SW17LS

It doesn't just seem that way....it is that way.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Leases are more. Something had to be done. The last 2-3 years we were giving away GS350's. Problem is with such low payments, it affected the residuals and the pay off. Low lease payments don't reduce the principle balance enough for Lexus to make money selling the lease returns at auction. This means you have to sell these pre-owned cars for more which causes them to sit collecting dust.

metrathon

... and sales are down 40%.

You are right tho, the leases were super low, and that's exactly why I leased: best value out there.

SW17LS

Right, and now Lexus is going to have to be happy with this being a model that doesn't sell more than 1,400 or so units a month now that they've changed their lease pricing structure. They never should have gone that deep in the first place. Once your selling proposition is all about price...it's tough to raise your price.

No way would I pay $100-300 more a month for another 4GS and I loved the car. I'd just keep mine, or lease something else. Everything in that segment has a good lease pretty much.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

as mentioned by few others, the numbers on the 13-15 were largely to do with the extremely attractive lease deals. if it's not the super cheap lease payments, lexus wouldn't have sold as many gs. now with the '16 lexus is playing hard ball on the numbers and it's shown in the sales numbers. if it's not the deal i got on my gs it's unlikely i have one now too.

but then to be fair, i see a lot of drop in sales across brands too. e class for example dropped quite a bit too

xRYD3Rx

They should just keep the prices low to attract the consumer. Either the lease deals are attractive they make sells on quantity or they dont make sells and let the cars collect dust.

rockhopper

I leased my '13 GS F Sport for less than 300/month. Why in the world would I even consider a new one for 900/month? Looking forward to 3 years of happy driving.

jjscsix

The comments make me curious, anyone know actual stats on how many GS are leased, and how many in this class in general?

ronsinsc

It seem like a lot of people lease their Lexus. Is that correct? And if it is correct does that in anyway Bring down the resale value for those of us who just pay cash for their cars?

I keep my cars at least the ones that are used as drivers for at least 10 years and some of my cars are over 20 years old.

For this SG 350 I even bought an extended Lexus warranty so I will have 8 year or 80K mile warranty. And yes the warranty was quite expensive but I figured I'm not willing to work on this modern car with all its electronics and the like.

mquiogue

I leased a '14 GS350 and was surprised how inexpensive the lease was.

My lease is now up, and i was looking for a 2015 because I hated the grills on the '16s.

I ended up going with Audi and am returning the GS tomorrow.

SW17LS

I'm not buying under $300 a month, unless its a CPO lease.

mquiogue

I think it's part of Lexus strategy to introduce a car with very low leases, and lock you in.

When the lease is up, they count on a captive audience. They'll forgive some lease payments, forgive the disposition fee, etc.

But at the end of the day, they'll need to have a car that you want to get back into and they didn't have one for me

SW17LS

I think they will find thats a very poor strategy

rockhopper

CPO Lease 15k year and 297 a month for three years. 2013 GS F sport RWD

SW17LS

Thats an entirely different thing, you can't compare the price on a used car to the price on a new car. They don't price new cars off of what someone would pay for the car new.

The issue is that people are returning leases where they are paying $550-650 and they can't seem to get anything better than $850. They need to be able to put the consumer in a new one for just a little more than they're paying for the old one or they're not going to do it, and this sales drop reflects that.

Leasing customers are all about the payment. If they're going to pay more they're going to get something different.