spwolf, I've posted this link for you before, this time, please read it.

http://www.hondanews.com/CatID1001?m...32267&mime=asc

If that doesn't convince you that Civic sales are production limited, then I don't know what to tell you. Last time I checked, a company doesn't increase production of something that is "low" in sales.

BTW, Civic sales are UP YTD. Thats what counts.

 

I would say the same goes for Lexus since YTD sales are down for every model except for the IS/ES. Lexus cars and SUV's were down major but the IS/ES kept them afloat.

 

Lexus is going to be the best selling luxury brand 7 years in a row, selling over 300,000 vehicles again. It really doesn't matter.

 

Add the hybrid in silly. The numbers are basically flat.

http://automobiles.honda.com/info/ne...=2006102332267

 

I dunno Mike, the RX is now starting to weaken... I've said it before, the car needs a third row. I'm curious if the trend will continue.

 

I agree 100%. I was one of the 640 people who bought an RX8. When I was at the dealership, all of the Mazda's on the lot were really good cars I can see myself driving....well except the Tribute.

I thought Mazda would be doing better. I know 4 people personally who have bought brand new Mazdas in the last 6 months. These are people who traditionally drove Toyotas all their lives. Me included.

 

-5.9% for the month, and -1.6% for the year...seems pretty stable to me.

In other words, it sold 94.1% this month over the same month a year ago, and to date is selling 98.4% as much ytd as last year.

Isn't the third row going to be in the JX/VX?

It's easy to cheer when you're on top. But hey, 7 years is great. And what the heck

 

GS 300/350
October
.1,793. .2,279. .-18.2%.
Year to Date
.20,012. .22,611. .-11.5%.

Looks like the new engine really is not helping sales? The arch enemy Infiniti M sales were 1,986 - I am sure the Infiniti fans are rejoicing again.

More importantly I wonder what the GS is selling for nowadays. I assume the hybrid is still in low production & not getting discounted ... darn it.

 

Auto Sales Show American Consumers Disregard Gas Prices
American car buyers get a case of amnesia
When gas prices take a breather, consumers' common sense takes a hike.
FORTUNE Magazine
By Alex Taylor III, Fortune senior editor
November 2 2006: 8:18 AM EST

(Fortune Magazine) -- Who can remember all the way back to last summer, when we had daylight saving time, baseball, and $3 a gallon gasoline prices?

Not American car buyers, apparently, and you can see the evidence in the results of October auto sales.

Sales of big pickup trucks and SUVs went through the roof - doubling from the year before in some cases. Sales of small, fuel-efficient cars, meanwhile, remained stagnant. It is as if all that moaning and groaning about price gouging by oil companies never happened.

Actually, it is worse than that. American consumers have reinforced all the stereotypes they are labeled with: short attention spans, lack of social consciousness and thinking with their wallets.

Does anyone seriously believe that having once spiked up to $3 with very little provocation, gasoline prices won't do it again? Have they forgotten about the ongoing instability in the Middle East, where most of our oil comes from? And have they stopped caring about traffic density, scarce resources or global warming? And if they haven't, why aren't they exercising better sense in their vehicle preferences?
Homegrowns

General Motors' (Charts) customers get the ostrich award for sticking their heads in the sand. They drove up sales of hulking Chevy Tahoes and Suburbans, and Cadillac Escalade in October to double and triple the rates of a year ago. At the same time, they walked away from economical Chevy Aveos and Cobalts, sending sales of those vehicles down 31 percent and 43 percent respectively. "GM's truck business was boosted by lower fuel prices," sales and marketing boss Mark LaNeve explains. Apparently so.

One bright spot; sales of the fuel-gulping Hummer were about flat compared with a year ago. Perhaps consumers have tired of cartoonish macho design.

Over at Ford (Charts) and Chrysler, results were about the same. Sales of the new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator both shot up more than 40 percent. Both are handsome vehicles greatly improved in their ride and handling from previous versions, but how many people really need all that metal to drive to the 7-Eleven?

Over at Chrysler, sales of Jeeps - known for their go-anywhere capabilities but not their fuel economy - shot up 29 percent, with the biggest and thirstiest, the Commander, shooting off dealer lots at the rate of more than 8,000 a month.

Import buyers demonstrated a little more common sense. They tend to be self-selected Blue Staters anyway, who are attracted to import brands because of their lighter weight and more fuel-efficient engines. The gap between them and domestic buyers is widening.
Imports

Toyota (Charts) reported its best-ever October, with overall sales up 13.6 percent. Its hybrids suffered because lower gas prices make the premium price harder to justify. Prius, the hybrid flagship, saw its sales fall 8.6 percent, though to a still-healthy 8,733 for the month. Meanwhile, the RAV4, a crossover SUV that is downright stingy in fuel usage compared with a traditional truck-based SUV, sold 11,154 copies in October, nearly beating out the old-style Ford Explorer, once the leader in the field.

Honda (Charts) did Toyota one better. It moved 20,413 CR-V crossover SUVs during the month, an increase of nearly 96 percent, handily outpacing Explorer. Honda likes to brag that it has the best overall fuel economy of any U.S. brand, and its customers responded. They bought 21,343 small Civics during October, including 2,288 Civic Hybrids.

These kinds of sales fluctuations drive product planners crazy. As they sketch out new models for the 2010 model year and beyond, do they add more big V-8s based on the latest sales data? Or do they assume that either gas prices will carom up again, or buyers will stop getting more vehicle than they need, and concentrate on doing more for less.

The sociologists have a simpler time of it. As Americans flock back to their old buying habits, it is all too easy to lump excessive fuel consumption in with other bad habits involving overindulgence: over eating, over spending and over television watching.

The supply of oil is not limitless but apparently the current generation of Americans is all too willing to exhaust it by buying more vehicle than they need and letting their children and grandchildren fend for themselves.

 

Infiniti M35/45 sales are combined, they have never seperated the 2. Lexus beat them by like 11 cars as 204 GS 430/450 were built.

 

So the GS is still ahead of the M for this year!
I also always thought it was funny that infiniti never seperated the M35 and M45 sales numbers... Are they trying to fool people in that in that infiniti has no problem selling $55K+ cars when most of the M sales are the 35???
But anyway, I went with a friend last night to see the M45 (launched 3 days ago) and I have to say it is quite impressive. One thing though I thought it would be much bigger and roomier on the inside.
Anyway, get this, the M45 sells for $78K USD with all the papers done etc (no M35 yet).
Lexus sells the GS300, that's right, the 300, for around $83K USD.
The M is a monster value/great car but my friend and I both agreed that the GS looks better, feels better made and is more special (his mom will be getting a GS soon).

 

................................................

 

they already make that, called the GX, the current RX is a 03-04 model and its STARTING to weaken, sounds impressive to me considering 07s are out

 

Dude, the GX is a truck. Trust me, people going from an RX that need three rows rarely go to a GX.

The RX came out as a 2004 - and has had a nice engine upgrade since then. I'm looking at the 7K in sales vs. the 10K it is used to having. We shall see what happens.

 

New RX came out 3+ years ago, & the 7K figure is just for one month, year-to-date RX sales for 2006 is down only 1.6 % compared to 2005 ytd figures . . . a 3 row GS based crossover like the HPX concept is not a bad idea though . . .