LexFather

Thanks for the lol at the GS.:thumb up:

IS is doing GREAT. The target was 32k a year, they sold over 5k last month

The CT is doing GREAT. The car is 3 years old and met its 1 year target of 15k a year. Historically luxury hatchecks have sold VERY poorly in America, the CT has been an amazing hit and proved people will buy luxury hatches in America, a market the old 318i and A3 could not crack.

The RC is a coupe so while it will generate excitement, it won't be a big seller.

spwolf

i think for 2014, most important would be full year of 3IS... not sure when will NX start selling, but overall it should be over 300k.

But it needs to be repeated - worldwide, 2013 is the best selling year in the history of Lexus.

RNM GS3

Thank you for the thorough analysis of my post!

RC is highly anticipated car - both the 4Series and A5/S5 are big sellers.
Not sure why the RC wouldn't at least sell 500-1,000 units per month when the RC200t version comes along plus AWD variants.

If anything - the RC will generate more foot traffic to Lex dealers and that should lead to better sales.

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

I also think that the RC will sell well, If priced right. The V8 model will not be a huge seller, since it will cost more than 350. But who knows?

Och

iTrader: (3)

BMW sold 1,953 of X5 models vs 5,722 in December of 2012. Wonder if such a drop due to ridiculous price increase and due to the new X5 looking like a minivan?

kwr

I don't think price was the issue. Maybe supply issues? Also note that both the Q7 and RR sport outsold the X5 which has never happened. I wonder if the Cayenne also outsold the X5?

This is kind of far fetched, but maybe the X5 also lost sales to the RX.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

excellent. the line-up of 8 main vehicles is probably as new and refreshed as ever, with more in the works... good times for lexus!

ydooby

Great month for Lexus! But it must be said that it's the best selling year in the history of Audi, BMW and Mercedes too, so in terms of market share Lexus isn't really gaining, but at least it's great to see Lexus on an upward trend once again. Hopefully they'll pick up the pace of new model releases even more and offer them with more available trim levels to cover more buyers. It's looking good though!

On the other hand, Toyota had quite a bad month in car sales, with the Camry losing its crown, the new Corolla down from a year ago, the Prius down quite a bit more, and the Yaris and the Scions getting one step closer to extinction. The competition just isn't fooling around anymore.

spwolf

It is wrong to look at one month and try to extrapolate it as a trend of some sorts... you look at year in sales... Toyota had excellent year in the USA. Camry is best selling car for 2013 with over 400k sales. Nice growth for such large brand - double growth of Hyundai for instance. Best retail brand in the market and lower fleet sales % compared to last year. Of course older models will sell less when it is end of their life, thats why new models come up and pick up the slack, it happens with every cycle... Avalon and ES wont be selling like this crazy forever either.

Lexus had best year ever despite doing worse in Europe and USA compared to 2007. Lots of room to grow back in USA with new models. At least another 10% growth next year, probably more with new models.

Toyota Corp just had the largest production month ever in November 2013, 13.3% up compared to excellent 2012. They will likely be first manufacturer in the history to break 10 million sales in year. They will also have biggest profit most likely, by far, at over $20 billion for FY2013.

mordecai

It was a good year.

TangoRed

I'm going to go with supply issues. My local dealer mentioned he was struggling to get any models in.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

growth each year also comes from simple population increase.

LexFather

^^^ infiniti sales were actually down in 2013 compared to 2012 at 116k units. They have some serious issues. The IS outsold the Q50 again last month.

Audi used to behind Infiniti, used to be close to infinit and BLEW BY them in 2013. It's obvious their success was not just their CEOs who Infiniti has now.

Audi was only 8,000 units or so behind Acura in 2013 and trending to pass them in 2014.
Acura 165k
Audi 158k

Buick sold 205k units and Caddy sold around 182k units.

Audi's continued surgence is amazing. The balance has shifted to the Germans. You have 3 hot brands compared to one from Japan and one from America.

LexFather

Yup.. No X5s... Shortage of supply now... BMW could have sold 40k!

spwolf

Well, is Audi doing that great or are Acura and Infiniti doing crappy?

Audi is growing less than Lexus in the USA while having almost half of the sales. I dont think they are doing that great compared to competition at all. BMW/MB/Lexus are far ahead and growing faster. They also have a ton of models so not sure what else they can do.

VW is also dropping in sales in the USA for 2013, one of the rare brands (together with Kia and Hyundai group).

X5 is indeed in high demand.

Lexus in general has far less inventory than Germans, so if they want to do substantially better sales, they need to increase the inventories. I am not sure if they expected such December sales at the end.

Toyota is also lacking in inventory of all of their new/updated trucks as well. It seems a lot of growth next year will be from SUVs, NX cant come any sooner.