L'exhibition delivers record month for Lexus

Light at the end of the tunnel for Japanese luxury brand as the end of 2010 nears?
prestige new cars  » Get the best price on a new Lexus Christmas has come early for Lexus. After trailing industry growth for most of the year Toyota's luxury brand finally hit its straps in November.

Figures due to be released this week are expected to show that Lexus recorded its second-best month on record for retail sales, while internal data shows that Lexus took more orders from dealers in November than in any other month in its 21-year history in Australia.

Lexus therefore expected to carry strong sales into the final month of the year.

In the first 10 months of this year Lexus sales were up by 8 per cent in a total market that's up by 13 per cent (key luxury brands have performed even better). But the strong November result means that Lexus is now up by 10 per cent year-to-date.

Lexus dealers retailed 921 vehicles in November -- typically the month that Lexus does its annual L'exhibition sales event. This is almost double the number of cars it sold in October (551) and almost triple the number of cars it sold in September (319).

The sharp turnaround was also buoyed by demand for the new IS250 convertible and IS350 performance sedan, as well as sharp deals on the regular IS250 sedan and RX350 softroader.

The the facelifted IS line-up combined (479) to outsell the normal number-one Lexus model, the RX softroader (381).

"What you see in VFACTS is only part of the story. We had an all-time high order intake in November so a lot of that will carry over into December," boss of Lexus Australia, Tony Cramb, told the Carsales Network this week.

With a year-to-date tally of just under 6000 vehicles, Lexus is already ahead of last year's sales -- with one month still remaining.

"We've had a 'perfect storm', with the arrival of new models and good supply. Plus our marketing activities have paid dividends. We've been highly visible over the past month or so."

Lexus was a sponsor of the Melbourne Cup -- all jockeys sat in the back of Lexus convertibles for the parade through Melbourne before the event. The company has also been doing a mobile roadshow, erecting temporary 'showrooms' in high pedestrian-traffic areas of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Lexus' previous monthly sales record was just before the Global Financial Crisis: October 2007, when 1106 cars were sold. The same month in 2006 was the third best Lexus monthly result on record, with 916 retail sales.

Lexus may have a strong finish to 2010 but it is yet to close the gap with its German rivals. Lexus sales in the first 10 months of this year are roughly half Audi's tally -- and less than one third of BMW and Mercedes-Benz local sales.