Dec 2006 and 2006 Year End Sales aka Lexus #1 again
#122
Lexus Champion
The ES350 has not sold or exceeded the expected 70,000. The figures released combine both 330 and 350 sales and 330 sales alone were over 15,400 as of April sales and they continued to be sold beyond April as closeout.
As a former manufacturing business owner I would be very concerned that there is not even a marginal positive sales growth of 1 or 2 percent even, not even neutral sales growth, but instead significant negative sales growth compared to prior year on so many models on offer.
More concerning to me would be that one of the better selling models of all models on offer is the most problematic, the ES350.
#123
Lexus Champion
genearch has a valid point.
The ES350 has not sold or exceeded the expected 70,000. The figures released combine both 330 and 350 sales and 330 sales alone were over 15,400 as of April sales and they continued to be sold beyond April as closeout.
As a former manufacturing business owner I would be very concerned that there is not even a marginal positive sales growth of 1 or 2 percent even, not even neutral sales growth, but instead significant negative sales growth compared to prior year on so many models on offer.
More concerning to me would be that one of the better selling models of all models on offer is the most problematic, the ES350.
The ES350 has not sold or exceeded the expected 70,000. The figures released combine both 330 and 350 sales and 330 sales alone were over 15,400 as of April sales and they continued to be sold beyond April as closeout.
As a former manufacturing business owner I would be very concerned that there is not even a marginal positive sales growth of 1 or 2 percent even, not even neutral sales growth, but instead significant negative sales growth compared to prior year on so many models on offer.
More concerning to me would be that one of the better selling models of all models on offer is the most problematic, the ES350.
#124
Lexus Champion
I'm not sure I understand your numbers. Thru Dec '06 nearly 76,000 ES models were sold, assuming 15,400 were 330's, that means 60,600 were 350's in the 9 months they were on sale. In Dec '06 alone, they sold 8,736 350's. If that monthly rate continues, or even comes close, they'll easily exceed 70,000 annual sales.
#125
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Fair enough - the lower priced car does tend to sell better in most line-ups. However, the 530i/530xi does outsell the 525i/525xi.
Wrong again.... you really need to compare the cars. The 525xi goes for about $50-$52K with options - about the same as the GS350 and with the lower dealer profit on the BMW; even after incentives they are comparably priced. Of course I would argue people compare the 530 and GS350....anyway...
I've searched a couple of dealers (remember you can do this with BMW dealers on the web ) and I can't seem to locate a 525i - only 525xi - so I'm also thinking the statement that it is easier to get your hands on a 525i than a GS350 is also wrong. But if you have some sort of proof other than some occasional posts on CL....?
Wrong again.... you really need to compare the cars. The 525xi goes for about $50-$52K with options - about the same as the GS350 and with the lower dealer profit on the BMW; even after incentives they are comparably priced. Of course I would argue people compare the 530 and GS350....anyway...
I've searched a couple of dealers (remember you can do this with BMW dealers on the web ) and I can't seem to locate a 525i - only 525xi - so I'm also thinking the statement that it is easier to get your hands on a 525i than a GS350 is also wrong. But if you have some sort of proof other than some occasional posts on CL....?
To put forth an alternate perspective, I doubt you can get your hands on a base GS350. In fact, many in the GS forum are stating dealer reports that the GS350 is in low supply, and hard to get in a lot of regions.
#126
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I mentioned that it was impossible for Lexus to only sell ES350s this year, since the car came out in May. On top of that, demand for the ES330 was quite low in the months leading up to the ES350 release, so this should be viewed as an even bigger accomplishment.
At the current sales rate, the ES350 for 2007 will easily exceed 70,000 sales, if not surpassing 80,000 sales.
#127
Lexus Fanatic
The latest JD Power survey of the top ten movers movers for December is out and here are the results:
Days on Lot:
11 Volvo C70
12 Honda Fit
15 Nissan Versa
16 Honda CRV
17 Mercedes S-Class
17 Lexus LS Series
18 Lexus ES Series
18 Toyota FJ Cruiser
18 Toyota Yaris
19 Toyota RAV4
19 Audi RS4
19 Toyota Camry
.
Days on Lot:
11 Volvo C70
12 Honda Fit
15 Nissan Versa
16 Honda CRV
17 Mercedes S-Class
17 Lexus LS Series
18 Lexus ES Series
18 Toyota FJ Cruiser
18 Toyota Yaris
19 Toyota RAV4
19 Audi RS4
19 Toyota Camry
.
#128
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The latest JD Power survey of the top ten movers movers for December is out and here are the results:
Days on Lot:
11 Volvo C70
12 Honda Fit
15 Nissan Versa
16 Honda CRV
17 Mercedes S-Class
17 Lexus LS Series
18 Lexus ES Series
18 Toyota FJ Cruiser
18 Toyota Yaris
19 Toyota RAV4
19 Audi RS4
19 Toyota Camry
.
Days on Lot:
11 Volvo C70
12 Honda Fit
15 Nissan Versa
16 Honda CRV
17 Mercedes S-Class
17 Lexus LS Series
18 Lexus ES Series
18 Toyota FJ Cruiser
18 Toyota Yaris
19 Toyota RAV4
19 Audi RS4
19 Toyota Camry
.
It's also surprising how popular the Rav 4 remains, and looking at the sales numbers, I think Toyota might be limited by supply, as Rav 4 sales numbers have remained consistently high for several months. It would explain Toyota's move to build Rav 4 models at the new Ontario plant.
The IS and GS I believe are low 20s.
#129
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genearch has a valid point.
The ES350 has not sold or exceeded the expected 70,000. The figures released combine both 330 and 350 sales and 330 sales alone were over 15,400 as of April sales and they continued to be sold beyond April as closeout.
As a former manufacturing business owner I would be very concerned that there is not even a marginal positive sales growth of 1 or 2 percent even, not even neutral sales growth, but instead significant negative sales growth compared to prior year on so many models on offer.
More concerning to me would be that one of the better selling models of all models on offer is the most problematic, the ES350.
The ES350 has not sold or exceeded the expected 70,000. The figures released combine both 330 and 350 sales and 330 sales alone were over 15,400 as of April sales and they continued to be sold beyond April as closeout.
As a former manufacturing business owner I would be very concerned that there is not even a marginal positive sales growth of 1 or 2 percent even, not even neutral sales growth, but instead significant negative sales growth compared to prior year on so many models on offer.
More concerning to me would be that one of the better selling models of all models on offer is the most problematic, the ES350.
Lexus/Toyota is a PRODUCTION CAPACITY. They can barely make enough cars/suvs due to demand.
This, IMO is contributing to some quality issues. They simply cannot keep up with DEMAND.
#130
Exactly - finding a base anything luxury is almost impossible. My point is, a GS350 with AWD goes for about $50K with your normal options as does the 525xi.....
#131
Lexus Champion
Lexus wanted 17% market share for the IS/ES, i.e 119k units. They got 20% market share. We know this b/c we have pics of said presentation and we now have year end results.
Lexus/Toyota is a PRODUCTION CAPACITY. They can barely make enough cars/suvs due to demand.
This, IMO is contributing to some quality issues. They simply cannot keep up with DEMAND.
Lexus/Toyota is a PRODUCTION CAPACITY. They can barely make enough cars/suvs due to demand.
This, IMO is contributing to some quality issues. They simply cannot keep up with DEMAND.
If production demand was tied to and explained away quality issues, we would see as many complaints on the IS by owners as we see for the ES, not even close.
Whoever is running IS quality assurance needs to oversee the ES side for a while, a few years of oversight maybe.
#132
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If production demand was tied to and explained away quality issues, we would see as many complaints on the IS by owners as we see for the ES, not even close.
Whoever is running IS quality assurance needs to oversee the ES side for a while, a few years of oversight maybe.
Whoever is running IS quality assurance needs to oversee the ES side for a while, a few years of oversight maybe.
ES is built off the Camry platform
They are built in different factories in Japan.
Seems the tranny the ES/Camry shares has the issue. No other Lexus 6 speed has it.
So it must be a Camry/ES glitch, IMO and both have never sold better. I am sad that the issue has not been solved it.
#133
Lexus Champion
You cannot have one of your best selling models on Lexus side be the most problematic whilst witnessing a decline in sales on all other models with near zero problems by comparison, except one other, the IS.
I now understand exactly why, nearly every chance he gets in world publications, the CEO is prepping the public on quality issues. He already knew the above long before we did and he is laying ground work to deal with the resultant bad PR go he is going to have to deal with over it.
And whoever or whatever internal group within Lexus released that spreadsheet containing mathematical errors into the public domain is not helping him either, it looks bad.
#134
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Now hold that thought above and pretend you are the CEO of Toyota overseeing Lexus passenger car sales and I believe you will see the point genreach seemed was trying to make and I was pointing out as a result of responses to his keen business insight.
You cannot have one of your best selling models on Lexus side be the most problematic whilst witnessing a decline in sales on all other models with near zero problems by comparison, except one other, the IS.
I now understand exactly why, nearly every chance he gets in world publications, the CEO is prepping the public on quality issues. He already knew the above long before we did and he is laying ground work to deal with the resultant bad PR go he is going to have to deal with over it.
And whoever or whatever internal group within Lexus released that spreadsheet containing mathematical errors into the public domain is not helping him either, it looks bad.
You cannot have one of your best selling models on Lexus side be the most problematic whilst witnessing a decline in sales on all other models with near zero problems by comparison, except one other, the IS.
I now understand exactly why, nearly every chance he gets in world publications, the CEO is prepping the public on quality issues. He already knew the above long before we did and he is laying ground work to deal with the resultant bad PR go he is going to have to deal with over it.
And whoever or whatever internal group within Lexus released that spreadsheet containing mathematical errors into the public domain is not helping him either, it looks bad.
I still will not say the ES is hugely problematic. Some cars, for some reason, have this tranny glitch. We have tons of HAPPY owners on this site for instance.
#135
Lexus Champion
Before we just to this conclusion, we don't have a large enough sample size to see how much of a problem it is. Again, the ES did win an initial quality award. 76k just were sold.
I still will not say the ES is hugely problematic. Some cars, for some reason, have this tranny glitch. We have tons of HAPPY owners on this site for instance.
I still will not say the ES is hugely problematic. Some cars, for some reason, have this tranny glitch. We have tons of HAPPY owners on this site for instance.