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Do You Know What Luxury Brands Are Treading Water And Who Is On Solid Ground?
Back in December and again in April I wrote an articles depicting the beginning of the decline in the Luxury Car market in the US.   At that time I trended the progress of the luxury car market stating from the July of 2007 the beginning of the sales woes for many luxury manufacturers to the present. Well it is time again for another update and at least one outcome of the predictions I had made at that time.

First up are the given factors:

1.    The figures you will see are for the last for the last 12 months marking the beginning of the crumbling of US sales to the present, and are for trending purposes only within that time frame.

2.    The manufacturers are grouped into three categories compromised of the players of that region. 

a. The “Pacific Rim” grouping is comprised of Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti.
b. The “European” contingent is represented by: BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volvo   Land Rover, and Jaguar.
c. The American delegation is represented by Cadillac and Lincoln

3.    All figures are based on gross sales rather than DSR percentages reported by some manufacturers thereby placing everyone on an even playing field.

Group Sales:

Our Pacific Rim group is holding to the industry trend as far as sales performance is concerned selling  597,121 units over the last 12 months losing a collective total of 58,287 units over last year.  Sales figures are down 8.89% over this period.  Not bad for the current economy, but showing that their customer are sharing the same concerns and encountering the same difficulties of the masses.

Pacific Rim

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

41928

56193

-25.39%

51981

58515

-11.17%

45912

51133

-10.21%

52048

59718

-12.84%

44429

45880

-3.16%

40041

44099

-9.20%a

64792

69403

-6.64%

48362

54301

-10.94%

47960

49289

-2.70%

49733

52401

-5.09%

58887

58766

0.21%

51048

55710

-8.37%

597121

655408

-8.89%

-58287

 

 

The European contingent   is actually fairing a bit better in general compared to the Pacific Rim.  Their sales have totaled an impressive 787,641 units however they are down collectively only 18,268 units.  More volume and less than 1/3rd of the losses for the period, equates to a drop of only 2.27%.  Obviously the economic concerns for these buyers are different from our aforementioned group. 


European

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

59284

67740

-12.48%

67786

72088

-5.97%

66216

68068

-2.72%

65979

70948

-7.00%

56878

58937

-3.49%

53187

57910

-8.16%

81752

86876

-5.90%

69424

68604

1.20%

66720

61605

8.30%

65040

62515

4.04%

70493

66095

6.65%

64882

64523

0.56%

787641

805909

-2.27%

-18268

 

 

On a side note if we broke out the big three German manufacturers on their own and performed a direct comparison against the big three on the Pacific side of the equation. We find that collectively the Germans actually outsold the rival group with 630,252 vehicles. But the most interesting note is they are only down 159 units in sales for the same period. Down just an amazing .03% for the last 12 months!

Germans

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

48723

52598

-7.37%

55788

57248

-2.55%

54736

54311

0.78%

51910

54957

-5.54%

45491

46187

-1.51%

41628

45279

-8.06%

66002

71057

-7.11%

55731

53890

3.42%

53692

47851

12.21%

51381

48216

6.56%

55162

50138

10.02%

50008

48679

2.73%

630252

630411

-0.03%

-159

 

 

Last, but not least, is our American delegation. With all of the bad news coming out of Detroit you might assume massive double digit loses.  As a group though, you would be dead wrong.  With sales totaling 320,792 units they have lost 23,074 units in sales to date, to drop just 6.71% for the time period.  The Americans percentage wise, have held on to more sales than the Pacific Rim Group!

American

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

24055

29141

-17.45%

21713

31260

-30.54%

24699

28671

-13.85%

28366

33713

-15.86%

23993

24905

-3.66%

22777

23334

-2.39%

31501

35521

-11.32%

25785

26660

-3.28%

31496

25818

21.99%

30162

27579

9.37%

29904

29015

3.06%

294451

315617

-6.71%

-21166

 

 

In a nut shell as groups the Pacific Rim group is suffering the same issues as the industry as a whole is experiencing.  The Americans seem to be holding on by their fingernails slipping only in small but manageable increments. The Europeans actually are fairing the best actually only being hindered by the remnants of Ford’s Premium Auto Group.  Take that part of the equation away and you see the Germans by all counts have held on to everything they have.  This is a pretty remarkable feat just in itself.

Pacific Rim Individual Performances:

Lexus

Starting up in sales back in July of last year we have witnessed a steady drop in sales with only one bright spot since September of 2007.  Actually it is pretty depressing to see such a dominate force fall so rapidly. Sales losses have consistently mounted since the beginning of the year, and June saw sales losses drop lower than even underperforming Acura.  With a low point of an almost 30% drop in sales last month and precious few models on the horizon the outlook for the new few months will be pretty grim indeed.  With few small displacement models in their lineup, it seems Toyota may have sent Lexus off to do battle without the ammunition to succeed. Overall, the manufacturer is down almost 8% for the 12 month period.

Lexus

 

 

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

June

20253

28869

-29.85%

May

26593

31847

-16.50%

April

23350

25995

-10.18%

March

24939

28855

-13.57%

February

21277

22518

-5.51%

January

20229

22118

-8.54%

December

34555

37235

-7.20%

November

24848

26719

-7.00%

October

25119

24006

4.64%

September

25114

25700

-2.28%

August

32199

31074

3.62%

July

27141

26959

0.68%

 

305617

331895

-7.92%

 

-26278

 

 

Acura

With 12 months of negative sales, one might begin to question the viability of Acura. I know I certainly do. While new models have helped a bit, the biggest problem is there simply is little in the showroom that begs for buyer to come in.  An interesting note here is that of the 12 month span 4 of them resulted in over 20% loss in sales from the prior year.  These losses are already on top of the losses from the prior year as well.  With just over a 15% drop for the time period, all that is left is to pull the defibulator out of the closet get ready to perform CPR.

Acura

 

 

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

June

12371

16766

-26.21%

May

14893

15920

-6.45%

April

13025

15193

-14.27%

March

13288

16986

-21.77%

February

13084

13658

-4.20%

January

11168

13017

-14.20%

December

17582

19056

-7.74%

November

12910

17200

-24.94%

October

12886

15877

-18.84%

September

14369

16323

-11.97%

August

16436

18263

-10.00%

July

14381

18203

-21.00%

 

166393

196462

-15.31%

 

-30069

 

 

Infiniti

OK, 12 months ago I was ragging on Infiniti for dated models but few a refreshes new models has started to change that, until the latest downturn.  A small lineup and one strong performer moved Infiniti from the red to the black with the introduction of a few well place refreshes.  However the lack of an economical offering is now taking it toll on the Marque as gas prices rise. Infiniti totals out with a very slight 1.52% drop over the period, performing the best by far in retaining sales in the face of mounting pressure.

Infiniti

 

 

 

 

Current

Previous

Actual

June

9304