December Sales Were so Good That Lexus Ran Out of SUVs in January
December is typically a peak month for automotive sales, especially among premium brands. With more holiday-themed ads than the majority of its competition, Lexus always sees the year’s final month of sales as its best. However, it did so well last December that January saw a 26 percent drop in sales due to an exhausted supply of sport utility vehicles.
With the narrowest of exceptions for the LX, last December turned out to be the best month in the history of all of Lexus’ SUVs. The bad news is that most of those sales came at the expense of the automaker’s sedans, which saw comparatively low sales. At around 41,000 units, December 2016 wasn’t all that much different from 2015. However, cars made up a significantly smaller piece of that pie.
Lexus’ LS and GS faired particularly poorly against December 2015’s monthly sales, with the GS only managing 1,325 of the previous year’s 3,423 units.
Jeff Bracken, general manager of the Japanese Luxury brand, told Automotive News that he partially faults the LS engine swap (no, not that kind) for its lackluster sales. “If there’s a question, it’s the V6 twin turbo,” Bracken explained. “I think there are still some journalists that are like “Nah, but it isn’t a V8.'”
The company downplays the V6 on its website, going so far as to highlight the old model’s V8 engine in the preliminary menu. However, that LS-specific issue doesn’t account for the overall sedan sales slump or why the company was in such short supply of SUVs last month — changing consumer preferences do. Sales of Lexus utility vehicles comprised about half of last month’s below-anticipated volume, while Bracken admits that the overall market was around 65 percent.
Bracken wants to see Lexus get RXs and GXs back onto lots to meet demand, however, he doesn’t anticipate supplies to normalize until at least March.
[Image: Toyota Motor Corp.]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
More by Matt Posky
Comments
Join the conversation
I call BULL on an exhausted SUV supply. The two dealers closest to me have 303 SUV's in stock.
Fugly. I don't get it, The Venza was way better looking and the the Toyota faithful stayed away in droves.