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]

In contrast to the current US sales situation, Lexus Canada had their best June ever, posting a 22.4% increase over last year.

At 1,557 total units sold, the number pales in comparison to the US sales volume, but the rate of growth is very impressive, particularly in regard to the SUV market. Lexus Canada sold 623, which is good enough for a 55% increase over June 2007. The cars had a more modest gain of 7.4%, or 934 total sales.

The biggest eye-opener is the increase in hybrid sales, which at 192 units sold, represents a 97.9% increase over last year, and made up over 12% of all Lexus Canada sales.

[Source: Toyota]

Lexus USA’s June 2008 sales numbers are in, and the results don’t look too rosy. Overall, sales are down 21.1% compared to last year, model by model it breaks down like this:

By extension of these numbers, we can now look at the first half of 2008 as a whole. Overall, sales are down 14.1% compared to 2007. I’m going to do get a little more in depth with that shortly, but I need to crunch some numbers.

[Source: Toyota]

When you consider the climbing cost of gas in the USA (and everywhere else!), the dramatic increase in Lexus LX 570 sales has raised some eyebrows, including the Wall Street Journal, who went so far as to interview a new owner:

Karen Bean of Albany, N.Y., says she bought a Lexus LX 570 earlier this year because she likes how it looks, drives and accommodates her tall family. Having a comfortable, attractive interior and a vehicle that she enjoys driving is important enough that she is willing to accept the fuel expense. She can afford it, she says. Ms. Bean thinks that buyers of higher-end SUVs haven’t altered their spending habits, despite a sluggish economy and high gas prices. “If you’re buying an $80K+ car, you better be able to afford the gas that goes in it,” she says.

As the article notes, even with a 150+% increase in sales, the LX has only moved 3,547 so far this year. Combine that with the fact the model has just been redesigned, and the numbers don’t really seem that out-of-step.