Gojirra99

I think Lexus is also more interested in actually making money for themselves and their dealers in the long run rather than selling as many cars as possible.
As we have already seen, selling(ahem, subsidized leasing) more cars does not always translate to more profits. "Selling" more can result in actually losing more money.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

encore said what i wanted to say. looking at one month's number is moot point, mb and bmw have different incentives and such every month, numbers swing big time. but i guess overall picture is the IS and LS compete well with bmw and mb, but the GS is just failing pretty badly over time

GS69

The GS gets no luv around here. I could go on to say once again how it has traditionally been 3rd in its class but I will say that it is rather alarming that the car is entering RL territory whereas the M is not. Lexus always seemed lackluster in their efforts w/ the GS so I doubt that they will do much to stop the sales decline until the next generatoin (not unlike the SC).

On another tip: What is up w/ the Yaris? The Fit & Versa sales are pretty much staying put but the Yaris is waaay down (~50% for the year so far) when cars in that class should be doing better than any other ...

IS-SV

Maybe rental car/fleet sales decline, just a guess......

kpmg2007

Maybe they sold Yaris too much last year?

SLegacy99

Isn't the Versa sedan pretty new and the Fit was just redesigned and boasts a new 1.5L engine that puts out the same amount of power and gets the same fuel economy.

-J-P-L-

I would say a lot of it has to do with cheap gas prices now compared to the $3-$4/gal last year. At that time, you couldn't find a Yaris. I know, because that's when I bought mine and had a hard time getting one (in fact, I could only find a used one). And of course, the fact that just about every car is down 30-60%.

As for the Fit, it is holding steady because it is two years newer than the Yaris and also Honda is finally building enough (the '07-'08 were way under supplied). I don't know why the Versa is doing as well as it is. Many find it ugly, it get's worse gas mileage, and Nissan doesn't have the Toyota/Honda image. Weird.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

maybe people are finally realizing the central guage pod is stupid and more about cost cutting than putting the guages IN THE DRIVER'S SIGHT LINE.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

at less than 600 units sold last month, 'around here' seems to reflect the market.

ES/IS/LS are much more competitive offerings for their segments/targets.

thurstonp

And the ES is down 44%. Barely outsold the 'terrible TL' by 100 units.

As far as incentives, Lexus likes to appear 'above the fray' as though they aren't discounting, yet three dealers I've talked to will match just about any Inifniti/Acura/BMW lease or finance offer that I have mentioned to them - or even better it.

Basically you'll pay invoice for an ES right now - unheard of a couple of years ago. Discounting is alive and well at Lexus - you just have to negotiate, as you would on any car purchase these days. Settling for $3k off MRSP, or paying the market bank rate - is for suckers. It's a buyers market, and Lexus can't pretend it isn't - and they aren't.

GS69

The only things that I can think of that are going for the Versa is that it is the largest of the 3 & has the cheapest starting point. The Yaris, tho, has 2 pretty different body styles that should help sales & I will never understand the center gauge stack. Never crossed my mind that it could be a cost cutting result.

As for the TL, yes the ES350 barely outsold it but that thing is now like 3 years old whereas the 2009 TL is brand new. Back in the final days of the ES330, the new TL was outselling it but when the new ES350 debuted, its sales were higher (higher sales #s is typical for a new model) & this scenario should have played out again for the 2009 TL but it has not. Yes, the economy is affecting sales but I do believe that the brand new TL should have more sales than the older ES350 ... so again, TL sales are OK but not great. However, w/ the car moving up in price/market, lower sales are probably are expected.

It will be interesting to see what Lexus does w/ the next GS. The new Infiniti M should debut around the same time if they are both still on the same schedule ...

Updated to add: According to this, the new M will be out in September & it will have a hybrid variant which puts it more in direct competition w/ the GS.

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

How old is the ES? How is the BRAND SPANKING NEW TL?

We aren't talking about the ES, we are talking about the BRAND SPANKING NEW TL. When the last gen TL was BRAND SPANKING NEW it was the sales leader. Also, the BRAND SPANKING NEW A4 is doing MUCH BETTER than the BRAND SPANKING NEW TL when comparing to the last generation.

Just because the others suck doesn't make you good.

Mr. Jones

interestingly Lexus should launch a new ES, IS and GS (SC too) all in 2011. Toyota will launch a new Camry then too (AE86 too), should be a really huge year for them

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Agreed. I tried to convince the fiancee to pick up a Fit instead (pre update) because the gauges made more sense, but she liked the Yaris despite the gauges because it was 'cute'

-J-P-L-

Here we go with the center gauge debate.

My eyes are closer to the road in my Yaris sedan than with traditional gauges.
People make it sound like you have to turn your head to see the gauges. Huh?
The gauges actually overlap the right side of your chest (it's not way over to the right as pics may suggest).

It boggles my mind that this is a deal breaker for many people. Ask any owner, and they'll tell you they like center gauges better after owning a Yaris even though they thought they wouldn't.