How come Toyota dealerships no longer offer paper brochures?

If you want a good old-fashioned car brochure from Toyota to leaf through, you might be out of luck

According to Kuruma News, earlier this month (May 2022,) it’s rumored that Toyota of Japan will “abolish paper catalogs for new cars” by March 2023 and will instead use a new smart catalog if you visit a dealership to browse or negotiate buying a car.

And apparently, it’s not just Toyota of Japan, it’s Toyota of USA and soon to be Lexus, too, as according to Facebook user Tim Eichler commenting on a thread started by Moto Miwa on the matter,

“Toyota (United States) stopped printing brochures for the US Market in 2020. Lexus has continued through this year, but I’m assuming this edict (Toyota of Japan stopping paper brochures) means 2022 is the last year, too.”

As far as Toyota of Japan is concerned, Kuruma News explains how smart catalogs have advantages over its tried-and-true paper counterparts.

For one, car buyers, especially the younger demo, no longer consume information through books, magazines, and brochures, instead getting information from smartphone devices, tablets, computers, and anything with a screen.

In addition, during the car buying process, so called smart catalogs make it easier to cross reference relevant information like videos to explain features, better visualize customizations like different paint colors, and it’s overall easier to customize dense information into easily understandable non-traditional media.

While Nissan and Honda of Japan still offer paper brochures, reps who commented do concede they’re more apt to present information using smart-like catalogs, similar in vein to what Toyota is doing.

There’s also the environmental angle of it all, moving away from paper is environmentally friendly (less carbon intensive.)

While these reasons originate from Toyota of Japan, they’re easily applied to their American dealerships, too.

Can I still get a regular paper brochure?

Yes, according to Toyota, if you’re a Toyota car shopper or just a fan of the brand in the United States, you can print your own eBrouchures, request a paper brochure online, or ask for one over the phone by calling 1-800-GO-TOYOTA.

For Lexus, for the meantime, it looks like you can still get a paper brochure at a dealership, but how long that lasts, it could be a matter of months. You can also request a paper Lexus brochure by filling out their request form linked here.