Buick Sales Destroy Competition
From KickingTires: With a fresh lineup, Buick seems to be reclaiming the mid-luxury market. For the month, Buick sold 15,807 vehicles (up 73.3% from February 2010), compared with 13,814 vehicles at Lexus (up 0.2%). Buick also outsold Lexus in January, and so far it has a greater year-to-date total (29,076 vehicles) compared with Lexus (26,674).
Why the shift? We could easily point to the recalls, but Toyota’s sales were strong in February, up 48% from the same month in 2010, at the height of the recalls. Lexus’ gain? Just 0.2% year over year. Lexus spokesman Bill Kwong also cited supply issues. “We thought the market was going to be soft in January and February. The market exceeded our expectation. We did not have enough inventory,” he said.
Lexus had about a 15-day supply of vehicles on its lots in February, compared with a 77-day supply of Buicks. Many industry experts quote a 50- to 60-day supply as being healthy. This means that many potential Lexus customers either couldn’t find the trim or color they wanted, and with such short supplies, perhaps even the whole nameplate was missing. While that may be a reason for the sales issues, it certainly keeps the finger of blame pointed at Lexus for not planning properly.
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