flipside909

There are 3 things that are happening when you e-mail. 1) The dealership is pushing out what they're sitting on the most of 2) The salespeople you're emailing are clueless of their inventory (most of them are in the first place of their own products) 3) the vehicles have already been sold. 1st and 2nd choices are highly likely.

Base to the salesperson's mind is the IS250 Premium package AT w/$33k sticker.

paeko73

I'm looking at this "worksheet quote" printed directly from the computer on the salesman's desk. It is for a Black Onyx 250 automatic with the only option being the wheel locks (for $66). $31,876 total sale price!!!! This car is coming mid-December.

Phillip31

So they DO make IS 250's RWD AUTO (with no options) in SoCal dealerships........ok well im just gonna visit the dealer....i never bought a car before so i dont know how the dealers are.....i never knew they would go as far as to lie

Phillip31

Really?!?!?!.....wat dealership?

flipside909

He's from Hawaii. Servco Lexus has totally different pricing seperate from Lexus USA. Servco is a distributor for Toyota and Lexus for Hawaii only.

paeko73

I think Servco Lexus does price the IS's the same with Lexus USA. In the case mentioned, the MSRP for the base 250auto was $31,160 + $66 wheel locks + $650 freight = 31,876. If I'm not mistaken, $31,160 is the current MSRP for IS 250 automatic, isn't it? I believe they might have the groups of options (they called them suffixes) configured a little different than other dealerships. I said "might" because their website (www.servcolexus.com) has not been updated with 2nd generation IS's yet!!!!

flipside909

Servco has their own set of pricing as they are not controlled by Lexus USA. A base IS250 6MT with just moonroof as an option has a sticker of already 31k. The IS250 6AT we get start at $33k as the Premium Package is what is claimed to be in demand by the market. Lexus USA's Western Region has different option packages allocated to us than the rest of the USA. The base car we get is the 6MT IS250 already packaged with 18" wheels and moonroof. Pricing structure is a bit different for Hawaii and the mainland as our options are dictated by what is controlled by the region office and their observed demand.

CRB

It doesn't amaze me at all because when you start adding the option packages the price balloons toward mid-luxury ( M35/M45, GS300/GS430) territory and most people want a usable backseat at the mid-luxury level.

To say that Lexus is building decontented cars intially to maximize profit ignores the the fact that options are where a whole lot of the profit is. The dealer's cut of options is relatively small, for example what do you think Toyota/Lexus' cost is on the Navigation system and the invoice (from Edmund's is $2,168) and MSRP for it $2,550? My guess is it costs them less than $1,000. Also look at the Luxury package, a lot of that stuff is relatively cheap things people really do want (xenons, dimming mirrors) mixed mixed in with expensive high tech frippery ( blower seats, swiveling headlights) that most people could live without.

What the plethora of stripped cars indicates, IMO, isn't that Toyota/Lexus doesn't think the public wants a fully loaded car (or they wouldn't have put the options on the menu), but rather that the dealers didn't think they could sell loaded $45,000+ IS350s and specified models with friendlier MSRPs when they were ordering them.