Lexus December 2017 and Year-End Sales Report

Posted by Kevin on January 3rd, 2018

USA

Lexus USA has reported 35,461 total sales for December 2017, a 10.6% decrease over last year — here’s the model-by-model breakdown:

MONTH Year to Date (*DSR)
2017 2016 % CHG* 2017 2016 % CHG*
CT 9 968 -99 4,690 8,903 -47.1
IS 2,777 4,432 -34.9 26,482 37,289 -28.7
RC 686 1,042 -31.6 7,363 11,165 -33.8
ES 5,047 6,239 -16 51,398 58,299 -11.5
GS 916 1,325 -28.2 7,773 14,878 -47.6
LS 306 609 -47.8 4,094 5,514 ‐25.5
LC 290 0 0 2,487 0 0
LFA 0 0 0 3 6 ‐49.8
Total Cars 10,031 14,615 -28.7 104,290 136,054 -23.1
NX 7,410 7,375 4.3 59,341 54,884 8.5
RX 13,951 14,882 -2.7 108,307 109,435 -0.7
GX 3325 3474 -0.6 27,190 25,148 8.5
LX 744 836 -7.6 6,004 5,707 5.5
Total Trucks 25,430 26,567 -0.6 200,842 195,174 3.2
Total Sales 35,461 41,182 -10.6 305,132 331,228 -7.6

Please note, all percentages are calculated by the Daily Sales Rate (DSR), which takes into account the number of days in the month that dealerships could sell cars. December 2017 had 26 selling days, December 2016 had 27 selling days.

It was the year of the crossover in the United States, with the Lexus SUVs making up 65.8% of total sales. Much of that can be attributed to the general market’s preference for crossovers, but also that every Lexus car outside of the LC coupe is in the final years of its lifecycle. As a result, Lexus fell 7.6% overall to 305,132 vehicles sold.

In the year-end press release, Lexus USA general manager Jeff Bracken committed to “15 all-new and special edition models to the market” — Bracken originally told Automotive News there would be 14 introductions this year, so now we can expect an additional model some time over the next twelve months.

Automotive News does a great job at summarizing the US luxury sales race:

Mercedes handily topped the U.S. luxury race in 2017 despite a decline in its own sales, snagging back-to-back titles as the luxury market declined for a second straight year.

Coming in at No. 2 was BMW, which just beat out the previous year’s runner-up, Lexus. Lexus finished 553 vehicles behind BMW after posting a 14 percent drop in December.

Mercedes finished 2017 with luxury sales of 337,246, representing a 0.9 percent decline. Mercedes sales surged in December with a 10 percent increase, led by strong gains for the GLC crossover and S class. The C class led the brand in volume with 6,500 sold in December, down 12 percent. In addition to its luxury titles in 2017 and 2016, Mercedes also won the crown in 2013.

BMW-brand sales rose 4.3 percent in December, led by the 5 series, X1 and X5. BMW finished 2017 with sales of 305,685 vehicles, down 2.4 percent. BMW previously won the luxury title in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

Lexus sales dropped 14 percent in December, and the brand finished the year with sales of 305,132, down 7.9 percent. Lexus, which dominated the U.S. luxury category from 2000 through 2010, has now gone seven years without winning the title. Low vehicle supply has been a challenge for Lexus.

Canada

Lexus sales in Canada were down 10.9% in December, but that didn’t stop the brand from having their best sales year ever with a 10% increase over 2016 — here is the model-by-model breakdown:

MONTH Year to Date (*DSR)
2017 2016 % CHG* 2017 2016 % CHG*
CT 0 29 -100.0% 367 546 -32.8%
IS 147 9.5% 3221 3033 6.2%
RC 26 26 0.0% 512 526 -2.7%
ES 158 215 -26.5% 1892 2153 -12.1%
GS 20 27 -25.9% 328 415 -21.0%
LS 0 9 -100.0% 40 95 -57.9%
LC 9 0 0 171 0 0
Total Cars 374 453 -17.4% 6531 6768 -3.5%
NX 416 501 -17.0% 7407 6295 17.7%
RX 674 697 -3.3% 9402 8147 15.4%
GX 33 48 -31.3% 508 551 -7.8%
LX 58 46 26.1% 917 748 22.6%
Total Trucks 1181 1292 -8.6% 18234 15741 15.8%
Total Sales 1555 1745 -10.9% 24765 22509 10.0%
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Tragic Bronson
TOYOTA: Sales down, Camry keeps crown
DALLAS -- Toyota Motor Sales USA reported a U.S. sales decline of 8.3 percent in December compared with a year earlier, as crossovers at Toyota and luxury brand Lexus joined the yearlong decline in car sales. Sales for the year were off by just 0.6% to more than 2.4 million vehicles.

Brands: Toyota, including Scion, down 7.2%; Lexus down 14%.

Notable nameplates: Toyota Camry up 30%, Toyota Corolla down 36%, Toyota RAV4 down 13%, Toyota Highlander down 17%, Lexus cars down 31%, Lexus RX down 6.3%, Lexus NX up 0.5%.

U.S. market share: 13.9% in Dec. 2017, down from 14.4% in Dec. 2016; 14.1% for all of 2017, up from 14.0% in 2016.

Incentives: $2,840 per vehicle, flat compared with a year earlier, according to ALG.

Average transaction price: $32,791, up 0.5% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Quote: "In 2018, Lexus dealers will have even more options for customers as we bring 15 all-new and special-edition models to the market," said Jeff Bracken, Lexus general manager.

Did you know? The Toyota Camry retained its title as the best-selling car in the U.S. for the 16th year, beating a vigorous challenge by the Honda Civic. Nonetheless, Toyota's RAV4 crossover stole the crown from the Camry as the brand's best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the year.
Tragic Bronson
http://www.autonews.com/article/20180103/RETAIL01/180109921/&template=print
Mercedes handily topped the U.S. luxury race in 2017 despite a decline in its own sales, snagging back-to-back titles.

Coming in at No. 2 was BMW, which just beat out the previous year's runner-up, Lexus. Lexus finished 553 vehicles behind BMW after posting a 14 percent drop in December.

Overall luxury sales for the year declined 0.2 percent to 2.02 million. That compares with a 1.8 percent decline overall for U.S. light-vehicle sales. Seven of the 13 luxury brands posted decreases in 2017. Like the overall vehicle market, the luxury segment suffered amid a precipitous drop in sedan demand. That falloff was countered by growth in luxury crossover and SUV sales.

Mercedes finished 2017 with luxury sales of 337,246, representing a 0.9 percent decline. Mercedes sales surged in December with a 10 percent increase, led by strong gains for the GLC crossover and S class. The C class led the brand in volume with 6,500 sold in December, down 12 percent. In addition to its luxury titles in 2017 and 2016, Mercedes also won the crown in 2013.

BMW-brand sales rose 4.3 percent in December, led by the 5 series, X1 and X5. BMW finished 2017 with sales of 305,685 vehicles, down 2.4 percent. BMW previously won the luxury title in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015.

Lexus sales dropped 14 percent in December, and the brand finished the year with sales of 305,132, down 7.9 percent. Lexus, which dominated the U.S. luxury category from 2000 through 2010, has now gone seven years without winning the title. Low vehicle supply has been a challenge for Lexus.

"Lexus got off to a really rocky start in 2017," said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst for Autotrader. "Lexus had a terrible January that it blamed on low inventories."

Audi's U.S. sales rose 7.8 percent in 2017, putting it in fourth place for the year. Cadillac, Acura, Infiniti and Lincoln took the next four places.

In addition to Audi, other luxury brands posting gains for the year were Infiniti, Land Rover, Porsche, Jaguar and Genesis.

Despite two years of decline, luxury-brand sales are still close to the record level set in 2015. Luxury automakers are poised to have another solid year in 2018, said Zohaib Rahim, research manager for Cox Automotive.

"With strong stock market performance, decade high consumer confidence, and a robust labor market," Rahim said, "consumers looking to move up into luxury vehicles will have ample opportunities."
Lexus Cohen
Well done Mercedes and BMW!
Ian Schmidt
Kind of interesting that all 3 brands were down year-over-year.
mikeavelli
What is crazy is as recently as maybe 5 years ago the split was in favor of cars to SUVs. Then it went back to 50/50. Now it is 65/35 in favor of SUVs. That is just insane to me. The GX which doesn't even get reviewed outside the GS by a factor of what 3 and the GS gets rave reviews for the most part. The market wants what it wants which is SUV's.

Let's also not forget the CT is gone and that was good for around 1,000 car sales a month. Interesting to see the coupe RC and 4 door GS sold nearly the same amount.

The LS will help a bit in 2018 but it won't be a huge volume car. We have to wait for the new ES to see if sedan sales kick up a bit.

Also forecasting is showing 2018 will be a lower year with sales overall compared to 2017 Industry wide.

I'm sure the crappy weather didn't help either with not just this cold weather but let's not forget hurricanes hitting Lexus strongest market, South Florida.

Lexus Cohen
Well done Mercedes and BMW!
Lexus was barely 500 units behind BMW tho...
S
mikeavelli
What is crazy is as recently as maybe 5 years ago the split was in favor of cars to SUVs. Then it went back to 50/50. Now it is 65/35 in favor of SUVs. That is just insane to me. The GX which doesn't even get reviewed outside the GS by a factor of what 3 and the GS gets rave reviews for the most part. The market wants what it wants which is SUV's.

Let's also not forget the CT is gone and that was good for around 1,000 car sales a month. Interesting to see the coupe RC and 4 door GS sold nearly the same amount.

The LS will help a bit in 2018 but it won't be a huge volume car. We have to wait for the new ES to see if sedan sales kick up a bit.

Also forecasting is showing 2018 will be a lower year with sales overall compared to 2017 Industry wide.

I'm sure the crappy weather didn't help either with not just this cold weather but let's not forget hurricanes hitting Lexus strongest market, South Florida.



Lexus was barely 500 units behind BMW tho...
RX-L, LS and ES together should have quite a bit more sales... maybe even 3k extra per month? But at the same time, IS, GS and RC might drop too.

Big factor will be all new model like UX, which might bring 20k extra all-new sales to the brand, per year.
mikeavelli
Ian Schmidt
Kind of interesting that all 3 brands were down year-over-year.
I do believe all 3 could have sold more but their SUV supply is all pretty constrained while the sedans are sitting there.

spwolf
RX-L, LS and ES together should have quite a bit more sales... maybe even 3k extra per month? But at the same time, IS, GS and RC might drop too.

Big factor will be all new model like UX, which might bring 20k extra all-new sales to the brand, per year.
I honestly think the luxury brands are tapped out in the USA at about 330k units a year. This is a figure 20 years ago that was unheard of. Unless there is some huge shift in demographics, tastes etc I just don't see them expanding sales to 350k or 400k. I think it just becomes cannibalization at that point.

Luxury brands are also still contending with improved non luxury brands/cars especially SUVs.

Just my 2 cents :)
krew
spwolf
RX-L, LS and ES together should have quite a bit more sales... maybe even 3k extra per month? But at the same time, IS, GS and RC might drop too.
Lexus is forecasting 30k sales of the RXL this year, and that's 2,500 per month. Hard to say how it will effect the standard RX, and I wonder if Lexus will even separate the sales.
Tragic Bronson
mikeavelli
I'm sure the crappy weather didn't help either with not just this cold weather but let's not forget hurricanes hitting Lexus strongest market, South Florida
I would think the #1 market for them is Southern California? I'm pretty sure there's more Lexus dealers here per capita than SoFla (Dade/Broward/Palm Beach)
Lexus was barely 500 units behind BMW tho...
Could have sent some 500 or so units to fleet and no one would know :D
S
Only 5% of the sales are very high value L-vehicles compared to 15% 'S-vehicle' sales for MB. The full-size GLS has 3,000 sales per month alone. Now it makes a lot of sense why Lexus desparately needs the LF-1.

The LC has overtaken the SL to become the king of GTs. It will be even more dominant when the convertible and the F version become available. The LC has again proved itself to be Lexus' most successful halo program since UCF10.
mikeavelli
Tragic Bronson
I would think the #1 market for them is Southern California? I'm pretty sure there's more Lexus dealers here per capita than SoFla (Dade/Broward/Palm Beach)

Could have sent some 500 or so units to fleet and no one would know :D
I thought it was So Cal too but its So Fl.... that is a good point with BMW since I think it was last year there was some serious trickery involved with sales lol

M