Originally Posted by blanshot

Thank you for the words of encouragement. By no means the dealer tried to buy me a different car. They said to me, in quote, “no one has been able to custom order a car for the last year and a half”. That baffled me because, like I said, I want a BMW but I do not have the financial capabilities to do so. I’m not at the point in my life where I can just lease one and throw away and rinse repeat or to buy one and maintain it.

They were really professional and didn’t sway me in anyway. I just told them I’ll be back some other time and I thank them for their time. The salesman told me he will reach out to me once he found a car that is “close” to the configuration I wanted out of my custom UL I wanted to do. LOL.

So either he’s going to contact me later saying he found a car that is close to my config or he tells me “omg a custom order allocation has opened up! Place your $$$$$ deposit so we can make it happen!”

I’m willing to wait it out. I just want to buy one before the next generation comes out (that’s only me assuming they will go turbo i6/i4 which I’m not a fan) the ES 350 is super smooth and it’s something I haven’t experienced in awhile.

Originally Posted by glamglam

The dealers do not like to tell people to special order the UL or any other ES350 because they want to get people to take something that’s already on the lot.

Originally Posted by LexWannabe

There. Is. Nothing. On. The. Lot.

Yes, dealers lie a lot. My car is living proof that a dealer lied to you when he claimed there have been no ES special orders in 18 months (although it's worth noting that the factory itself then defied my "special order" by loading two options onto the car that I specifically requested not to have). But you don't need to take the word of anybody here to verify for yourself that the lots, of all makes, have no cars on them. And many of the few that are there are already spoken for by buyers.

Originally Posted by glamglam

When Lexus reopens, yes, they will resume production first to fill orders already placed. I know that. Lexus only shut down for the weekend. They have reopened again for production right now. Also, commerce and transportation has reopened again between Ottawa and the USA at the Ambassador Bridge today. The blockade of the tractor trailers has ended as of this morning at that particular commercial border crossing. So right now, Lexus and all the other automotive companies and automotive parts companies will be able to transport auto parts through the Ottawa border into the USA to all the different auto plants in the USA and also to the Lexus auto plant in Kentucky.

The UL will eventually be built soon as Lexus starts fulfilling the existing orders and the special orders. The current waiting period is between 2 to 3 months. Even if at the worse possible scenario, if the wait is going to be a 4 month waiting period for the UL model, that still means that the UL will eventually still be built sometime in April or in May 2022. Actually, 3 to 4 months from now isn’t a very long waiting period. Lexus still has the UL model listed on their website and in their year 2022 ES Lexus brochure, so that means that they will eventually build it sometime in the near future during the springtime in March, April and May of 2022. By placing a special order in February 2022 like I did for a 2022 ES350 UL, you will put yourself in line to be able to get the car built in the next 2 to 3 months and get delivery of your UL sometime in April or May of 2022. Lexus is not going to stop production of the UL anytime soon for the 2022 model year. And starting next year, for the 2023 model year, Lexus will be shipping and importing all the ES350 models, including the UL model directly from Japan. The ES350 UL model isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The dealers do not like to tell people to special order the UL or any other ES350 because they want to get people to take something that’s already on the lot. They discourage customers from placing a special order by telling them that the UL will not be built and by making customers think that the UL will never be built again in 2022. That’s not true though. The dealers are lying. Placing a special order will place you on the waiting list for your car to be built. It might take 3 or 4 months to get your car, but your car will still get built.

It’s still early in 2022 and Lexus has more ES350’s, U and UL cars that they will build. They’re not going to stop building these cars as long as there are orders placed for them.

Originally Posted by mattsrs

what does "Lexus reopen" mean? My car was built last week of Jan and my dealer said they keep getting cars weekly. So there's no shutdown! they just don't make custom orders period.

Originally Posted by glamglam

Tell me something, if there haven’t been any special orders taken in the last 18 months by Lexus for the ES350 UL, then how do you explain the special orders for the UL model that were placed by the people that I know no later than November 2021?? They placed their special orders with the color and with the options that they wanted and they waited 3 to 4 months and they got delivery of their UL.

Originally Posted by glamglam

mattsrs, did you special order your Lexus? If so, when did you order it??
I already know that Lexus stopped taking special orders. They stopped making custom orders since mid November of 2021. However, Lexus will restart building custom orders again by springtime in March or April of 2022 in order to fulfill the special orders that people like me made at the dealer who want special colors and options for the Luxury and Ultra Luxury ES350 models as well as all the other Lexus sedan and SUV models.

Originally Posted by mattsrs

I didn't special order because all dealers told me Lexus doesn't take orders. I just talked to around 15 dealers and found one that had this allocation to be built in a few weeks and it matched what I wanted to I jumped on it

Originally Posted by LexWannabe

Respectfully, I think you may have misunderstood my post. What I was saying is that I agree with you, there HAVE been successful special orders recently, and I know because I'm one of them. I placed a special order in August and it was fulfilled in January. So, your disagreement is not with me.

Originally Posted by glamglam

I apologize. I misunderstood you. You’re absolutely right that there HAVE been successful special orders recently with Lexus. That’s excellent news.

Originally Posted by 19ES350lux

I was fortunate to get my Special Order in for January allocation but, I can attest to the responses regarding being unable to special order @ the current moment. I was able to order one of the last 22' UL's but I had a special "in" with my dealer. Toyota overall cut allocation by 40% or more which in turn also affects lexus. Having a special relationship with my Dealer and the GM really helped me as I was able to order in December and picked up my car mid January. I was informed that Lexus would most likely cease special orders and it seems as though that has been accurate. The reasoning was that most of the allocations were already pre-sold even before hitting the lot. Special orders are part of the dealerships given allocation and this, plus the huge allocation cut, meant that there were little to no cars on the lot for walk-in customers to purchase. That obviously may not be the case everywhere but from my experience at least in my area, that is the case. In my experience, and based on feedback from the GM, who I solely deal with, UL's are not going to be part of a normal allocation, unless special ordered. They will receive, as their typical allocation, the most favorable colors and options that fit most buyers. YMMV!

Originally Posted by glamglam

You ordered the 22’ but it wasn’t one of the last 22’s. I just got a call from my dealer an hour ago and they told me that another dealer in the area is going to receive 2 Ultra Luxury models which are already sold. So these 2 UL cars are either special orders or dealer allocations. Either way, this is proof that Lexus is still building the Ultra Luxury model. They haven’t stopped building it for 2022.