New member here. I custom ordered a 2018 RX 450h. Does anyone know how often I can expect to get updates about the build / delivery?

 

the dealership you ordered from will probably have the most accurate answer for you. have you tried contacting them for an update.

any info from these forums would be probably only be speculative.

 

I placed the order on Saturday and the dealer told me that he would have the spec sheet in a week or so. He was saying that he would be providing updates every other week during the wait. I was hoping to hear from others about their experience...

 

RR99, welcome to CL. There's a monthly cut-off date for dealers to submit special orders to Lexus. Then it's a few more weeks before the order is officially accepted. Only then is an order number generated including expected production date. At least that's been my experience on both of my 450hs. Total time from order to delivery was 4-5 months. Possibly your dealer will be able to locate a soon to be built RX with everything you want since it's early in production. Otherwise you might need to pack some patience. Hopefully not.

 

Congratulations, what options did you select? Long model?
no love for the 17 at a great discount??

 

I picked the base 450h in Atomic Silver with black interior. The only options I picked were the 20" wheels and heated seats. The 17s they had were in high fifties/low sixties and a discount of 10%-12% would have still priced them much higher...

 

Apparently, the order entry was open and they placed an order already. Hoping to get the car around April but will know once we get the order number...

 

Sounds like you timed it right. IIRC the cut-off date is around the 20th of the month.

 

I heard from the dealer that the build has been scheduled. It is expected to be built in the middle of April and I should have it by the end of April. The dates so far:
Ordered - 1/6
Build Scheduled - 3/19
Date Built - TBD
Date Shipped - TBD
Delivered - TBD

 

Thanks for the updates @RR99 - I am a month behind you, so will check in with my dealer if I haven't heard anything about a build schedule near the end of this month.

 

 

I don't claim any real expertise here, but I understand the order acceptance cutoff dates are 19-20 of the month, so RR99 got his order in by the 19-January cutoff, mine by the 19-February cutoff and yours by the 19-March cutoff.... Maybe your dealer was able to modify an order already accepted by Lexus? From what little I could tell, an order accepted by 19-March would be expected by the end of June. To get end of May, I would have thought your order would need to be accepted by 19-February.

I wouldn't go crucify your dealer, but it might be interesting to see what checkpoints they can offer - mine had very little to give, which is frankly a bit disappointing compared to the Germans who have a whole evolving timeline that you can follow as your car progresses. IIRC, I should expect a VIN in late April and a car about 30 days after that. In contrast, a few years ago I placed a deposit & order with my Audi dealer on 23-December, got an official notification of the order placed on 6-January scheduling delivery in Germany in late May. By mid-end of February I had a committed build date (in early April) by the first week of April my car was built and waiting on me. I recall a lot more checkpoints than "Here's a VIN" and "Here's your car"....

Frankly though, I'm just happy to be able to custom order - back when I ordered the Audi all Lexus would say is "These are the packages your region orders, pick amongst them"

 

I am with you and would be a long wait, but you can't be in a rush ordering a Lexus. They have systems in place to make it a very slow process. My colleague ordered an LS in 2016 and it was about 6 months. Had a specific color combination in mind, and she said she'd wait a year for it if had to. She is a patient type individual. When got the call from the dealer, she said "already here?". and took another month to go pick it up. They had to keep calling to remind her. Different strokes...