Originally Posted by dgsvt

Was that 22 pre sold before the embargo was lifted and the specs were revealed... I'm sure half of those buyers aren't happy about the rear door not being a liftgate and then another 25% are not happy about the price being almost as much as a non AWD LS460.
I think a number of those buyers will go through this sale conversation.
In walks one of the 22 pre sold buyers with a GX470 trade.
Husband and Wife "Wow that GX looks nice, I really like my GX470 but that barn door is just killing me. We heard that the rear door was redesigned. How does it work?"
Salesman "Look at this new glass hatch, Lexus really improved on one of the major complaints about the old design..."
Wife "This glass hatch is too high! I can't reach to put stuff inside... Does the bottom drop down like the LX or does the whole door power lift like the RX?"
Salesman "No, but it does have power lift 3rd row seats..."
Wife looking at the window sticker "Oh... Ouch, this a huge price increase from the previous model... Why such a large price difference and is it possible to get any kind of discount?"
Salesman "Well the dollar has been getting hammered by the yen and therefore Lexus had to increase the prices in the US to compensate. HAHAHA... Discount... NO... This is a new model with high demand. We have 22 pre sold."
Husband looking at the window sticker "So 301hp... Is that a typo since I heard the Toyota 4.6 gets 310hp?"
Salesman "No typo, the HP is different due to Lexus tuning the engine to run on Premium Gas."
Husband "So the Toyota engine gets more HP than the Lexus does? Wait... Doesn't an engine tuned to run on Premium fuel usually get more HP then one tuned to run on Regular fuel?"
Salesman "Well, It sounds like you guys are ready to get a new GX460. Are you ready to sign some paperwork."
Husband and Wife "Well, No... Our current GX470 is looking better and better. We can't justify the price increase in this economy. Especially with no discounts that I know will be coming. We got burned with our 2008 ISF. Remember you told us that this was a limited production vehicle and that there will be no discounts. So, we paid the 60K+ and then my neighbor picked one up less than a year later... discounted to 48K... Call us when you have a similar deal for me!!!"

Originally Posted by dgsvt

pagemaster

My old post actually just made me laugh out loud... I was at a dealership on Sunday with the family to see if they had any in stock. Hoping to see it in different colors and maybe like it more. I already like the interior, but not sure about the exterior (Silver, White, or Knights Armor). Not only did they have a demo vehicle left unlocked they had 4 in the back that were not marked sold. At this dealership, I never saw more than 2 GX470 in stock ever. It now makes sense that the dealerships are starting to discount the GX460. I'm sure it helps that they have 8 - 9K in markup to work with too.

Originally Posted by Craig B

They don't want to deal around here. I was offered $1K off MSRP. I passed on that deal. I talked to a dealer on Saturday and only 1 in 5 had the Mark Levinson stereo. I won't purchase one without the Mark Levinson system.

Originally Posted by antonio98

It seems that they are not building the base GX with Mark Levinson. You have to move up to the GX Premium, which as your dealer mentioned is only about 20% of production.

Originally Posted by Craig B

I want the premium, but most aren't coming with the Mark Levinson system.

Craig

Originally Posted by antonio98

Oh. That's strange. It's not possible to configure the GX Premium with Nav and without ML. The only thing I can think of is maybe your dealer is calling the base model premium, when it is not. You may want to check with another dealer.