petrol is so expensive.

Anything can happen.

[Mat095]

If Toyota is planning to giveaway their cars for the equivalent sum of corns or soybean and then later trading the soybean with other countries for a profit then I’d say its genius. Think about it, they are already making a profit from the margin on the car then trading the soybean obtained from the price of car with some other South American country or maybe Canada they would garner some more profit by selling the soybean at a little higher price, lets say an additional profit of 20% of Fortuners price. This is just a theory but it makes guys at Toyota sound like evil geniuses.

[khanak]

Clearly Toyota is planning on opening a whole chain of ultra reliable restaurants.

[Samurai]

Um, what about sales tax and excise tax? How are they collecting that?

Modern governments frown upon any kind of bartering by businesses because it doesn't address how sales/excise taxes can be collected.

If there is no mechanism to collect it, the government will not allow this kind of transaction. So this will remain simply a branding exercise.

[srini1785]

Ever since I read the title I was thinking "Where's the catch?". Its not like the Japs are going to give their cars for speculation on Soybeen / Corn prices on stock exchanges (btw, they are traded commodities on exchanges). Brazilian real is also a stable currency so some bigger scheme at work. I am just not sure about the plan. Hedging?.