2015 Luxury Sales Battle Review
Thread Starter
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Jan 2005
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2015 Luxury Sales Battle Review
Lexus tops BMW in U.S. registrations; 2015 luxury title in dispute
http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...home-mostright
King is back! Dealers buying vehicles to stuff end of year sales for BMW already happened in 2012:
Not so fast on BMW winning the 2015 U.S. luxury crown over Lexus and Mercedes.
According to manufacturer-reported sales released last month, BMW won. But Polk said today that Lexus was tops in U.S. vehicle registrations last year with 340,392 vs. BMW’s 335,259.
It’s a twist in the annual hotly contested luxury brand race, with BMW, Mercedes and Lexus jockeying throughout the year. On Jan. 5, BMW reported total 2015 sales of 346,023. That was 1,422 more than Lexus and 2,935 ahead of Mercedes (excluding Sprinter).
“Luxury sales leadership as measured by vehicle registrations is important to Lexus as it represents actual consumers engaging directly with our dealers,” Lexus General Manager Jeff Bracken told Automotive News in an email.
BMW spokesman Kenn Sparks said, “Many factors influence registrations, and as a result, registrations often lag sales, especially at the end of the year.”
The U.S. registration numbers from Polk, a unit of IHS Automotive, are lower than reported sales for all three brands: By 4,209 for Lexus, 10,764 for BMW and 8,396 for Mercedes.
According to manufacturer-reported sales released last month, BMW won. But Polk said today that Lexus was tops in U.S. vehicle registrations last year with 340,392 vs. BMW’s 335,259.
It’s a twist in the annual hotly contested luxury brand race, with BMW, Mercedes and Lexus jockeying throughout the year. On Jan. 5, BMW reported total 2015 sales of 346,023. That was 1,422 more than Lexus and 2,935 ahead of Mercedes (excluding Sprinter).
“Luxury sales leadership as measured by vehicle registrations is important to Lexus as it represents actual consumers engaging directly with our dealers,” Lexus General Manager Jeff Bracken told Automotive News in an email.
BMW spokesman Kenn Sparks said, “Many factors influence registrations, and as a result, registrations often lag sales, especially at the end of the year.”
The U.S. registration numbers from Polk, a unit of IHS Automotive, are lower than reported sales for all three brands: By 4,209 for Lexus, 10,764 for BMW and 8,396 for Mercedes.
http://www.autonews.com/article/2016...home-mostright
King is back! Dealers buying vehicles to stuff end of year sales for BMW already happened in 2012:
BMW’s claim to the 2012 luxury-brand crown was disputed by Mercedes-Benz after Polk later reported Mercedes had 5,025 more registrations than BMW. The two German automakers had traded barbs for weeks after BMW had reported a huge December sales surge to claim the title.
Then Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon fired the final shot in that spat: “We're the leader in the luxury segment, at least when you're talking about cars in customer hands,” he huffed. “Volumes can be manipulated. Registrations, not so easy.”
Then Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Steve Cannon fired the final shot in that spat: “We're the leader in the luxury segment, at least when you're talking about cars in customer hands,” he huffed. “Volumes can be manipulated. Registrations, not so easy.”
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jul 2013
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From: RightHere
And RX, ES and NX are the major sellers. What does this tell you about who's buying what? The comparison between a dedicated German sports sedan company and sales on a shared FWD platform are tough to translate.
Total sales don't always give you an actual "enthusiast" breakdown of why people buy certain car models.
https://lexusenthusiast.com/2015/10/...-sales-report/
Total sales don't always give you an actual "enthusiast" breakdown of why people buy certain car models.
https://lexusenthusiast.com/2015/10/...-sales-report/
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,997
Likes: 248
From: California
I believe this is due to Lexus's recent redesigns which are pretty drastic and different than the cars they replace. This new freshness has led to a lot of dealership traffic, whereas the last few redesigns of the 3, 5, and 7 have all looked pretty much the same. Even worse, they all look like each other. Offerings like that become tiring quickly. At least the IS looks like it's own car, creating a new and separate attraction for the brand.
Thread Starter
Lexus Fanatic
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In European car sales, they only use registration based sales reports, not when dealer buys a vehicle like in the USA. So it is much harder to cheat at the end of the year.
There is no reason for BMW to have 2.5x more unregistered sold vehicles than Lexus. And coincedentally, Lexus sells almost 15% more vehicles in January than BMW. Coincidence or dealer selling December vehicles still?
More from Autoblog:
Remember, car companies don't actually sell cars directly to the public. Instead, a sale is lodged by an automaker when a vehicle is delivered to a dealership. Actual end consumers buy new cars, in almost all cases, from one of these franchised dealers. So, BMW delivered 346,023 vehicles to dealerships in 2015, but only 335,259 of them were sold to and therefore registered by their new owners. Presumably, those 11,000 BMWs did (or will) end up in the driveways of consumers, but they hadn't before January 1, 2016.
Thread Starter
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 20,244
Likes: 275
I believe this is due to Lexus's recent redesigns which are pretty drastic and different than the cars they replace. This new freshness has led to a lot of dealership traffic, whereas the last few redesigns of the 3, 5, and 7 have all looked pretty much the same. Even worse, they all look like each other. Offerings like that become tiring quickly. At least the IS looks like it's own car, creating a new and separate attraction for the brand.
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Driver
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 186
Likes: 2
From: CA
It is no secret since the small companies & individuals have been doing it for more than a decade.
If anyone have opportunities to be in China, just take a tour at any major seaport. Thousands of US version vehicles for sale there at anytime, mainly European brand SUVs.
If anyone have opportunities to be in China, just take a tour at any major seaport. Thousands of US version vehicles for sale there at anytime, mainly European brand SUVs.
Great news. New designs, and new models definitely helped the brand to get to the top.
However, for the next few years we are not expecting anything new from Lexus.Yes, the LC is coming and the new LS will be out very soon, but both are not volume models, so the sales numbers won't really move up by much. Lexus will still rely on RX, ES and NX to do the heavy lifting. Hopefully, the sales will stay strong for those models.
However, for the next few years we are not expecting anything new from Lexus.Yes, the LC is coming and the new LS will be out very soon, but both are not volume models, so the sales numbers won't really move up by much. Lexus will still rely on RX, ES and NX to do the heavy lifting. Hopefully, the sales will stay strong for those models.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,363
Likes: 2
From: Ontario
And RX, ES and NX are the major sellers. What does this tell you about who's buying what? The comparison between a dedicated German sports sedan company and sales on a shared FWD platform are tough to translate.
Total sales don't always give you an actual "enthusiast" breakdown of why people buy certain car models.
https://lexusenthusiast.com/2015/10/...-sales-report/
Total sales don't always give you an actual "enthusiast" breakdown of why people buy certain car models.
https://lexusenthusiast.com/2015/10/...-sales-report/
Sales are sales, no matter who and why people buy them. The point of this thread is 'people ' buying them, not just dealers moving stock around to pad numbers.
Lead Lap
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 4,585
Likes: 24
From: Washington
He's absolutely right. Manufacturers hate it and have been battling with their dealers to put controls in to stop this lucrative exportation of US-market vehicles for some time now. I noticed yesterday that TTAC (a site which normally do not like, mind you) actually published an article about this very subject.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...alers-exports/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...alers-exports/
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 2,300
Likes: 4
From: RightHere
You're the one talking about the CLA, not me. I'm talking about where the bulk of the sales are happening re. BMW - Lexus. Absolute numbers can be an indicator but you can't just use that as a headline without context.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,363
Likes: 2
From: Ontario
So on the one hand it's incestuous and on the other hand sales are sales. Which is it? Point of this thread is BMW topping Lexus in U.S. luxury sales.
You're the one talking about the CLA, not me. I'm talking about where the bulk of the sales are happening re. BMW - Lexus. Absolute numbers can be an indicator but you can't just use that as a headline without context.
You're the one talking about the CLA, not me. I'm talking about where the bulk of the sales are happening re. BMW - Lexus. Absolute numbers can be an indicator but you can't just use that as a headline without context.
You then went on to state that sales numbers don't distinguish enthusiasts buyers. Who cares if they don't?
Lexus sales are higher than BMW for 2015, based on registration numbers. Plain and simple.