"Lexus widens lead over Mercedes and BMW"
11-03-10, 12:15 PM
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"Lexus widens lead over Mercedes and BMW"
Toyota's Lexus Widens U.S. Luxury Sales Lead Over Mercedes, BMW
By Tim Higgins
Nov 3, 2010 2:54 PM ET
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus, buoyed by consumer discounts, added to its lead in U.S. luxury-auto sales last month over Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW brand.
Sales for Lexus rose 8.1 percent to 21,091 vehicles, the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker said today in a statement. Yesterday, BMW reported a 17 percent gain to 19,272 and Mercedes posted an increase of less than 1 percent to 18,351.
Lexus, the top-selling U.S. luxury brand since 2000, is being challenged this year as Toyota copes with record recalls and as Mercedes and BMW benefit from new models. Lexus more than doubled average incentive spending in October to $2,152 a vehicle from $923 a year earlier, according to TrueCar.com, an auto pricing website.
The Toyota unit has been “much more aggressive than they’ve ever been,” Jim O’Donnell, president of BMW’s North American unit, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We’ve now got Lexus joining the fray where they’ve always stood on the sideline and sort of watched.”
U.S. sales for this year through October totaled 183,529 for Lexus, 178,080 for Mercedes and 176,736 for Munich-based BMW, the global leader in luxury-vehicle deliveries.
The totals don’t include non-luxury models such as BMW’s Mini cars or Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler’s Smart cars and Sprinter vans.
Toyota’s incentive spending and increased advertising in October helped boost Lexus sales, Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at Santa Monica, California-based TrueCar, said in a telephone interview today.
‘Photo Finish’
“They clearly want that No. 1 spot for the year,” he said. “Don’t know if that necessarily is going to happen. Looking at the historical sales in December, Benz tends to do quite well. I think it’s going to be a photo finish.”
Mercedes has been helped this year by a 53 percent jump in sales of its redesigned E-Class, introduced in 2009. The Daimler unit boosted average incentive spending 9.4 percent in October to $4,389, according to TrueCar.
“They are coming out with a lot of attractive lease deals,” Toprak said.
BMW’s October gains were held back by lack of inventory of the new X3 sport-utility vehicle, which is reaching showrooms late this year, O’Donnell said. Sales of the redesigned 5 Series rose 62 percent to 4,925, helped by the arrival of the sedan’s all-wheel-drive version that makes it more competitive with the Mercedes E-Class, he said.
‘Bit More Time’
The 5 Series still has room for sales growth, Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at auto-information website Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, said in a telephone interview. “It’s probably going to take a little bit more time to catch on.”
BMW’s average incentive spending fell 34 percent in October to $3,179, TrueCar said.
Sales for General Motors Co.’s Cadillac luxury division rose 15 percent to 13,393 last month, as the redesigned SRX sport-utility vehicle gained 27 percent. Cadillac cut average incentives 12 percent to $4,896, according to TrueCar.
“More than half of SRX buyers came from non-GM vehicles,” said Don Johnson, Detroit-based GM’s vice president for U.S. sales. Cadillac has increased sales for nine months in a row and “continues to be the industry’s fastest-growing luxury brand,” he said.
The GM unit’s deliveries gained 40 percent this year through October.
Lincoln, Acura
Ford Motor Co. sold 6,834 Lincoln luxury vehicles in October, a 1.5 percent increase from a year earlier, according to a statement from the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker. Sales of Lincoln’s Town Car more than doubled to 988. The brand’s incentive spending rose 14 percent to an average $4,797, according to TrueCar.
Honda Motor Co., based in Tokyo, said sales for its Acura brand rose 13 percent to 11,011 last month.
U.S. deliveries of Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand were up 10 percent to 8,128 vehicles. Stuttgart-based Porsche SE, which is merging with Volkswagen, reported that sales increased 61 percent to 2,647.
Tata Motors Ltd. posted gains of 47 percent to 1,295 vehicles for the Mumbai-based company’s Jaguar brand and 37 percent to 2,958 for Land Rover.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-1...tml?cmpid=yhoo
By Tim Higgins
Nov 3, 2010 2:54 PM ET
Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus, buoyed by consumer discounts, added to its lead in U.S. luxury-auto sales last month over Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW brand.
Sales for Lexus rose 8.1 percent to 21,091 vehicles, the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker said today in a statement. Yesterday, BMW reported a 17 percent gain to 19,272 and Mercedes posted an increase of less than 1 percent to 18,351.
Lexus, the top-selling U.S. luxury brand since 2000, is being challenged this year as Toyota copes with record recalls and as Mercedes and BMW benefit from new models. Lexus more than doubled average incentive spending in October to $2,152 a vehicle from $923 a year earlier, according to TrueCar.com, an auto pricing website.
The Toyota unit has been “much more aggressive than they’ve ever been,” Jim O’Donnell, president of BMW’s North American unit, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We’ve now got Lexus joining the fray where they’ve always stood on the sideline and sort of watched.”
U.S. sales for this year through October totaled 183,529 for Lexus, 178,080 for Mercedes and 176,736 for Munich-based BMW, the global leader in luxury-vehicle deliveries.
The totals don’t include non-luxury models such as BMW’s Mini cars or Stuttgart, Germany-based Daimler’s Smart cars and Sprinter vans.
Toyota’s incentive spending and increased advertising in October helped boost Lexus sales, Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends at Santa Monica, California-based TrueCar, said in a telephone interview today.
‘Photo Finish’
“They clearly want that No. 1 spot for the year,” he said. “Don’t know if that necessarily is going to happen. Looking at the historical sales in December, Benz tends to do quite well. I think it’s going to be a photo finish.”
Mercedes has been helped this year by a 53 percent jump in sales of its redesigned E-Class, introduced in 2009. The Daimler unit boosted average incentive spending 9.4 percent in October to $4,389, according to TrueCar.
“They are coming out with a lot of attractive lease deals,” Toprak said.
BMW’s October gains were held back by lack of inventory of the new X3 sport-utility vehicle, which is reaching showrooms late this year, O’Donnell said. Sales of the redesigned 5 Series rose 62 percent to 4,925, helped by the arrival of the sedan’s all-wheel-drive version that makes it more competitive with the Mercedes E-Class, he said.
‘Bit More Time’
The 5 Series still has room for sales growth, Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at auto-information website Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, said in a telephone interview. “It’s probably going to take a little bit more time to catch on.”
BMW’s average incentive spending fell 34 percent in October to $3,179, TrueCar said.
Sales for General Motors Co.’s Cadillac luxury division rose 15 percent to 13,393 last month, as the redesigned SRX sport-utility vehicle gained 27 percent. Cadillac cut average incentives 12 percent to $4,896, according to TrueCar.
“More than half of SRX buyers came from non-GM vehicles,” said Don Johnson, Detroit-based GM’s vice president for U.S. sales. Cadillac has increased sales for nine months in a row and “continues to be the industry’s fastest-growing luxury brand,” he said.
The GM unit’s deliveries gained 40 percent this year through October.
Lincoln, Acura
Ford Motor Co. sold 6,834 Lincoln luxury vehicles in October, a 1.5 percent increase from a year earlier, according to a statement from the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker. Sales of Lincoln’s Town Car more than doubled to 988. The brand’s incentive spending rose 14 percent to an average $4,797, according to TrueCar.
Honda Motor Co., based in Tokyo, said sales for its Acura brand rose 13 percent to 11,011 last month.
U.S. deliveries of Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand were up 10 percent to 8,128 vehicles. Stuttgart-based Porsche SE, which is merging with Volkswagen, reported that sales increased 61 percent to 2,647.
Tata Motors Ltd. posted gains of 47 percent to 1,295 vehicles for the Mumbai-based company’s Jaguar brand and 37 percent to 2,958 for Land Rover.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-1...tml?cmpid=yhoo
11-03-10, 12:55 PM
#5
11-03-10, 01:54 PM
#6
Lexus Champion
Incentives tell the true story. let Lexus offer an average of 4000 bucks on incentives for their vehicles and see where their sales are at! Cadillac is over 5000 vehicles behind, and they CUT incentives, yet are still over 4k average! That's worse than BMW and Merc.
11-03-10, 01:58 PM
#7
Pole Position
I hope Lexus loses the title this year. Imagine the deals we will get next year if this happens? It was a lousy 2k factory incentive in October and its only a 5k unit difference. They will come out of the gate firing torpedoes to make sure they get a sizeable lead in January.
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11-03-10, 02:13 PM
#8
I don't know if I really think that the increased use of incentives is just to hold the top spot for sales. Lexus execs have stated, many times, that they are not necessarily concerned with holding that title but that if it ends up being the case, then so be it. Then again, auto execs say lots of things 
I am betting that after a difficult year (Toyota disaster, recalls, economy) there is a good bit of 2010 product left on lots and dealers need to clear it quickly, as the factory has been building 2011s for several weeks now. I was recently at the dealership looking at GX 460s and was surprised by how man 2010 IS, ES, GS, LS, RX, and GS models there were on the lot.
I am betting that after a difficult year (Toyota disaster, recalls, economy) there is a good bit of 2010 product left on lots and dealers need to clear it quickly, as the factory has been building 2011s for several weeks now. I was recently at the dealership looking at GX 460s and was surprised by how man 2010 IS, ES, GS, LS, RX, and GS models there were on the lot.
11-03-10, 03:37 PM
#9
incentives are a big deal, it's played a HUGE role in me picking the $50k ISF over the $65K M3... and played a big role in me picking our RX350, the incentives made it at least a $5k difference from the competitors.
reliability + huge savings > german engineering for my cup of tea
reliability + huge savings > german engineering for my cup of tea
11-04-10, 08:06 PM
#10
I hope Lexus loses the title this year. Imagine the deals we will get next year if this happens? It was a lousy 2k factory incentive in October and its only a 5k unit difference. They will come out of the gate firing torpedoes to make sure they get a sizeable lead in January.
11-05-10, 12:22 AM
#12
incentives are a big deal, it's played a HUGE role in me picking the $50k ISF over the $65K M3... and played a big role in me picking our RX350, the incentives made it at least a $5k difference from the competitors.
reliability + huge savings > german engineering for my cup of tea
reliability + huge savings > german engineering for my cup of tea
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