Topic: Buick Soars Past Lexus in Sales

[Erik]

I guess Buick knows the market better than the locals here do:

An air of hyperbole seems to float in the mainstream media about the success of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. They cite things like earnings reports, repaying debt, you name it. But they don’t usually tackle the concrete sales of cars.

When you look at the numbers, one success story clearly stands above all: Buick outsold Lexus in February, for the second month in a row. Buick also outsold Mercedes-Benz (if you discount sales of the Sprinter work van), along with Audi and Acura. Only BMW outsold Buick on the strength of BMW’s new X3 SUV. The storied German brand topped Buick by 800 units.

The story, though, is Buick. With just four vehicles in showrooms — the Enclave crossover and the LaCrosse, Lucerne and Regal sedans — it has outsold the nearly unbeatable Lexus.

Back in GM’s heyday of the mid-20th century, Buick was the understated luxury make to flashy Cadillac. The brand quickly gained a reputation as “the doctor’s car” or a vehicle for white-collar professionals. It was a niche that Lexus swooped in and took from Buick more than two decades ago.

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).

This is significant for several reasons. In 2010, Lexus was the most popular luxury brand. With 229,329 vehicles sold, Lexus outsold Buick by more than 70,000 vehicles that year. Furthermore, Lexus has been the most popular luxury brand in America since 2000, though it barely beat BMW and Mercedes as the luxury make started to lose steam in mid-2010 after a stream of recalls damaged both its credibility and Toyota’s.

Even though Buick was the underdog in 2010, it has seen sales gains for 17 straight months, and it was the fastest-growing brand of 2010.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/03/buick-sales-soar-past-lexus.html

[EV Dan]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

I guess Buick knows the market better than the locals here do:

An air of hyperbole seems to float in the mainstream media about the success of General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. They cite things like earnings reports, repaying debt, you name it. But they don’t usually tackle the concrete sales of cars.

When you look at the numbers, one success story clearly stands above all: Buick outsold Lexus in February, for the second month in a row. Buick also outsold Mercedes-Benz (if you discount sales of the Sprinter work van), along with Audi and Acura. Only BMW outsold Buick on the strength of BMW’s new X3 SUV. The storied German brand topped Buick by 800 units.

The story, though, is Buick. With just four vehicles in showrooms — the Enclave crossover and the LaCrosse, Lucerne and Regal sedans — it has outsold the nearly unbeatable Lexus.

Back in GM’s heyday of the mid-20th century, Buick was the understated luxury make to flashy Cadillac. The brand quickly gained a reputation as “the doctor’s car” or a vehicle for white-collar professionals. It was a niche that Lexus swooped in and took from Buick more than two decades ago.

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).

This is significant for several reasons. In 2010, Lexus was the most popular luxury brand. With 229,329 vehicles sold, Lexus outsold Buick by more than 70,000 vehicles that year. Furthermore, Lexus has been the most popular luxury brand in America since 2000, though it barely beat BMW and Mercedes as the luxury make started to lose steam in mid-2010 after a stream of recalls damaged both its credibility and Toyota’s.

Even though Buick was the underdog in 2010, it has seen sales gains for 17 straight months, and it was the fastest-growing brand of 2010.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/03/buick-sales-soar-past-lexus.html

You are such a rascal!

[TopGun]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

Say what?  Some other quotes from Erik's quoted article nail it home...and some address some reasons why this might be the case:

• 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 had about a 15-day supply of vehicles on its lots in February, compared with a 77-day supply of Buicks
• LaCrosse outselling the ES by a factor of 2.  Oh...and by the way, MotorTrendy picked the LaCrosse over the Lexus ES.
• Nearly half of the shoppers who bought a Buick Regal in February came from other brands.  

And the best part - Along with the boost in sales, buyers are spending more to get their Buicks. The average transaction price has increased by $11,113 since 2003.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

You should look at Enclave prices again.

(US MSRP)
Enclave CXL-2 is $44095
Lexus RX350 Premium is $39775
Lexus GX460 $52445

Last I looked there wasn't much discounting going on for these either.

In Canada, these top out near $70k.

[PJungnitsch]

The GM forums talk a lot about cheap leases:

Just leased one yesterday for my daughter. They're now running pretty aggressive lease deals on the Regal. With loyalty (if you own a GM car) it's $229 a month with total $1569 down for the CXL 2.4.  

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f21/thoughts-buick-regal-99457/

I see advertised now in the US $294/month for a Regal with nothing down, 39 months, 0%.

Can Lexus come anywhere close to these prices?

[CanuckG35]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

You should look at Enclave prices again.

(US MSRP)
Enclave CXL-2 is $44095
Lexus RX350 Premium is $39775
Lexus GX460 $52445

Last I looked there wasn't much discounting going on for these either.

In Canada, these top out near $70k.

Not exactly related to Buick sales but I test drove the Enclave a couple of times and came away very impressed.  A very smooth and quiet ride for a large SUV and the interior was extremely well done.  I haven't done any research to see how their reliability has faired, however from my limited experience I really liked the Enclave a lot. 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

The GM forums talk a lot about cheap leases:

Just leased one yesterday for my daughter. They're now running pretty aggressive lease deals on the Regal. With loyalty (if you own a GM car) it's $229 a month with total $1569 down for the CXL 2.4.  

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f21/thoughts-buick-regal-99457/

I see advertised now in the US $294/month for a Regal with nothing down, 39 months, 0%.

Can Lexus come anywhere close to these prices?

I know they had some cheap leases on the IS250 for a while, but forget the particulars.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

You should look at Enclave prices again.

(US MSRP)
Enclave CXL-2 is $44095
Lexus RX350 Premium is $39775
Lexus GX460 $52445

Last I looked there wasn't much discounting going on for these either.

In Canada, these top out near $70k.

Not exactly related to Buick sales but I test drove the Enclave a couple of times and came away very impressed.  A very smooth and quiet ride for a large SUV and the interior was extremely well done.  I haven't done any research to see how their reliability has faired, however from my limited experience I really liked the Enclave a lot. 

They've got one parked in the mall downstairs. Quite posh looking. Not a car I was that interested in, but they have been very successfull. There are three or four of them in my neighbourhood.

[CanuckG35]

It shouldn't come as a shock. GM's bankruptcy seems to be over while Toyota is still battling their UA ghosts in the public mind. Buick has greatly improved their image lately but they are not in the same class with Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, not in price, not in performance, and not in the level of luxury or available equipment. The cheapest Buick costs about 6,000 less than a Lexus in the US while the Enclave is 2-3 times cheaper than a Lexus of a comparable size. I'm happy GM is doing better but this comparison is useless IMO.

You should look at Enclave prices again.

(US MSRP)
Enclave CXL-2 is $44095
Lexus RX350 Premium is $39775
Lexus GX460 $52445

Last I looked there wasn't much discounting going on for these either.

In Canada, these top out near $70k.

Not exactly related to Buick sales but I test drove the Enclave a couple of times and came away very impressed.  A very smooth and quiet ride for a large SUV and the interior was extremely well done.  I haven't done any research to see how their reliability has faired, however from my limited experience I really liked the Enclave a lot. 

They've got one parked in the mall downstairs. Quite posh looking. Not a car I was that interested in, but they have been very successfull. There are three or four of them in my neighbourhood.

They were too big for what I need/wanted, but if I was in the market for 7 passenger SUV it would of been on my list. 

[TopGun]

The GM forums talk a lot about cheap leases:
.....
Can Lexus come anywhere close to these prices?

I chatted with a buddy that was at GE.  He told me that BMWs have been cheap leases for quite some time.  The high residual was the key factor.

Maybe GM is pulling a fast one.  I recall that Chrysler had some silly residuals on Neons for a while...they ended having to eat the delta between the residual and the actual resale value.

[rrocket]

Not surprising to me at all.  BMW, Lexus, M-B and Audi in North America aren't terribly big sellers.  Neither is Cadillac, Lincoln, Infinity or Acura.  Seeing a pattern here?   

Plus you can get into a Buick cheaper than you can most Lexus, BMW, Audi, etc...


Lowly Kia outsells all of the above almost 2:1   So really..this means nothing.


FWIW, Buick also outsold Cadillac....Oh..and they only sold ~2,500 Regals.

[Erik]

Rrocket, what are you smoking? These are all high profit lines for each of those manufacturers. Do you really believe that Toyota spent all that money setting up a brand that meant nothing?

[rrocket]

Rrocket, what are you smoking? These are all high profit lines for each of those manufacturers. Do you really believe that Toyota spent all that money setting up a brand that meant nothing?

No..I'm saying that it's no surprise really when one of these brands outsells the other and vice versa.  They are all relatively low-volume, in terms of US sales.

So is it a surprise that a lesser and cheaper brand outsells it? Let's be honest...the Buick line is NOT in the same league yet as Lexus, M-B, Audi, BMW in terms of a reputation as a true worldwide luxury car maker.  It's possible someday...but the entire revamped Buick line is less that 2 years old at this point.  So no, I am in no way surprised that Buick or Cadillac could outsell ANY of the luxury icons in a given month..or even a given year. I mean..think about it.  There is ONE car in the entire Lexus line-up that is cheaper than any Buick.  And that's the CT200h that isn't even available yet!  Every other car in the line-up is more than Buick, and Lexus doesn't offer the typically large incentives/rebates and whatnot that industry leading GM does.

Even last year at this time with an incomplete line-up, Buick still outsold EVERY luxury brand except Lexus, M-B and BMW.

Heck, Lexus is the sales leader in the US for many years and they typically don't sell much more than 200,000 or so cars per year.


Average MSRP of M-B across their line (No SLS) is $72,800

Average MSRP  of a BMW across their line (exclusing M cars) is $61,000

Average MSRP  of a Lexus across their line (excluding LF-A and hybrids) is $60,000

Average MSRP of a Cadillac across their line is $56,000

Average MSRP of an Audi across their line (no R8) is $54,000

Average MSRP of an Infiniti across their line is $51,750

Average MSRP of an Acura across their line is $44,200


Average MSRP price of Buick across their line is $36,000


So not terribly shocking.

[vdk]

And I thought Buicks were too expensive... 

[CatsEye68]

And I thought nobody was buying Buicks because everyone was buying Sonatas.

[rrocket]

And I thought nobody was buying Buicks because everyone was buying Sonatas.

Well the Sonata alone outsold the entire Buick line......

[Jaeger]

And I thought nobody was buying Buicks because everyone was buying Sonatas.

Well the Sonata alone outsold the entire Buick line......

He just walks right into these, chin first.   

Jaeger

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Sales numbers in general are a bit of a mug's game. Incentives vary from month to month depending on the manufacturer and which part of the sales cycle the particular model is in.

Overall though, Buick is doing quite well with the new models, sales are up and average transaction price is up by $11k or so.

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Here are some numbers from last month:

Regal 3,705
TSX 2,794 +31.6%
1 series 864 +10.6%
A3 386 -11.1%
CTS 6,033 +124.3%
3 series 4,872 -28.5%
C class 4,479 +5.5%
LaCrosse 4,329 +7%
Gsedan 4,044 +50.6%; coupe 1,448 +14%
A5 2,770 +4.1%
ES 2,598 +10.6%
TL 2,447 +1.5%
IS 2,081 +4.5%
MKZ 1,775 +.8%