Lexus aims to triple US sales of its IS sports car

[Variance]

Link: http://today.reuters.com/business/NewsArti...OS-LEXUS-DC.XML

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp.'s (7203.T: Quote, Profile, Research) premium Lexus brand plans to sell nearly 40,000 of its all-new IS luxury sports cars in the U.S. market next year, more than tripling the current sales of the model they replace.

Lexus aims to sell 3,300 of the IS 250 and IS 350 sports sedans a month, Deborah Meyer, Lexus vice president for marketing told reporters on Thursday.

The vehicles, which have been completely redesigned for the 2006 model year, can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in about 5 seconds. They replace the IS 300 in the luxury brand's line-up. U.S. sales of the outgoing model currently average about 1,000 a month.

"That's a huge jump and a lofty target for us," Meyer said of the new sales goal. "We have to bring a lot of new buyers in."

The IS 250 model features a 2.5-liter V6 engine, while the IS350 has a 3.5-liter V6 engine. Lexus did not release the price of the cars. The price of the older model starts at around $30,000.

The cars, which will be launched globally this fall, will compete against BMW's (BMWG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) 3-Series, Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s (7267.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Acura TX and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s (7201.T: Quote, Profile, Research) Infiniti G35.

Lexus sold 13,559 IS 300s in the United States last year, down 26.7 percent from 2003. So far this year, sales are down about 52 percent.

Overall, Lexus improved its U.S. sales by 10.5 percent to 259,755 vehicles last year, thanks largely to a 15 percent gain in sales of the RX300 sport utility vehicle. So far this year, sales are up 4.4 percent to 163,292 vehicles.

Meyer said Lexus will try to maintain that pace of growth for the rest of the year.

Lexus has enjoyed enviable success in the United States where it has been the best-selling luxury brand for the past five years, despite tough competition from Mercedes-Benz AG (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and BMW.

The brand is also a consistent leader in most U.S. vehicle quality surveys.

[Northstar]

3300 sales a month shouldn't be too hard, the CTS has been doing 5-6k and sometimes over 6k a month for a while now. The 3-Series does like 8 or 9k a month usually too. Of course if it sells 3300 a month, the press will gush over how the new IS has tripled it's sales, but of course will fail to mention that the CTS probably sells 20 times as well as the Catera.

[AAS]

the last I heard of the IS was that it failed to pass the new emissions standards and wouldn't even be making it over to the US. Was that just BS? gues so...

[Variance]

the last I heard of the IS was that it failed to pass the new emissions standards and wouldn't even be making it over to the US.  Was that just BS? gues so...

[post="3900"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Yeah, it is pretty safe to say that's BS. What gasoline modern car can't pass emission standards?

[bobo]

I don't think the new IS will meet its sales goals. The base model's engine is unspectacular, and the new BMW 3-Series is too compelling of a competitor. The Infiniti G35 is also the better performance buy.

[regfootball]

considering how ugly the new BMW 3 is, I think the nice looking IS could steal many BMW intenders.

[Guest gmrebirth]

I don't think the new IS will meet its sales goals.  The base model's engine is unspectacular, and the new BMW 3-Series is too compelling of a competitor.  The Infiniti G35 is also the better performance buy.

[post="4117"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I don't think you know what you're talking about .... the base modell IS250 should be just as fast as the outgoing IS300, and the IS350, although more expensive, will have more performance than a G35 (auto). The IS350 will surely be the better overall buy. The IS250 should be as fast as an Acura TSX, while offering much better fuel economy thanks to direct injection.

I remember how sorely dissapointed I was when I sat in a G35 and saw how cheap the interior was. I also dislike the "dry" exhaust note that the car has.

I will bet my next paycheque that the IS will meet it's sales goals of 40,000 units per year, and I will even say this sales goal is conservative, and the new IS could push around 50,000 annually.

For comparison, Lexus set a goal of 33,000 units annually for the new GS, but looking at current GS sales, Lexus is on-track to sell about 40,000.

[VenSeattle]

Umm... Through July, Lexus has sold 15,164 GS300s & only 3,524 GS430s. That comes up to an annual sales expectation of 32,000. July's sales of 2,785 GS300s & 589 GS430s comes out to an annual average of 40,000 sales but even if GS sales matched July's through the end of the year then it would only be 35k-36k annual sales. Lexus would have to sell over 800 more GSs every month between now and December (this is over their July sales) in order to make the 40,000 you're quoting.

[Guest gmrebirth]

Umm...

Through July, Lexus has sold 15,164 GS300s & only 3,524 GS430s. That comes up to an annual sales expectation of 32,000.

July's sales of 2,785 GS300s & 589 GS430s comes out to an annual average of 40,000 sales but even if GS sales matched July's through the end of the year then it would only be 35k-36k annual sales.

Lexus would have to sell over 800 more GSs every month between now and December (this is over their July sales) in order to make the 40,000 you're quoting.

[post="5265"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Extrapolated to annual sales, it would equal 40,000. Because the GS only went on sale in March, it did not have the first two months of sales.

If GS sales stay consistent throught next year, then the 40,000 units sold will be very likely. Also next year the hybrid GS comes, not to mention engines upgrades with the coming GS350 and GS460 models, but those won't come till next Fall.

[VenSeattle]

Gotcha. I can understand what you were trying to say with the sales numbers. :)

[daves87rs]

I don't know about triple the sales..double maybe...it is very close race out there.. something like that would take time...

[bobo]

I don't think you know what you're talking about .... the base modell IS250 should be just as fast as the outgoing IS300, and the IS350, although more expensive, will have more performance than a G35 (auto). The IS350 will surely be the better overall buy. The IS250 should be as fast as an Acura TSX, while offering much better fuel economy thanks to direct injection.

I remember how sorely dissapointed I was when I sat in a G35 and saw how cheap the interior was. I also dislike the "dry" exhaust note that the car has.

I will bet my next paycheque that the IS will meet it's sales goals of 40,000 units per year, and I will even say this sales goal is conservative, and the new IS could push around 50,000 annually.

For comparison, Lexus set a goal of 33,000 units annually for the new GS, but looking at current GS sales, Lexus is on-track to sell about 40,000.

[post="5240"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

All indications are that the new IS250 should have about the same performance as the outgoing model, which, to be honest, should probably be considered barely adequate. The IS350 will have best-in-class performance or close to it, but Lexus expects this model to represent only 20% of sales. Prices have not been released yet, but the IS350 will probably have a big premium.

Lexus had a sales goal of 24,000 for the outgoing model. Only for the first model year was the car close to that, at about 20,000. Problems were lack of power, juvenile styling, downmarket interior, and overly small size. Some of these things have been addressed, but I think that the car will still come across as an imitation BMW 3-Series, so why not buy the real thing? The new car will be much more successful than the old car, but 40,000 seems optimistic to me.

The Infiniti G35 got a much improved interior last year. The only problem with that car now is that it is starting to age.

I'm going to test-drive the IS350 in October when it comes out, and if it blows me away, I may trade my IS300 in for one, but I have not warmed up to the looks yet. Those who have seen it in person say that it looks better than in pictures.

[ocnblu]

Why isn't Cadillac even mentioned as a competitor in the article? Is this the press dismissing the domestic luxury leader?

[toyoguy]

IS350 6spd auto [email protected] 0-60 in 5.1sec next up G35 & TL 6MT's 0-60 in 5.9sec I have little doubt the new IS will sell in excess of 40k annually. Considering the anemic GS300 and GS430 can, no way the new model won't. Edited August 28, 2005 by toyoguy

[Guest gmrebirth]

IS350 6spd auto
[email protected]
0-60 in 5.1sec

next up
G35 & TL 6MT's
0-60 in 5.9sec

I have little doubt the new IS will sell in excess of 40k annually.
Considering the anemic GS300 and GS430 can, no way the new model won't.

[post="5485"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

This is from the Oct. issue of C & D ... and an update on the 1/4 mile .... it's 13.7 sec ....

To put this in perspective, the automatic IS350 is faster than the manual G35 by quite a margin, and will have greater fuel economy than the G35 to boot. I would even reckon that the IS350 is faster than a manual G35C.

[toyoguy]

here are C&D's results:

8th place Saab 9-3 Aero Manual
7th place Volvo S60R AWD Manual
6th place Cadillac CTS Manual
5th place Audi A4 3.2 Quattro Auto
4th place Acura TL Manual
3rd place Infiniti G35 Manual
2nd Place Lexus IS350 Auto
1st Place BMW 330i Sport Manual no active steering

Lexus
0-60 5.1
1/4mi [email protected]
Infiniti
5.9
[email protected]
Acura
5.9
[email protected]
BMW
6.0
[email protected]
Cadillac
6.9
[email protected]
Audi
7.5
[email protected]

Acura Audi BMW Cadillac Infiniti Lexus
Ride 7 6 9 8 8 7
Handling 7 7 10 8 9 9
Steering 4 4 4 3 4 4

[pow]

What year was the 9-3 Aero? Did it have the new 2.8T engine?

[Bimmer325]

What year was the 9-3 Aero? Did it have the new 2.8T engine?

[post="6000"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

My question exactly. I figured the new 2.8 would fare better.