February 2012 Sales Thread

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

03-12-12, 05:25 PM

#31

GS69

Lead Lap

Thread Starter

Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: NC

Posts: 4,213

Likes: 4

Received 10 Likes on 8 Posts

Movers & Losers

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...,1672734.story

Rising gas prices brought shoppers back toward fuel-efficient small cars and hybrids, with the hot-selling Toyota Prius — up a staggering 52% in February sales — taking just nine days to turn. The Prius is EPA-rated at up to 51 mpg, but four other cars with 40 mpg or better EPA ratings made this month's Movers list. Just 2 cars, the redesigned BMW 3 Series and Lexus GS, topped the Prius. The Volvo XC90 was the only anomaly. Despite light incentives, shoppers are snapping up the 10-year-old SUV.

Of January's top 10 movers, seven stayed in the mix. The Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne slipped below our minimum transaction threshold, while the Land Rover Range Rover fell to 27 days. That's still better than February's average, which was 39 days to turn — a slowdown from January's 34 days but far less than February 2011's 47 days.

As we reported earlier, Super Bowl ads may have boosted sales for certain automakers. How did they influence the speed at which cars moved off lots? It's hard to tell. Lexus' poorly rated GS commercial didn't slow buyers from snatching up the redesigned sport sedan, but midpack spots for the Chevrolet Sonic hatch and Camaro convertible left those cars, well, in the middle. Well-rated commercials for the Hyundai Veloster and Honda CR-V may have boosted interest — both cars were February Movers — but Fiat's 500 Abarth commercial, rated among the top 10 in USA Today's Ad Meter, did little to hasten the 500's pace. Hatchback versions averaged 91 days to move off dealership lots in February, while the 500C convertible took 99 days.

The 500C was 1 of 4 convertibles on the Losers list — unsurprising, given spring is still more than a week off. Other notable duds include hybrid versions of the Volkswagen Touareg and Infiniti M. Blame low supplies: Cars.com has just 218 M35h and 83 Touareg Hybrid models in national new-car inventory. Too few of them exist, and the ones in stock evidently command little interest.

Movers

2012 BMW 328i sedan: 7 days
2013 Lexus GS 350: 8 days
2012 Toyota Prius: 9 days
2012 Honda CR-V: 10 days
2012 Hyundai Elantra sedan: 10 days
2012 Hyundai Veloster: 10 days
2012 Subaru Impreza hatchback: 10 days
2013 Volvo XC90: 10 days
2012 Honda Pilot: 11 days
2012 Audi Q5: 12 days
2012 BMW X3: 12 days
2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid: 12 days
2012 Toyota 4Runner: 12 days
2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid: 12 days
2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque: 13 days
2012 Subaru Impreza sedan: 13 days
2012 BMW 535i xDrive sedan: 14 days
2012 Kia Soul: 14 days
2012 Toyota RAV4: 14 days

Losers

2012 BMW X6 M: 114 days
2012 BMW 650i convertible: 111 days
2012 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid: 104 days
2012 Porsche 911 convertible*: 104 days
2012 Fiat 500C convertible: 99 days
2012 Infiniti M35h hybrid: 98 days
2012 BMW 135i convertible: 96 days
2012 Infiniti EX35: 93 days
2012 Fiat 500 hatchback: 91 days
2012 Nissan NV cargo van: 89 days

Cars.com Picks

2012 Volvo S60: 51 days
2012 Ford Mustang coupe: 53 days
2012 Cadillac CTS sedan: 60 days
2012 Dodge Durango: 60 days
2012 Mazda CX-9: 64 days
2012 Nissan Altima sedan: 72 days
2012 Mazda3 sedan: 76 days

*We should note the Porsche 911 includes the outgoing car (the 997, to Porsche enthusiasts) and redesigned (991) versions among its 2012 models. It's hard to quantify just how many 997s are slowing the car's sales pace, but either way, the 911 ranks at the bottom.

About the Lists

The Movers and Losers list reports the average number of days it takes to sell models from the day they arrive on the lot until the final paperwork is signed by a buyer. This is not a days-of-inventory list like you may find on other websites. We're now focusing on only 2012 and, where available, 2013 model years.

For Movers, we only list vehicles that pass a certain threshold of sales in order to weed out limited editions, ultra-high-performance cars and others that might skew the numbers or otherwise inaccurately portray popularity. For Losers, we have removed any threshold to reflect 2011 models that may have the greatest incentives.

03-20-12, 04:35 PM

#32

GS69

Lead Lap

Thread Starter

Join Date: Dec 2005

Location: NC

Posts: 4,213

Likes: 4

Received 10 Likes on 8 Posts

Article

Will Lexus Surge Back this Year?

To mark the anniversary of last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Micheline Maynard recently posted a nice summary of the disaster’s profound effects on the Japanese Big 3 automakers, with its huge disruption of the supply chain for Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The effects were no less serious for the luxury car segment.

Lexus sold 13.7% fewer cars in the U.S. in 2011 than in 2010, forcing it to cede the title of best-selling luxury car in the U.S.—after an 11-year run—to BMW. Acura saw its annual sales drop 8%, and Infiniti’s U.S. sales declined 4.8% in 2011.

But a recent Forbes Insights study, “2012 Special Report: Luxury Automotive Outlook,” provides reasons to believe that 2011 may prove to be no more than a very large speed bump for Lexus. Those reasons reside in the psyches of Lexus customers.

The study (authored by veteran automotive writer Matthew de Paula and edited by yours truly) relies on forward-looking consumer data provided by BIGinsight, a consumer insight resource based in Worthington, Ohio. BIGinsight conducts a monthly Consumer Survey with some 8,500 respondents as well as the twice-yearly Media Behaviors & Influence™ Study, which polls about 25,000 people. Using a full year’s worth of this data—derived from roughly 150,000 consumer interviews conducted in 2011—Forbes Insights has devised a Luxury Car Buzz Index to rank the leading luxury automotive brands based on a composite score that measures customer satisfaction and loyalty, car owners’ propensity to recommend their brand to others, and the effectiveness of marketing efforts in both traditional and digital media, as well as the impact of digital word-of-mouth through social media and blogs.

Here’s where this gets interesting: Lexus places 2nd in its overall score, after BMW. Surely, this is because the Buzz Index attempts to quantify how customers feel about luxury car brands, as well as the effectiveness of marketing and word of mouth in getting new, potential customers to consider the cars. It ignores actual sales figures.

A closer look at the factors ranked in the Buzz Index gives us a sense of what Lexus has been doing right. To quote from the report: “2 factors stand out for Lexus. It wins the Brand Satisfaction category, closely trailed by Volvo, BMW and Acura. And it utterly dominates in Personal Promotion. Lexus owners clearly love their cars and will play them up to anyone who will listen, regardless of how difficult it may be to actually obtain one at the moment.”

So. as Lexus recovers from its supply issues, will it win back market share from BMW, Mercedes and Audi? This year could see a scrappy fight as the luxury segment becomes ever more fragmented and competitive.

Mark Templin, Lexus USA’s group vice president and general manager, who was interviewed for the report, believes this greater fragmentation is a permanent change from a few years ago, when the luxury market was dominated by its own Big 3. So while Lexus expects its market share to increase, it will probably end up with a smaller share than it once held.

“Everybody wants a piece of this growing market,” Templin says. “So even though we will grow, and Mercedes will grow, and BMW will grow, our shares probably won’t be as big as they were back in 2007, because there were really only 3 players in the entire market then.”

Ludwig Willisch, president and CEO of BMW North America, underlines the same point: “I have to say frankly, and I’ve been around quite a bit, I’ve not encountered any market that is as competitive as the U.S. market.”

Intriguingly, the stage seems set for a contest between 2 very different corporate strategies. BMW focuses on its products, positioning them as the “ultimate driving machines.” Lexus focuses on the total ownership experience: beautiful dealerships, a buying process that minimizes the pain, free car washes at the dealerships and so forth.

It should be interesting to watch this competition play out.

03-22-12, 01:48 PM

#33

bitkahuna

Lexus Fanatic

iTrader: (20)

Join Date: Feb 2001

Location: Present

Posts: 73,676

Likes: 1,297

Received 2,094 Likes on 1,358 Posts

Quote:

Originally Posted by camryphil

BMW
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...141061583.html

Mercedes-Benz
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-141055383.htm

Unless the new ES comes out very soon (and a new IS) don't see how Lexus is going to outsell either MB or BMW this year.

mb link no good... maybe here:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...141055383.html

(looks like 'l' was missing off end of link in post)

03-23-12, 07:37 AM

#34

Joeb427

Lexus Fanatic

iTrader: (1)

Join Date: Aug 2007

Location: SC

Posts: 11,670

Likes: 11

Received 15 Likes on 14 Posts

FEB YTD sales

7 Series + 21%
S Class +8.2%
Porsche Panamera +16.1%

LS -20.4%
A8 -20.2%
XJ-10.6%

http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2012/03...-february.html

03-24-12, 07:43 PM

#35

-J-P-L-

Lexus Fanatic

Join Date: May 2003

Location: Massachusetts

Posts: 7,864

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

My main interest is compacts, and with $4/gal gas, this is an all important field. Here's how the top dogs faired in February. It's a late post but i just now thought to look.

I was surprised to see the lackluster Civic on top. Also surprised to see the Focus with those numbers. Not surprised with its success, but surprised because I still don't see that many compared to all the others. I see more Elantras and Corollas than anything. Everyday I see 30-40 of the new Elantras, while only spotting 1-2 Focuses.

Civic 27,027
Focus 23,350
Corolla. 22,148
Cruze 20,427
Elantra. 13,820
Mazda 3 11,275

03-25-12, 10:08 AM

#36

LexFather

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by -J-P-L-

Civic 27,027
Focus 23,350
Corolla. 22,148
Cruze 20,427
Elantra. 13,820
Mazda 3 11,275

That is because Civic incentives have quintupled since last year and Honda is offer $1900 off the Civic. We know historically the Civic didn't have nor need much incentives to sell. This is a huge shift to sell the car.

Quote:

But industry research firm TrueCar.com says incentives on the Civic have more than quintupled since its debut last April to almost $1,900 per car in January, suggesting sales are being driven by attractive deals.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...82100M20120302