their recent article about the brand's Japanese sales, making it appear much worse than it really is. " /> Looking at Lexus Sales in Japan | Lexus Enthusiast

Looking at Lexus Sales in Japan


While there’s no question that the Tōhoku earthquake has affected Lexus production, Bloomberg has used some sleight-of-hand reporting in their recent article about the brand’s Japanese sales, making it appear much worse than it really is. First, a quote:

Across the country, as Japanese carmakers reeled from output disruptions following the quake, BMW deliveries surged 56 percent in April, while sales of Toyota Motor Corp. Lexus brand fell 45 percent. Sales of all imported foreign brands rose 21 percent even as the overall auto market shrank 47 percent.

“Customers have told me some Lexus models won’t arrive until November,” said Kubota, sales manager at the BMW dealership in Tokyo’s Aoyama district.

Damage to parts makers from the disaster forced domestic automakers to produce at half of planned levels, causing delivery delays of as long as a year for some models.

Toyota’s plants will run at 90 percent of normal production levels this month, the company said June 1, after operating at 50 percent in April and May. Toyota expects global production to normalize by November or December.

As a result, the wait time for all models is about four months on average, compared with one month prior to the earthquake, said Yasuhiko Sato, general manager of Toyota’s Japan sales planning division.

The trick is in the timeframe — even though this article was written in June, only the April sales figures were used. So while it’s true that Lexus sales did fall 45% and BMW’s did jump 56% in April, bring the May numbers into play and it tells a completely different story.

  • Lexus May Sales: 1,789 (down 5.3% from May 2010)
  • BMW May Sales: 2,290 (down 11.9% from May 2010)

Using these numbers, it certainly looks like Lexus has been able to rebound from a single bad month and turn in relatively normal sales for May — unfortunately, it looks like BMW is slipping from its high horse.

Now let’s bring the year-to-date sales numbers into the mix:

  • Lexus YTD sales: 13,953 (down 18% from 2010)
  • BMW YTD sales: 11,411 (up 6.4% from 2010)

Just to be clear, Lexus has managed to stay ahead of BMW in Japan, even with its supply chain almost totally disrupted by a natural disaster, but instead of focusing on that, Bloomberg decides to write about BMW benefitting from another brand’s hardship — one BMW dealer even brags about it:

For BMW dealer Kubota, the aftermath of the earthquake has led to a noticeable increase in showroom traffic.

“It may be inappropriate to say, but this is an opportunity for us,” he said.

Update: Edited for clarity.

[Source: Bloomberg & JADA via TTAC]

JapanManufacturingSales ReportsUncategorized
Comments
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    MIKE DELORCA
  • June 8, 2011
Typical German sales mentality-----you will not hear that type of talk from LEXUS if the tables were turned---the Detroit three have had their share of slime comments as well----trully unacceptable to use such a tragedy and horrific loss of life in exchange for greed by many. LEXUS and TOYOTA will prevail and come out stronger than ever-----Mr. TOYODA is strong and he will make the next few years an incredible evolution from previous years.His direction is felt immensely already. Keep it up !
  • Anonymous
  • June 8, 2011
wow Major bias... CONGRATS LEXUS ON IMPROVING SO MUCH IN THE HOME MARKET!!!
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    Llamaboiz
  • June 8, 2011
More badmouthing of Japanese companies~ its not their (japan) fault that they can make a better and more reliable product than the rest of the world... You must be doing something right if you have haters~
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    High1
  • June 9, 2011
Yeah typical Germans, they're so rude and arrogant..
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      SwissfromSwiss
    • June 9, 2011
    exactly, and their cars are also unreliably like their mouth.
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      Foxn
    • June 9, 2011
    Yeah true, unreliable and bad quality, look at the new 7 series, its garbage, it copied the current LS which came out in 06 and yet the BMW looks uglier and is of much worst quality.. The interior is the same BMW crap, the engine has that German rubbish rumbling noise, all German cars have that rumbling noise, VOLKSWAGEN, Mercedes, BMW and Audi.. The Germans simply cannot make an engine and drivetrain that is as smooth, refined, reliable, advanced and well made as the Japanese
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i believe in miracles and i feel Toyota will gain in 2012 a market share that it did not before
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      PG
    • June 9, 2011
    I agree. There are a couple of high-volume models said to hit the market just around late 2011-2013: GS, IS, ES, Camry, Corolla, RAV4. This should result in a nice sales gain for ToMoCo.
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Well done Lexus for the improvement i think in S Africa its the same kind of mentality of German car fans belittleing the brand even after the Re-Launch in 2006
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Well done Lexus for the improvement i think in S Africa its the same kind of mentality of German car fans belittleing the brand even after the Re-Launch in 2006

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