Lexus smiles as sales of the RX 400h jump 28%
It's become a truism in the new auto market: sales of big vehicles are down. The details are different for each country and automaker, but the gist is the same and fuel efficiency of the oversized SUVs and trucks is partly to blame. In this bleak environment (well, bleak if you're an automaker that's used to relying on sales of big vehicles to prop up the bottom line), Lexus is announcing a bit of good news: sales of the RX 400h - which gets 29 mpg U.S. on the combined cycle but still emits 192 grams of CO2 per km - in the UK were up almost 28 percent compared to the same month a year ago. You can almost see the gloating faces of the Lexus PR team when you read this part of the announcement of this increase:
That growth stands in stark contrast to the fortunes of rival luxury brands, which suffered an average decline of 30 per cent in SUV sales. And for some famous names, new registrations have tumbled by as much as 50 per cent.
Somebody's pretty pleased.
[Source: Lexus]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Torrent 7:23AM (8/14/2008)
So people will spend 40K for a midsize SUV that gets 25 MPG? A frickin CR-V gets 27 MPG! WTF? RAV-4 gets 27, too!
ahhh nvm. it's no use.
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Andy 8:05AM (8/14/2008)
The EPA combined rating for the RX400h is not 29 mpg. It is 25 mpg.
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UH2L 10:39AM (8/14/2008)
Yes, but how much did non-hybrid RX sales go down? And there are plenty of regular gasoline-powered entry lux station wagons that carry almost as much cargo and weight nearly 1,000 lbs less. SUV's are generally wasteful, hybrid or not.
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Blar 12:29PM (8/14/2008)
If I read correctly, the UK sales rose 28%. How long has it been for sale in the UK and have there been any changes in production capacity or dealer allocation? What happened to US sales?
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darius 2:11PM (8/14/2008)
"So people will spend 40K for a midsize SUV that gets 25 MPG? A frickin CR-V gets 27 MPG! WTF? RAV-4 gets 27, too! "
Are you comparing The Lexus to a small low end Honda? Have you ever seen and drove the Lexus? I think one is paying for the luxury not the MPG with that price tag.
My wifes RX330 gets ~ City: 18 MPG - 19 MPG Highway: 24 MPG - 25 MPG so the hybrid is not much of any improvement.
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Eletruk 3:20PM (8/14/2008)
Actual sales of the Lexus RX 400h aren't all that impressive in the first place. July sales were 1439 units. So a jump of 28% would be a whole whopping 400 more vehicles.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2008/08/01/095134.html
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Ross 4:19PM (8/14/2008)
this SUV goes for closer to 50k than 40K. Look at the Lexus website. Starts @ $42,500.
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