wthrman2

As others have said, many bought the LE trying to flip it and make a quick buck which is a shame but that being said, greed is what drive society so I am not surprised.

As a Canadian, I too was upset when Lexus Canada announced that they wouldn't make the sunroof available with the IS 500 and I really debated whether I would pass on it or not. I have to admit that after owning it since March, the lack of sunroof has not bothered me at all and in fact, I don't even think about it now. I never used them much other than tilt it open to let a bit of air flow in the cabin (now I just open the glove box (lol)) but I have also embraced some of the other advantages of not owning one.

This car has been rare, in fact, in the Maritimes, only 4 vehicles were allocated to the dealer and 2 of them were sold outside of the region so there are only 2 (in total) in the region, mine and another guy about 4.5h from here. You will see that there are questions on whether this car will be made available at all for 2023 and while I am 95% sure it will be available, I think it will be a very low production car and especially in Canada. We'll find out in a few months what will be available and such. All I can say is don't be surprised if the dealer tells you that you can't custom order. They'll likely just make a few of them, allocate them to dealers across the country in various color combo and then you will either get what you can get, or find a dealer willing to trade their allocation for another one that matches your preference.

Best advice I can tell you is do not wait if you want one, get on a list now and specify to the dealer what you want and make sure you find a good dealer who will be willing to put effort to find you one rather than take the "lazy route" and tell you that they can't get you what you want. Keep in mind that in Canada, dealers can't sell above MSRP so there is no crazy market adjustment profits they can make so very few will be willing to put a lot of effort for selling a car at MSRP with limited profit margins.

DLPTony

100% agree! Be ready to act as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

CyberNinja

Been on a buyer’s order list since the beginning of June for a ‘22 MY don’t know if that means it’ll carry over to a ‘23 when and if it finally arrives projected for December. I can’t wait! Owning one of the last gasoline powered V8s, might mean you’ll own a piece of automotive history . But then again, I’ve seen Yamaha and Toyota tinkering with a hydrogen powered V8 engine a few months back so who knows

jororo

My guess would be more around 800 total made for 2022. LEs have consistently outnumbered Premiums on autotrader/cargurus/cars.com since Dec 21 (both new and now used), and we know 500 of those were made.

Perhaps the LEs were manufactured first then the Premium production was cut way short due to manufacturing shortages and QC issues that weren’t apparent until these things were in the wild?

Kanpai

I think we see more LEs being resold simply because people bought them to flip since they were "limited". I remember seeing a used LE being up for sale before we even saw a Premium.

cajun

Only 800 total, with a mere 300 Premium models produced? Out of curiosity, is there any way to know the actual production numbers for certain? Last I checked, Lexus lumps all IS models together in its sales reports.

Answer

All dealers I know got more Premiums that LEs, so I'm pretty sure there's more Premiums than LEs in the wild.
Bunch of LEs were bought to be flipped due to them being numbered, that's why there's more for sale.

wthrman2

^^ I agree with Answer on this one...In my region, there was a total of 4 IS 500 (between the 2 dealers) and there was 3 Non-LE and 1 LE - That LE belongs to the lucky poster just above

DLPTony

There’s a red w/black interior unit here in Metro Atlanta. 3300 miles @ $63K

https://www.nalleylexusroswell.com/

DLPTony

Oops…scratch that, it’s no longer listed. That was like minutes! Amazing. 😂

giS

lol I was like wait … wonder if some of our friends that missed out, can grab a fair priced used one now.

roquesmd1

Back online, now at 79K!!!

wthrman2

Talk about inflation!! Which causes deflation on the potential buyer (lol)

macmaster

Haha 63k was practically giving the car away for free. Someone in sales probably got a stern talking.

DLPTony

Oh my goodness, this car buying world is NUTS!

I’m sure the flood of phone calls and subsequent (temporary) silence from the dealership was maddening for those with cash in hand. Likewise, I wouldn’t want to be the site-admin who published this mistake. ::shudder::