Lexus Europe have reported their 2008 January to June sales, and the result is very similar to the US numbers. For the first six months of the year, 24,859 vehicles have been sold, a 14% decrease from last year.

The press release also mentions that 35% of all Lexus' sold in Europe are hybrids, which is down from 37% last year. (Hardly a significant drop, but it's worth mentioning.)

In addressing the drop in sales, the Toyota press release included a very interesting quote:

‘2008 has been challenging as we prepare for a new product offensive and face tougher external pressures,’ said Tadashi Arashima, President and Chief Executive Officer of TME. ‘We are confident of entering a new phase of growth in-line with the introduction of 18 models, including two hybrids, to Europe. Each model will bring improved fuel efficiency, helping to expand our low CO2 sales mix.’

With eighteen new models (!!!) about to be introduced, it looks like Toyota/Lexus is about to begin a major offensive in Europe.

[Source: Infibeam]

Toyota has responded to an Edmunds article that suggested the Lexus SC will be discontinued:

Mike Michels, the corporate manager of External Communications for Toyota Motor Sales USA, has told AutomotiveWorld.com that reports by a US-based automotive website which claim the Lexus SC and Toyota Avalon will not be replaced due to slow sales are "unfounded speculation".

"We [TMS] do not comment on future product plans or timetables, for obvious competitive reasons," Michels states, stating that Inside Line did not contact the OEM's US division's media department before publishing its story.

Not really a denial, not really a confirmation, which makes me feel the news may be true. If that's the case, I doubt the company is very happy to have someone leaking out business details.

[Source: Automotive World]

Lexus buyers in China are about to encounter some exceptional price hikes as the result of a new Government policy:

The Lexus cars to be marked up are mainly the 3.5L-plus models. The 2008 Lexus ES 350, of the lowest rise rate, has its price marked up by 57,000 yuan ($8,340USD) to 529,000 yuan ($77,406USD). The 2008 Lexus LS600hL, a hybrid model, has 513,000 yuan ($75,065USD) added to its current price of 1.598 million yuan ($233,830). The prices of the Lexus IS-Series models have not risen this time.

The Lexus models will sell at new prices when the policy of new consumption taxes on imported cars is implemented later this year. The policy says the tax rate of vehicles with displacement of 3.0L to 4.0L will increase to 25% from 15%; the tax rate of 4.0L and above vehicles will rise to 40% from the current 20%.

I definitely had a bout of nausea while converting the numbers to US funds, though the prices were hardly reasonable to begin with.

Of course, it makes perfect sense in the eyes of the government officials as Consumers will be more likely to buy Chinese. Not only that, if foreign car manufacturers still want to tap into the world's most promising market, they'll have to build local factories.

[Source: Gasgoo]

Toyota's Open Road blog has posted a short audio interview of Lexus General Manager Mark Templin & Toyota President Jim Lentz discussing the company's low sales in June and what it means for the car maker:

Here's an interesting excerpt from GM Templin on Lexus moving forward:

The good news is that we retained our position as the #1 selling luxury brand, so we feel like we're doing a pretty good job in a really tough market of doing the best we can do to take care of customers and make profits. We're also excited about the next couple of months, because all of a sudden, we're going to enhance our incentive programs a little bit, and we'll begin our summer sales event on July 25th, which always gives us a big boost during the month of August. And, I think we'll make it through some tough times in the luxury industry, and we're doing it in a way that's going to support the growth of Lexus in 2009 and beyond."

The #1 position in the US luxury car market is obviously a very important distinction, and one that Lexus is going to fight tooth and nail to maintain. As noted this weekend, Lexus currently has a 5,198 unit advantage over second-place BMW, so it's still anyone's guess just how 2008 is going to play out.

With the year-to-year decrease in Lexus US auto sales becoming more and more pronounced, I thought it might be a good idea to do some number comparisons as a way to get some perspective.

First thing, here's the raw facts of Lexus' first-half sales when compared to the competition:

Even with the 14.1% drop in sales, Lexus is still managing to stay ahead of BMW. Admittedly, Lexus' percentage change is the highest of the group, but it's not entirely unexpected.

Right from the start, it was clear that Lexus USA wasn't expecting 2008 to be a banner year. General manager Mark Templin even went as far to say "If I sell 1,000 more cars this year, I'd be happy." This would indicate that there was a scheduled holding pattern in effect, due to the current economic climate in the United States.

It's unfortunate, then, that the latest updates to the Lexus lineup are the most expensive. The LS 600hL, the LX 570, and the IS-F are all big-budget vehicles, and aren't the type to boost the unit numbers. Contrast this to BMW's introduction of the 1-Series, and the dropping gap between the two companies makes complete sense.

One thing's for sure, it's going to be a real competition to see who ends up on top this year.

TPP commenter Jesse P.S reminded me of something that was lost in the shuffle of the RX prototype video and the June sales reports -- Lexus Canada dropped their prices significantly on July 1st. Here's the table:

This is a stark a market correction as I've ever seen. The LX 570 alone sees a cut of $16,800. Even with the smallest reduction (which happens to be the bestselling RX 350) the price is still reduced by $1,400.

(Being a Canadian, my only complaint is that the current apple of my eye, the GS 450h, wasn't brought more inline with the US price of $55,800. Still, I'm sure potential LX owners are pretty happy about the news.)

[Source: Lexus Canada]