Threxx

Somebody was telling me that Cadillac is the best selling luxury brand in the world. I find that hard to believe as I hardly ever see Caddys outside of North America. I see BMWs and Mercedes just about everywhere!

How does Lexus stack up? I realize that Lexus-branded cars are only sold in the US, some parts of Europe, and now Japan... anywhere else? I guess that puts them at a significant disadvantage in terms of sales figures though, even though Lexus vehicles that are branded as Toyotas instead are still available just about everywhere.

I would appreciate links to articles or graphs or whatever more than anything if possible.

LexFather

CHALLENGE!!! (gonna look now)

Guy Legend

Tough to say.

In Europe, Audi recently passed BMW and Mercedes, while in the US, they are behind even Infiniti.

I wouldn't be too surprised if Caddy is number 1 world wide, but I would expect it to be either MB or BMW.

Let's see what sicklex finds.

LexFather

Here we go....
With sales of 1,060,900 automobiles in 2004 (2003: 1,095,000) and a global market share of about 2.3 percent, Mercedes-Benz maintained its position as the world’s best-selling premium brand
http://mbca.cartama.net/archive/index.php/t-4937.html


With 1,023,583 cars sold in 2004, the BMW brand exceeded the one-million threshold for the first time, an increase of 10.3% compared to the previous year. At the same time, there has never been a year in which so many new BMW models have been launched onto the market in a single year.
http://www.bmwgroup.com/e/nav/index....arke_bmw.shtml

Despite a number of launches in important model lines, Audi was able to set a new sales record in 2004, selling 779,441 vehicles to customers worldwide. This is equivalent to an increase of 1.2 percent. Audi consequently succeeded in increasing its sales for the eleventh year in succession.
http://media.audiusa.com/article_dis...rticle_id=9532

Lexus sales last year were 290,000 (I think) in the USA and aout 24k in Europe and I have no idea sales figures in other countries (Asia, Middle East, etc etc)

I could not find Cadillac either but they sold 230k units in 2004 and it looks like only 9,000 units in Europe.

So it looks like Benz barely beat out BMW last year.

Mind you Lexus has always stated, they are not after being #1 in sales. They don't mind being #1 in America but they are concerned with the product.

Lexus has nowhere near the vast array of products of Benz, BMW or Audi. Experts see Lexus sales growing 40% in America by 2009 and Lexus has an aim for 65k units in Europe by 2010, so they still would be behind the Germans.

Add to the fact, the Germans are adding many cheaper models (A3, 1 Series, etc), they have many variations of one car (coupes, wagons) and they offer high performance models (AMG/ M, S, even the SLR) and there is no way Lexus could be #1 in sales worldwide.

encore888

I think it's amazing how Lexus can do so well despite having a limited number of models. The number of different coupe models and subtypes Benz sells is more than the entire Lexus lineup. Now I wouldn't mind Lexus work towards a global presence with even more models to choose from, so long as they don't dilute the brand.

Gojirra99

Lexus only sell luxury passenger cars, they don't have lower end products like the A class & 1 series, nor stripped down 4 cylinder/diesel versions of C/E class & 3/5 series, many of which sold as taxi's outside of N.America, all of which consist of approx. half of Mercedes/BMW sales in Europe & many parts of the world. Lexus really needs to introduce more diesel variations in Europe in order to increase sales there significantly, although I can't see them being used as taxi's like the Benz & bimmers there.

Toyota's products are split into 2 brands, Lexus for luxurious passenger cars, & Toyota for lower end passenger cars & commercial vehicles. So it's difficult to really compare Lexus sales figures worldwide with the traditional luxury brands legitimately.

MB sold 700-650k passenger cars per year in Western Europe alone in the last 2 years , that's how dominant they are in that region. Yet in the world's largest automobile market USA, they only managed to sell ~ 220k.

mmarshall

Lexus also has a branch in Australia.

http://www.lexus.com.au/

Gojirra99

Yes, & they actually have a LEXUS CENTRE in Melbourne which they sponsor.

But they are all over the world now, just that in many places,they still only have a small presence & their dealership networks are not nearly as widespread as it is here :

Lexus in EUROPE and ASIA & OCEANIA

redkingjoe

i think either MB or BMW have a long history...so even the junkie A-class, C-class or 1 series are classified as luxury cars in term of sales figure....if we compare this way, it's not too fair if we don't add avalon, carmy, supra, mr-2, alphand, estima etc to compare

Gojirra99

Lexus Faces Up to Re Launch
by David Miles
edited 04-08-2005

UK sales to increase mainly through business and fleet customers


Traditionally big on sales in America, Lexus are now re-launching the brand in Europe with the new GS saloon selling in the premium or luxury sector. Lexus say the re-launch programme, in addition to the new GS, will include the introduction of the RX400h hybrid in May and the new IS with their new clean diesel engine will follow at the end of this year. A hybrid version of the GS will follow in 2006 but there will be no diesel-powered model.

The new GS models go on sale in the UK from 15 April.

Not only are Lexus re-launching in the UK and Western Europe they will be launching the brand for the first time in Japan in August this year where 150 newly designed dealerships will all open on the same day throughout the country. Lexus sales in emerging Eastern European countries are also part of the sales growth programme.


World sales of Lexus models through 450 dealer centres in 2004 were 358,000 vehicles, an increase of 10 per cent. The US market, where Lexus has been the number one luxury car brand for the last five years, achieved 290,000 sales last year.


In Europe 2004 sales reached a modest record level of 25,000, an increase of 15 per cent. Stuart McCullough, Director Lexus Division Europe said this week, “By the end of the decade Lexus in Europe will be selling 65,000 units through 350 dedicated Lexus retailers which will be in place within the next three years. Currently we have 233 outlets”.

He added, “We will never reach the 2,000 or so European dealer count of our German competitors. We believe selling quality, high technology premium products through a smaller dealer network who are totally focussed on offering the best customer satisfaction will give us a clear competitive edge over our competitors so enabling us to sell more vehicles. This year we expect to sell 29,000 Lexus vehicles in Europe, a further growth of 20 per cent and by the end of the decade European sales should teach 65,000 units. I expect the GS to achieve around 5,000 sales in Europe this year and over half will be conquest sales”.

The UK will account for 50 per cent of the new GS European sales in the car’s first full year said Steve Settle, the Lexus GB Director but this would reduce to around 30 per cent as other Eastern European markets develop.

Settle continued, “We sold just over 10,000 Lexus vehicles in the UK last year and we expect to sell 12,000 units this year. Our business plan is to grow this total to 20,000 annual sales by 2010”.

Settle added, “A significant amount of this growth will come about because of the introduction of our new models which will attract increased interest from the business and fleet markets. The RX400h hybrid will offer significant benefit in kind tax savings and the introduction of the new IS with our first Lexus diesel engine option will drive our sales forward. Currently our fleet sales account for 25 to 30 per cent of our total registrations but by the end of 2006 we expect our sales to be split 50-50, fleet and retail”.

He added, “The current UK level of 50 Lexus Centres will be slowly increased to 58 over the next few years and in most cases these new Centres will be operated by our existing business partners. Currently 60 per cent of the Lexus Centres in the UK are twinned with Toyota dealers”.

“In the next few months we will be launching a revised Lexus used car programme which will keep supplies of our used cars going through the Lexus Centres. It is important to maintain or high product residual values as we grow the franchise through business and fleet sales” said Settle.

The new Lexus GS is the third generation luxury sports saloon and it is the first model to exhibit the new Lexus L-finesse design philosophy and tour de force driving, performance and safety technologies. The GS has a distinctive long wheelbase sleek silhouette side view and all four models have luxury items of specification. Four models make up the new range, the GS300, GS300 SE, GS300 SE-L and GS430.

All GS300 models use the all new Lexus 3.0-litre, V6, 245bhp direct injection petrol engine with dual variable valve timing. The GS430 uses a revised 4.3-litre, V8, 279bhp unit. All versions use a new electronically controlled, close-ratio six-speed automatic transmission with sequential shift mode.

UK on the road prices range from £30,400 to £46,755.

source : HERE

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The 358,000 Lexus vehicles sold worldwide last year does not include the versions sold with the Toyota badge in Japan & some other areas like the Celsior, Aristo, etc . . .

LexFather

Thanks for the help mahn

Threxx

Great info in this thread. I wasn't expecting this solid of answers, as I couldn't seem to find them anywhere via google.

But I agree it's unfortunate that since the top three (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) sell cheap cars as well (and if I remember from when I was younger and lived there, in Germany a BMW 3-series without any luxury options costs no more than a Ford Taurus does here), and Lexus doesn't sell in most countries under the name Lexus, yet... then it makes it kind of hard to compare true sales figures.

Maybe a better comparison would be combining all Toyota/Lexus sales worldwide and picking out vehicles sold for what equates to over 30,000 USD. Then compare the same survey to BMW, Mercedes, Audi, GM, etc.

That would be a tough one, though.