Chart Of The Day: NX Boosting Lexus In The Time Of The RX's Need
Conventionally pretty, it is not. But the Lexus NX is a hit.
The NX200t and NX300h combined to generate 4,014 U.S. sales in May 2015, the best month yet for the six-month-old NX line. Year-to-date, 16,546 copies of the NX have been sold in America. Since the end of November, 19,473 NXs have found their way into driveways across America.
Lexus, of course, has a tradition of building wildly popular premium crossovers. The RX is perennially America’s top-selling premium utility vehicle.
As Lexus prepares to replace the current RX with an all-new, already revealed model for 2016, sales of the current RX have fallen 5% this year. It’s still far more popular than any other premium brand utility vehicle in America.
In the meantime, with the NX added to the fleet, SUVs and crossovers accounted for 49% of all Lexus volume in the U.S. over the first five months of 2015, up from 43% in the same period one year ago, before the NX. Rather inconsequentially, sales of the high-end LX are faltering, but the GX460 is up 13% year-to-date, a gain of 1108 units.
As for the NX’s standing in its own category, only the Acura RDX and Audi Q5 are currently selling more often. The fourth-ranked Mercedes-Benz GLK, down 24% this year, is 5,260 sales back of the Lexus. BMW’s X3, down 44% this year, is 5,564 sales abaft. The Volvo XC60, Lincoln MKC lead the peloton but are well back of the better-selling contestants.
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
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I wouldn't be surprised if the sales for the 2016 RX crater. That is one hella ugly vehicle. The NX is okay--not my favorite thing in the world, but the design language works on it. The new RX is just plain offensive. I can't see suburban moms getting excited to own one. (It's a shame because past RXs are very pretty. My mom absolutely loved them, but there's no way she'd be seen in one of the new ones.)
Rhonda the Relator and Chrissy the Chemist are saving this brand. Brilliant, Lexus.
The NX is pretty nice. Spent time at Lexus last weekend looking at a used GS (drove an RX too). Every NX200t they had was out front being tested, and one had a sold tag added. They are flying out the door here. Sales guy said they have no deals on them as none are needed.
I test drove an NX not long ago to see if it would be good for my mother and I thought it was excellent, it is definitely at the top of the list for her next vehicle. I liked it a lot better than the current RX also. In my opinion, the RX needs to be a three row crossover, like the Santa Fe, otherwise I don't really see the point of buying it over the NX.