bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Over 3800 for q50 is decent.

Sad to see all lexus down (except gx). Only new models sales (rc/nx) are making the total better.

Nex rx and other new models sorely needed.

Trexus

Well you gotta look at the big picture and the details.

The A5 comes with:
4 cylinder turbo fixed hardtop
4 cylinder turbo convertible

The S5 comes with:
V6 super charged

The RS5 comes with:
V8 fixed hardtop
V8 convertible

Now Lexus only has the:
RC 350, regular and F Sport
RC 350 awd, regular and F Sport
RC F.

So as you can see with the ancient A5 Lexus does well with little choices regarding the RC.

Lexus should do what BMW does and make tons of variants and choices with just the 4 Series alone.

428i
428i convertible
428i awd
428i grand coupe
428i grand coupe awd
435i
435i convertible
435i awd
435i grand coupe
435i grand coupe awd
M4
M4 convertible

M Sport across the board and manual transmissions as well.

GS69

Lexus Leans on Leases as US Luxury Race Tightens

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus is relying more on leasing than BMW and Mercedes-Benz as it challenges the German brands for the lead in U.S. sales of luxury vehicles.

About 62% of Lexus vehicles have been leased this year, compared with about half for BMW and Mercedes, according to Edmunds.com data.

The Toyota division started getting more aggressive with 24- and 36-month lease offers about 4 years ago, said Jeff Bracken, Lexus's group vice president.

"It brings customers back to us from a retention standpoint pretty frequently," Bracken said in an interview Wednesday at an industry conference in Acme, Michigan. "That will be a strategy we'll continue to embrace. It seems to work well for us."

Lexus is off to a strong start in what has been a big year for luxury vehicles in the U.S. The brand scored its 1st monthly win of 2015 over BMW and Mercedes in July, riding an annual summer sales push and demand for its new NX crossover to narrow the sales gap with German rivals.

U.S. deliveries jumped 14% this year to 188,664 Lexus vehicles through July.

The brand trails Daimler AG's Mercedes by 3,832 vehicles and BMW AG's namesake brand by 6,929.

Based on U.S. registrations, Lexus was the leader among luxury brands through May. Those numbers showed 135,594 vehicles for Lexus, 131,431 for Mercedes and 130,569 for BMW, according to IHS Automotive, which collects the data from state records.

The discrepancy between registrations and sales arises from vehicles being reported as sold when delivered to dealerships instead of only to consumers, said Tom Libby, an IHS analyst in Southfield, Mich.

"This is a long-term trend of these three brands being neck-and-neck," Libby said. "Lexus has been helped tremendously by the NX and these 3 luxury brands will be fighting it out for quite a while."

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Nothing wrong with leasing, nothing wrong with buying.

As it stands, if Lexus can offer a good lease on the refreshed ES and upcoming IS200t, this could make things interesting

GS69

http://www.hybridcars.com/july-2015-dashboard/

Overall sales for July continued at a high level, exceeding both June 2015 and July 2014. Full electrics were down from previous months, while hybrids, diesels, and plug ins were in line with shares obtained in prior months.

Sales for full electric vehicles were down from June of this year and July 2014. The Leaf had very strong sales in July 2014, while sales were only 1,174 this July. Production of the Leaf has been down in recent months, and it is clear that Nissan is working to reduce inventories in anticipation of what is believed to be an improved model (most significantly enhanced range) that will be available this Fall.

Although sales were down for the Model S as compared to last month, sales for July were ahead of the previous July. Tesla’s sales tend to vary within the quarter, and since July is the first month of a new quarter the numbers are down. (Note that Tesla has more control over its sales than other automakers since they handle sales directly, rather than through independent dealers.) Sales of the BMW i3 returned to a higher level after a weaker June, presumably due to the shortage of product in that month.

Plug-in hybrids had a moderate month, with most vehicles selling at a higher level than June 2015. However, there is a significant drop from July 2014 with drops across all models (except for the BMW i8, Mercedes S550 and Porsche Cayenne, all of which were not sold at that time. (Note that the Mercedes S550 is new for July 2015.)

The Volt will be updated this Fall, thereby resulting in lower sales and availability of the existing model. In fact, GM just verified that the range of the new Volt will be a very strong 53 miles, combined with an increase in fuel economy when the electric mode is depleted. The Prius Plug In will continue to be a drag in the category since production of the current model has terminated with a new model not expected until late next year.

While the hybrid category was down as compared to July 2014, hybrid sales in July increased by 10 percent relative to June 2015. The Prius family had a better month in July and achieved the second highest level of 2015 (trailing May’s strong showing). The Ford Fusion and Honda Accord hybrid had pretty good months, although Ford’s hybrid products are down from last year. As compared to June of this year, a number of hybrid entries enjoyed growth.

Diesel sales year-to-date are essentially flat with last year, with growth in the Ram Pickup offsetting declines elsewhere. VW products continue to pace the category as they offer a variety of models and they are performing somewhat better than the overall category. The VW Group has a variety of entries in this category, namely the Passat, Golf, and Jetta, as well as the Audi Q5 and Q7 representing the major players.

PHP Code:

U.S. Hybrid sales for July 2015
Mfr    Model    7-15 Sales     vs. 6-15     vs. 7-14     CY 2015     CY 15 vs 14     CY 2014         Current Month US Share
Toyota
    Prius Liftback    11,203     17.2%    -12.9%    65,376     -13.9%    75,903         31.41%
Toyota
    Prius C    3,517     27.6%    -4.9%    22,438     -6.4%    23,983         9.86%
Toyota
    Camry Hybrid     2,756     0.0%    -40.2%    18,327     -30.5%    26,380         7.73%
Toyota
    Prius V    2,620     15.3%    -4.3%    16,785     -2.5%    17,219         7.35%
Ford
    Fusion Hybrid    2,157     27.6%    -24.3%    14,840     -37.2%    23,631         6.05%
Hyundai    Sonata    1,837     -21.3%    -34.4%    13,665     -3.4%    14,149         5.15%
Honda    Accord Hybrid    1,481     19.3%    8.7%    7,888     -4.4%    8,250         4.15%
Lexus
    CT200h    1,374     22.9%    -30.6%    8,497     -17.6%    10,316         3.85%
Ford
    C-Max Hybrid    1,225     -32.5%    -43.4%    8,865     -24.1%    11,685         3.43%
Toyota    Avalon Hybrid    1,175     20.8%    -33.5%    6,846     -30.6%    9,866         3.29%
Lexus    ES Hybrid    891     25.3%    -34.4%    5,882     -29.2%    8,305         2.50%
Kia
    Optima Hybrid    873     -2.7%    -24.4%    6,213     -17.9%    7,572         2.45%
Lincoln    MKZ    725     3.6%    13.6%    4,905     -26.3%    6,656         2.03%
Subaru    XV Crosstrek Hybrid    559     13.4%    -25.1%    3,809     -23.7%    4,989         1.57%
Lexus    RX 400 / 450 h    530     9.1%    -42.0%    3,715     -27.4%    5,120         1.49%
Honda
    Civic Hybrid    463     18.4%    13.2%    2,727     -6.1%    2,904         1.30%
Infiniti    Q50 Hybrid    381     9.8%    54.9%    2,421     33.6%    1,812         1.07%
Buick    Lacrosse Hybrid    322     -5.6%    -30.3%    3,029     -25.2%    4,047         0.90%
Toyota    Highlander Hybrid    304     -2.3%    42.1%    2,062     11.5%    1,850         0.85%
Honda
    CR-Z    270     32.4%    -24.2%    1,562     -33.7%    2,355         0.76%
Lexus    NX Hybrid    234     15.3%    N/A    1,449     N/A    -         0.66%
Nissan    Pathfinder Hybrid    234     8.8%    5.9%    1,493     -2.2%    1,526         0.66%
Infiniti    QX60 Hybrid    226     25.6%    101.8%    1,267     25.3%    1,011         0.63%
Honda
    Insight    113     -10.3%    -61.2%    1,204     -54.1%    2,624         0.32%
Volkswagen
    Jetta Hybrid    91     37.9%    -41.7%    384     -73.6%    1,452         0.26%
Acura    RLX Hybrid    28     3.7%    N/A    147     N/A    -         0.08%
Chevrolet    Impala Hybrid    23     -4.2%    -46.5%    216     -32.3%    319         0.06%
Infiniti    Q70 Hybrid    11     -8.3%    37.5%    107     -10.1%    119         0.03%
Lexus
    GS 450h    11     57.1%    37.5%    65     -55.2%    145         0.03%
Audi
    Q5 Hybrid    8     60.0%    -63.6%    64     -64.8%    182         0.02%
Buick    Regal Hybrid    8     -52.9%    -76.5%    129     -72.8%    475         0.02%
BMW     ActiveHybrid 5 (535ih)    5     150.0%    25.0%    13     -85.9%    92         0.01%
Lexus    LS 600h    5     400.0%    -16.7%    37     -31.5%    54         0.01%
Mercedes    E400H     2     N/A    -60.0%    50     -58.3%    120         0.01%
BMW     ActiveHybrid 3 (335ih)    1     -80.0%    -90.9%    20     -80.8%    104         0.00%
Chevrolet    Malibu Hybrid    1     -96.3%    -96.7%    56     -94.0%    941         0.00%
Mercedes     ML450H    1     -80.0%    N/A    10     0.0%    10         0.00%
Volkswagen
    Touareg Hybrid    1     -50.0%    -50.0%    15     -28.6%    21         0.00%
Acura    ILX Hybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    19     -93.8%    306         0.00%
BMW     7-Series ActiveHybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    10     -64.3%    28         0.00%
Cadillac
    Escalade Hybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    7     -75.0%    28         0.00%
Chevrolet
    Silverado Hybrid    -     N/A    N/A    2     -90.0%    20         0.00%
Chevrolet
    Tahoe Hybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    8     -86.9%    61         0.00%
GMC
    Yukon Hybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    10     -60.0%    25         0.00%
GMC
    Sierra Hybrid    -     -100.0%    -100.0%    1     -50.0%    2         0.00%
Lexus    HS 250h    -     N/A    N/A    -     N/A    -         0.00%
Mercedes    S400HV Hybrid    -     N/A    N/A    1     -75.0%    4         0.00%
Nissan    Altima Hybrid    -     N/A    N/A    -     N/A    -         0.00%
Porsche    Cayenne Hybrid    -     N/A    -100.0%    -     -100.0%    595         0.00%
Porsche
    Panamera S Hybrid    -     N/A    N/A    -     N/A    -         0.00%
    Total Hybrid     35,666     10.3%    -19.8%    226,636     -18.3%    277,256         100.00%
                                    
    Total Auto Sales    1,503,980     2.3%    5.3%    9,989,093     4.6%    9,553,217         
    Overall Hybrid Take Rate    2.37%            2.27%        2.90% 


rominl

iTrader: (4)

not disagreeing with you, in fact i have said that leasing is actually a trend among luxury people. but it's just funny to see how ppl bashed a lot on most bmw being heavily leased

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Well on BMW it makes sense. Drop it before it drops you on the freeway .

Nice thing about leasing is you can get out before the big maintenance bills start to affect the car, not to mention if one likes new technology or design they can constantly upgrade to the newest model.

Honestly a lot of Lexus Pre-Owned vehicles are usually lease returns and those are usually purchased for the long run (at least that's mostly how our store gets CPO inventory).

Mr. Burns

The RC200t and the rumoured again RC convertible variant should boost those numbers into the 1.8k-2k a month range.

Trexus

Agreed! Lexus should definitely expand the RC line to compete with the 4 Series...

RC 200t
RC 300 awd
RC 350
RC 350C

RC F

Lexus should also bring the RC 300h to the U.S as well...

rominl

iTrader: (4)

true to an extend. i do believe lexus doesn't break as easily, but once they break it gets expensive quick too. again just look back to 2is and 3gs nav screen issues 4-5 years into ownerships, so many cases already.

but to me it's more about the lifestyle. in the luxury world (the elite?) most care about being the first, being trendy. i truly believe that explains most leases among bmw and mb. again i want to emphasize the word "most". we all know there is warren buffett who doesn't care about anything luxury

and that's why personally i think more leases on lexus might not be a bad idea

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

It's no secret a sizable number of MY06-MY2010 L-Finesse Lexus's where plagued with cost cutting and quality control issues. Lexus recently made strides going back to basics, dotting i's and crossing t's.

That's a great point about the Germans. Their social media accounts are constantly active

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

yup, half or more luxury vehicles are leased, and i expect that to increase.

luxury is a fashionable thing and so people into fashion and luxury have to 'keep up appearances'

then there's everyone else. when i sold my 8 year old explorer this year many i know thought i was nuts because it seemed 'brand new'. while it ran perfectly well it was obviously far from current in terms of features. i always feel guilty selling a car because i feel it's served me well and now i'm dumping it. i sometimes wonder where each of the cars i've sold is now.

anyway, back to buying/leasing, in hindsight i probably should have leased my jeep, but i still like the idea of ownership and since i typically keep a car 6+ years, it kinda makes sense, but not really because i'm convinced these days that with depreciation unless you keep a car 10+ years you're really not saving anything just driving an old vehicle.