April 2016 Lexus & Industry Sales

[Joaquin Ruhi]

The Q40 isn't in production anymore.

True, but there were enough of them left over and sitting around at some Infiniti dealers that 4 of them were sold during April 2016. And Infiniti is hardly alone in this situation. Just look at the chart in the first post of this thread. Literal handfuls of Toyota FJ Cruiser, Scion xD and iQ were sold last month even though they were discontinued as far back as 2014. Heck, 5 new Lexus LFAs have been sold so far this year, a car whose production stopped in December 2012. Granted, a $375,000+ car is an extreme example...

 

[spwolf]

http://www.autonews.com/article/201...-to-6-gain-in-april-gm-drops-4-ford-rises-3-6

BMW's spending is down a bit from March, but more than 15% more than it was last April.

BMW spending 2.7k more than Toyota on incentives and MB spending 2x more. Darn.

I would guess most of it went to car sales.

It is lucky for Toyota that most of its SUVs are locally made... they are going to have issues with Japanese models inventory in the next 2 months due to earthquakes and lost production.

 

[spwolf]

I think they have no choice, given the way market and sales trends are going. Their recent RX L and UX trademarks certainly hint at plans to enter both ends of the luxury crossover market.

On the other hand, they won't altogether ignore the car segment, what with the upcoming LC and next-gen LS launches. And the rapidly-declining CT is also due for a new generation within the next year or 2, tops.

it kind of sucks than LC is going to be introduced in this SUV heavy market, but i guess thats what it is.

Realistically no matter what you do right now with sedans, you will end up having to give a lot of discounts to sell them right now. Whoever can produce more SUVs, wins.

Looking at figures, most Toyota trucks dont have enough stock for 30 days... they are running out of 4Runners as well as Highlanders. They could sell more of those and I think for Highlander production should be up in next few months, while 4Runner and Rav4 might end up having an issue due to japanese production.

Tacoma has really low supply... they need to start doing more than 20k of those per month.

 

[Hemi]

Nobody wants sedans or coupes, lackluster powertrains, GS front fascia is morbid looking, RC interior needs a refresh...

I thing that the new GS refresh looks good but its not so outstanding as the one which came in 2013. However that was a new generation. When comes to RC I agree, especially the system refresh plus larger screen as the new IS.

 

[Gecko]

I thing that the new GS refresh looks good but its not so outstanding as the one which came in 2013. However that was a new generation. When comes to RC I agree, especially the system refresh plus larger screen as the new IS.

Eh?

You think this:

looks more outrageous than this?

To me, old GS was bland-ish but clean looking. New GS is simply too much going on - too many creases, folds, openings, hard edges, etc. To each his own, however!

 

[mikeavelli]

I rarely have thought styling has been a direct issue for Lexus sales, the last one I can think of is the discontinued (US Market) HS. Unfortunately I think the new GS might have went a bit too far up front.

Another thing, the GS has the new 2.0 in addition to the the GS F whereas before it was basically all GS 350 sales and handful of GS 450h. The new 2.0 hasn't done much if anything to help sales. Not sure what Lexus thinks internally about this.
GS 200
GS 350
GS 450h
GS F

So to their credit they have expanded the lineup. I really wish it got more attention from people because it is still of my opinion its one of the best all around vehicles sold on the market today.

Random chart lol

 

[Hemi]

Eh?

You think this:

looks more outrageous than this?

To me, old GS was bland-ish but clean looking. New GS is simply too much going on - too many creases, folds, openings, hard edges, etc. To each his own, however!

Yes thats what I thought. I mean its pointless to discuss design because its individual but I have to admint these two pictures are interesting. The older version looks outdated here compared to the new one, but the facelift looks kinda odd.
Nevertheless I would personally pick the GS F-sport 2016 because I like more the interior changes plus the exterior wins me over just a little bit.

P.S. not on this picture though.

 

[Andyl]

I am paying a bit more attention to the sales of GS and IS.

IMHO, the poor sales are due to the lacklustre engine/transmission. The 3.5L engine just need to be updated. It is old technology despite it is reliable and runs smooth. Fuel economy is not on par with the more current engine offers from its competitors (MB, BMW, Audi, etc). 2.0t engine is okay but for RWD only which is not helping a lot.

Lexus thinks they tweak the exterior design to be more aggressive in order to attract more buyers from other luxury brands who want sportiness. But only the appearance is not enough. Obviously, handling for say GS and IS have much been improved over the last generation but performance is poor by today's standard in its class.


For IS -- they just showed the 2017 facelift. Improvements in interior are certainly helping but the weakest links are the power trains. For GS, I find the interior and exterior look perfectly fine in either the older or the newer version. The exterior of the newer version looks weird in some pictures, just as others have pointed out. In person, it looks great.

 

[krew]

To me, old GS was bland-ish but clean looking. New GS is simply too much going on - too many creases, folds, openings, hard edges, etc. To each his own, however!

Weird to think looking at these photos that the GS was the model that officially kicked off the spindle grille. The non-F SPORT version looks very dull compared the updated Lexus lineup.

I rarely have thought styling has been a direct issue for Lexus sales, the last one I can think of is the discontinued (US Market) HS. Unfortunately I think the new GS might have went a bit too far up front.

In terms of design, the GS F blows the standard and F SPORT versions of the GS out of the water. The lines are all integrated, the hard edges have all be smoothed out -- I'm a broken record but the GS F is probably my favorite Lexus since the LS 430.

In contrast, the 2016 GS & GS F SPORT front ends lack cohesion, there's just too much going on. You have to wonder if people are put off by the update, the numbers are not good for a just-refreshed model.

IMHO, the poor sales are due to the lacklustre engine/transmission. The 3.5L engine just need to be updated. It is old technology despite it is reliable and runs smooth. Fuel economy is not on par with the more current engine offers from its competitors (MB, BMW, Audi, etc). 2.0t engine is okay but for RWD only which is not helping a lot.

Lexus thinks they tweak the exterior design to be more aggressive in order to attract more buyers from other luxury brands who want sportiness. But only the appearance is not enough. Obviously, handling for say GS and IS have much been improved over the last generation but performance is poor by today's standard in its class.

Excellent comment, very astute. It does feel like Lexus has invested more in appearance and branding than in the underlying tech. I think this is all tied up in the move to the TNGA platforms, and the LC 500h is a great example of what the next-generation models could bring in terms of new powertrains.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

I don't know if you can attribute the poor sales of the Lexus car lineup to styling completely. Again, the CUV/SUV craze is what's hot right now and what most buyers want. Most everyone's car sales are down. Just look at the Camry and that segment which is getting hit hard. Sales are down, but Camry is still the leader for the time being. GS and IS have never been the leading sellers in their segment so their numbers will dip more dramatically than Ze Germans.

 

[mikeavelli]

In terms of design, the GS F blows the standard and F SPORT versions of the GS out of the water. The lines are all integrated, the hard edges have all be smoothed out -- I'm a broken record but the GS F is probably my favorite Lexus since the LS 430.

Agreed...the GS F nails it...I think the front is a bit more angular compared to the softer version of the non F...

I don't know if you can attribute the poor sales of the Lexus car lineup to styling completely. Again, the CUV/SUV craze is what's hot right now and what most buyers want. Most everyone's car sales are down. Just look at the Camry and that segment which is getting hit hard. Sales are down, but Camry is still the leader for the time being. GS and IS have never been the leading sellers in their segment so their numbers will dip more dramatically than Ze Germans.

No doubt this is true. Rav4 continues to climb.

 

[Gecko]

I don't know if you can attribute the poor sales of the Lexus car lineup to styling completely. Again, the CUV/SUV craze is what's hot right now and what most buyers want. Most everyone's car sales are down. Just look at the Camry and that segment which is getting hit hard. Sales are down, but Camry is still the leader for the time being. GS and IS have never been the leading sellers in their segment so their numbers will dip more dramatically than Ze Germans.

Agreed...the GS F nails it...I think the front is a bit more angular compared to the softer version of the non F...

No doubt this is true. Rav4 continues to climb.

Agree with both of you. Proof is plain to see. Camry was selling 38-40k units and is now down to 31-33k. In the meantime, Rav4 sales are up nearly 10k/month this generation (avg 25-30k/month), 4Runner had a best ever sales month, Highlander is selling 5k more units a month than last generation.

RX is going back up, GX is now very old but still hovering around 2k a month and the NX's ~3,500 units had to come from somewhere. GS, ES and IS are paying the price but the good news is that I think Lexus is able to keep many of those folks in-house.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...-many-popular-luxury-cars-america-nosediving/

The Premium Plunge: Sales of the Most Popular Luxury Cars in America Are Nosediving

America’s record-breaking new vehicle sales volume in calendar year 2015 was powered in part by better-than-average growth from premium automakers.

Yet after BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Acura, and Cadillac all failed to match the rate of industry-wide expansion in 2015, the first four months of 2016 have revealed that even more top-level premium brands are fading as the market for new vehicles continues to expand. U.S. auto sales are up 3.4 percent in 2016. Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW (the three top-ranked premium auto brands), Acura, Cadillac, and Infiniti posted declining sales in the first-third of 2016.

 

[meth.ix]

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...-many-popular-luxury-cars-america-nosediving/

I think that this is because regular non-luxury cars are getting better everyday and people don't need luxury cars for good features.

 

[Tragic Bronson]

I think that this is because regular non-luxury cars are getting better everyday and people don't need luxury cars for good features.

I think that has been pervasive for the past decade, but the current decline has mostly been attributed to the popularity of crossovers and trucks, etc.

 

[Gecko]

I think you're both right... also, the global economy is softening a little bit and I think that has some people staying with mainstream brands/products for right now. Economic outlook for the next few years is shaky.