As the US new vehicle market continues its steady recovery, some interesting changes are taking place at the top of the sales charts. In particular, Toyota appears to be in trouble. Not only was the Camry outsold by both the Honda Accord and the Nissan Altima in March, but for the third month in a row, Mercedes-Benz has pushed Lexus division down into second place. After eleven straight years as America’s number one luxury brand, it’s now looking as though the Lexus brand’s reign might be over.
Toyota has invested much in its strategy of making gasoline-electric hybrid powertrains its signature technology. In a segment of the US market where it once competed strongly, the Lexus GS is now an also-ran. For the three months ending 31 March, a mere 1,103 units of the GS and its GS 450h hybrid derivative were registered. The smaller and far newer HS 250h is also in trouble. It managed only 699 sales in the period January-March. This represents year-on-year falls of 34.5% and 82.9% respectively.
Lexus has no other fresh products in sight; a concept version of the GS replacement is to be revealed later this month at the New York show but the production car isn’t due until 2012.
So has Toyota made a strategic error by investing so much in hybrids? It’s worth noting that the best selling Lexus car models, the ES and IS, have never been offered as hybrids. Against that, the brand’s new hybrid-only CT 200h is off to a good start in the US market, with 2,199 sold in March, while the RX hybrid also sells well. Yet right now, the powertrain preferences of US buyers are not the main concern – the majority of Lexus models are sourced from Japan so vehicle supply problems are suddenly the brand’s biggest problem.
Comparing the totals, Lexus ended the first quarter with 47,356 sales, versus 53,346 for the Mercedes-Benz passenger car division. Rubbing salt into the Lexus wounds, BMW was the US market’s number two brand for the January-March quarter, with 52,617 sales (excluding Mini and Rolls-Royce).
With the E-Class selling well and a refreshed C-Class on the way, Mercedes-Benz is looking likely to keep its number one position over the coming months. By contrast, and with the exception of the recently launched CT 200h, Lexus has no other fresh products in sight; a concept version of the GS replacement is to be revealed later this month at the New York show but the production car isn’t due until 2012. Audi will also soon add to the Japanese brand’s woes when it launches the all-new A6 in the US market. A facelifted A4, plus all-new versions of the A3 and Q7 are due to follow within the next year.
Ford is yet to seriously address the issue of a steady slide in Lincoln division sales
Audi might be growing strongly, but even with a record 9,818 cars and SUVs sold in March, it still trailed Acura (12,611), Cadillac (12,164) and Infiniti (11,287). Ford, which shifted an impressive 53,272 units of the F-Series pick-up in the same month, is yet to seriously address the issue of a steady slide in Lincoln division sales, which fell by 2.2% last month to only 8,501 units. The brand’s forthcoming C-segment model (Focus-based and due in 2012) can’t come soon enough.
As the premium brands of GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan and Honda continue to battle it out in the second division of the US market, each of them will now redouble efforts to break from that pack, having seen that Lexus can be beaten. Mercedes-Benz and BMW might have each found a similar product-led path to the top of the premier league, but they should watch their backs.
The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Automotive World Ltd.
Glenn Brooks is a regular contributor to AutomotiveWorld.com. A former editor and news editor for various specialist automotive titles and newswires, he now specialises in future vehicle programme research as well as OEM, production and product analysis. editorial@automotiveworld.com
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