LexusPia

Since the Lexus RX sales figures are off 38.4% as compared to a year ago, do you think Lexus may offer special deals (better than what was offered before) in the near future to motivate the public to buy or lease?

sama

Forget about deals, there was a report today that 1 in 5 auto dealers in the US will close. It will be difficult to credit because of the liquidity crisis and tightening rules for lending money.

RXSF

in short yes, but not just because sales have dropped.

take into account that SUVS are down in sales, lexus itself is down in sales, and also the RX redesign will be out by Feb, then yes, its a good time to buy the current version.

you should be able to get it cheap

biff44

RX redesign in Feb? One would risk being called a schmuck to buy a redesigned RX in its first year! There will be engineering problems to solve. By all means take this year's model.

RXSF

^^ i bought a 2004 RX330 when it first came out. its been fine...at least it was made in japan

AM1

iTrader: (6)

a new car is a new car. paying a lot for an car that has been in production for 6 years when a new model is coming out soon, sounds..........

xfirechief

Many problems with our old 04 RX but nota with our new 09.
Would never take another chance on a 1st year vehicle.
Let the bugs get worked out for a few years.

Turkf26

I just bought a 05 RX330, silver, loaded w/dvd player/screens, AWD for 23998. Some dealers will work with you and some will not budge on prices but if you look hard enough you can find killer deals.

LexusPia

I called and emailed about 10 Lexus dealers including the Lexus customer service center. They all tell me no factory promos right now on new RX and not aware of any being introduced soon. Since the last one was on special leasing deal which just expired in Sept, they don't think Lexus would have another promo immediately after that. One dealer did say he could get me 2.9% financing over 60 months with a local lender but not thru Lexus. One thing that surprises me in this preliminary research is the dealers I contacted didn't really seem to be that "hungry" for business despite the slow and dwindling sales unlike Hummers where they are discounting 50% off MSRP even on their "little" H3. I don't envision Lexus will go that extreme but I thought there would be lot more interest to move their existing stock now in this slow economy.

Turkf26

Lexus is giving 3.9% on all Certified Used vehicles which is killer compared to all the other banks APR's right now.
I would possibly look for a used RX with low miles and you can get a killer deal.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

i cant speak for financing or stuff like that,that all changes depending on different times and other factors. The part about lexus dealers acting indifferent about making sales doesnt surprise me, to me they've always been like that. when i was looking for a car i contacted many dealers about what i was looking for and what i was willing to pay. some dealers were quite helpful and really wanted my business, some dealers were not helpful at all, and i had two dealers flat out tell me that there was no way they would budge on price and if i could do better to go elsewhere. most of the other ones were somewhere in the middle. i got the feeling that these dealers were just waiting for people to walk in and want their "cars" and that doing any extra work was a waste of time since people would buy anyways. this is of course my experience it might be different for others, etc. IMO the only dealer that gets my business is the one thats willing to get what i want and to get it at a good price. the dealer i go to is definetely not the biggest one in so cal, however they've done the steps to get it done. lexus rests on its "laurels" a lot and with this economy should be more proactive IMO.

ZIN

If SUV sales are down why are there so many new SUV'S being built? Everywhere I look I see a new SUV or crossover.

sportsfan8

There is still demand for smaller or mid-sized SUVs and crossovers... ones that get decent MPG and don't cost an arm and a leg... remember when Lexus came out with the only one in the RX way back? Now everybody is making a crossover.

pamada4

In my experience, I have not seen much of a price reduction on pre-driven RX330's that would reflect a 38.4% decrease in sales. Of course a 38.4% drop in sales would not translate to the same percentage drop in prices. In the Chicagoland area for example, three year old pre-driven 2005 RX330's are currently selling for approximately the same amount as three year old 2004 RX330's were selling for last year. There certainly are some exceptions to this trend with a few bargains on non-certified, higher mileage and less comparable vehicles.

LexusPia

One of the Lexus salesman just alerted me that Lexus has implemented a super low 0.9% financing (36-month) thru Lexus Financial for all new 2009 in-stock RX350. I think he mentioned one could finance up to 60 months for I believe 2.9% (I could be wrong). The special low finance rates are only good till the end of this month. He didn't say whether this special rate was applicable to other models nor did he say whether there was any other special factory-to-dealer cash incentives on the RX on top of the low finance rate. He did however offered me a $4400 discount from the sticker right off the bat (I believe it was right at $46k or very close to it) on a new 2009 RX350AWD w/ NAV and I have not even started my negotiation yet. I think in light of the slower sales on the RX, I can probably get the dealer to knock off another 1 to 2 grand to get it right at or below invoice. What do you guys think?