Tragic Bronson
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Sooner or later, China will be the better market for Lexus than North America. No dumb tariffs to deal with.
Sooner or later, China will be the better market for Lexus than North America. No dumb tariffs to deal with.
Sooner or later, China will be the better market for Lexus than North America. No dumb tariffs to deal with.
August sales breakdown available.
#1 NX 5,116 (3,739 Gas+1,377 Hybrid)
#2 RX 4,376 (3,935 Gas+441 Hybrid)
#3 ES 3,705 (3,680 Gas+25 Hybrid)
#4 IS 2,858
#5 CT 1,068
#6 LX 636
#7 LS 471 (147 Gas+324 Hybrid)
#8 GS 291 (145 Gas+146 Hybrid)
#9 LC500h 25
#10 RC-F 19
#11 GX400 1
>>As expected ES had a weak month due to depletion of 6ES inventory and 7ES production ramp. Due to low availability of the 7ES, IS had a shocking month with 2,858 sold! That is more than the number sold from January to July combined. I hope this is a chance for people to appreciate the IS more, although with its meager rear legroom it will not do well in China anytime soon.
>>The NX and RX are gaining momentum. Although it can be clearly seen the RX really needs a more affordable hybrid. Also, NX could use a better pricing structure to move sales away from the base trim NX200 to better optioned 300 and 300h.
>>CT is holding on. 1068 may not sound like a lot, but that is 1/3 of the Mercedes CLA, the sales leader in compact segment. It is not a star but a consistent seller, so I see no reason to kill it and not build a 2nd Gen.
>>LX continues to have a strong showing. China will overtake U.S. as its second largest market this year. It is crazy how good the LX is business-wise for Lexus, with a selling price higher than the LS and even the LC but the cost of a Land Cruiser. GX was taken off the market for half a year now. It could really need another facelift ASAP. There is no reason to sell one GX a month when they could easily sell a thousand. I say this because Toyota sells over 11,000 Land Cruisers (Prado and LC200) a month, which is more than the Highlander. So there is clearly a large market for the premium versions of these two vehicles. I will say this again: Toyota's lack of faith with their BoF product line and the resulting indecision to redesign or refresh is one of the biggest mistakes they've made in this decade.
>>LS keeps struggling despite Lexus offering incentives of up to RMB 150,000. Compared to original post-tariff-drop prices, now one can basically have the Executive Package plus Kiriko Glass for free. But LS still doesn't sell, and there is no reason it sells even worse than the 4LS, which is LWB. This basically proves my previous predictions of the 5LS: LWB is a must for China.
August sales breakdown available.
#1 NX 5,116 (3,739 Gas+1,377 Hybrid)
#2 RX 4,376 (3,935 Gas+441 Hybrid)
#3 ES 3,705 (3,680 Gas+25 Hybrid)
#4 IS 2,858
#5 CT 1,068
#6 LX 636
#7 LS 471 (147 Gas+324 Hybrid)
#8 GS 291 (145 Gas+146 Hybrid)
#9 LC500h 25
#10 RC-F 19
#11 GX400 1
>>As expected ES had a weak month due to depletion of 6ES inventory and 7ES production ramp. Due to low availability of the 7ES, IS had a shocking month with 2,858 sold! That is more than the number sold from January to July combined. I hope this is a chance for people to appreciate the IS more, although with its meager rear legroom it will not do well in China anytime soon.
>>The NX and RX are gaining momentum. Although it can be clearly seen the RX really needs a more affordable hybrid. Also, NX could use a better pricing structure to move sales away from the base trim NX200 to better optioned 300 and 300h.
>>CT is holding on. 1068 may not sound like a lot, but that is 1/3 of the Mercedes CLA, the sales leader in compact segment. It is not a star but a consistent seller, so I see no reason to kill it and not build a 2nd Gen.
>>LX continues to have a strong showing. China will overtake U.S. as its second largest market this year. It is crazy how good the LX is business-wise for Lexus, with a selling price higher than the LS and even the LC but the cost of a Land Cruiser. GX was taken off the market for half a year now. It could really need another facelift ASAP. There is no reason to sell one GX a month when they could easily sell a thousand. I say this because Toyota sells over 11,000 Land Cruisers (Prado and LC200) a month, which is more than the Highlander. So there is clearly a large market for the premium versions of these two vehicles. I will say this again: Toyota's lack of faith with their BoF product line and the resulting indecision to redesign or refresh is one of the biggest mistakes they've made in this decade.
>>LS keeps struggling despite Lexus offering incentives of up to RMB 150,000. Compared to original post-tariff-drop prices, now one can basically have the Executive Package plus Kiriko Glass for free. But LS still doesn't sell, and there is no reason it sells even worse than the 4LS, which is LWB. This basically proves my previous predictions of the 5LS: LWB is a must for China.
As to the GX, it will never be able to sell well worldwide. It never sold well anywhere but in the USA. Not even in the Gulf countries.
This is because it ends up similar to the price of Land Cruiser V8, and who would want smaller car?
This would be like saying an ES won't sell because there's Camry. Well, people buy 'overpriced Camry' called ES for a reason. There are more than enough people who are willing to pay over ¥600k for an 'overpriced Prado' so they don't look like a tourist driver. The GX didn't do well historically in China because the 4.6 was subject to a 40% displacement tax pushing its price to over ¥800k. They tried to rectify the problem with the GX400 but that didn't work well because it coincided with the boycotting incident that reset all Japanese brands overnight.
The resurgence of BoF in China is a natural result of the growth of wealth so more middle-class families want a vehicle that can do long road trips, and very fast growth of the private tourism industry. And this is a trend that only happened for less than five years.
The GX only needs a 3.5L V6 engine to thrive here as power is not very important. And there is no worry about the LC200 since it is only available with the 4.0L V6 at ¥600k, while the 5.7L V8 is more expensive than the LS. There is also a geographical preference towards the Prado in the South since roads are so narrow making the LC200 less maneuvrable. The LC200 has different buyer demographics compared to the GX.
If there's any place that has a taste for cars like USA it will be China, and I mean the more developed part of it. I know this doesn't make any sense, but it has been the case after we no longer have to deal with outdated cold war shitboxes. On the other side of the coin is the less developed areas that has similar preferences to Europeans.
Shouldn't that be ES #2 and RX #3?September sales breakdown available.
#1 NX 4,324 (3,218 Gas+1,106 Hybrid)
#2 RX 3,150 (2,836 Gas+314 Hybrid)
#3 ES 3,791 (3,785 Gas+6 Hybrid)
#4 IS 2,402
#5 CT 752
#6 LX 488
#7 LS 446 (134 Gas+312 Hybrid)
#8 GS 245 (136 Gas+109 Hybrid)
#9 LC500h 17
#10 RC-F 14
#11 GX400 2
Total sales is at 15,631, up 37% Y2Y. September is traditionally a weak month, plus the Chinese auto market is shrinking so don't compare the numbers to August directly.
ES is still struggling with delivery, in particular the hybrid. This means IS gets another strong month.
Shouldn't that be ES #2 and RX #3?
...¥600k ... ¥800k.
September sales breakdown available.
#1 NX 4,324 (3,218 Gas+1,106 Hybrid)
#2 ES 3,791 (3,785 Gas+6 Hybrid)
#3 RX 3,150 (2,836 Gas+314 Hybrid)
#4 IS 2,402
#5 CT 752
#6 LX 488
#7 LS 446 (134 Gas+312 Hybrid)
#8 GS 245 (136 Gas+109 Hybrid)
#9 LC500h 17
#10 RC-F 14
#11 GX400 2
Total sales is at 15,631, up 37% Y2Y. September is traditionally a weak month, plus the Chinese auto market is shrinking so don't compare the numbers to August directly.
ES is still struggling with delivery, in particular the hybrid. This means IS gets another strong month.
those are very nice sales for Lexus... more ES are coming too.
btw, did I mention lately that NX has 3-4.5 month waiting period in Japan?
I really don't like how chinese sales analysts always misinterpret sales figures. Like when GAC Honda overestimated demand for the Accord and overdelivered to the dealers, the analysts said 'the Accord is making a comeback and showing the Camry who is the boss'. ES having only 3,791 sales is interpreted as 'the over-hyped king of premium sedan' and 'IS is the dark horse of the year'. It seems none of them cared to think about the fact all new vehicles need a ramp-up period (although to be honest, I really hope this gives the IS a chance to become a steady seller in China).
The NX doing great in Japan is a no-brainer. The NX doesn't have good competition in Japan so it reigns supreme in the 'large premium crossover' segment. I think it's a go-to choice for most families with a little extra wealth. The RX is too big for most customers and is a status symbol of mid-to-high management people, unlike in USA where it is a staple middle class family crossover. This 'vehicle tied to social hierarchy' thing is pretty interesting aspect of their culture, the best part is of course that there are very few 'badge whores' we all hate in China and US.
Good news keeps coming from Lexus China. 16,587 delivered this month marking a 28.6% increase. Right on target to the 160k goal for this year. Meanwhile the entire premium/luxury market in the country keeps struggling amid the auto market recession.
Most popular grade on UX was F sport with 80% of vehicles being that.