Tuesday, 5 January 2010 at 09:45, Bloomberg
Toyota Motor Corp’s Lexus posted a 22 per cent surge in December US sales, finishing its 10th consecutive year in the top spot for luxury autos after fending off a challenge by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG.
Lexus sold 28,565 vehicles last month and 215,975 for the year, the Toyota City, Japan-based company said in a statement yesterday. BMW’s namesake brand reported a December increase of 11 per cent from a year earlier to 20,128 and an annual total of 196,502.
The Toyota division retained its title after falling behind BMW through July. The December gains for the brands capped a year in which sales slid 17 per cent for Lexus and 21 per cent for Munich-based BMW, as the US total for cars and light trucks tumbled 21 per cent to 10.4 million, the fewest since 1982.
Lexus “finally had availability on the RX - it’s their defining car. That’s helping them out,” said Jim Hall, principal of consulting firm 2953 Analytics in Birmingham, Michigan. “And the deals that are available are also convincing buyers to come in.”
Luxury autos may have benefited from an expiring sales-tax credit offered by the federal government that expired December 31, said John Wolkonowicz, an analyst at IHS Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. Last month also had two more sales days than December 2008.
“December is generally a really strong luxury month,” said Jessica Caldwell, an analyst at research firm Edmunds.com in Santa Monica, California.
US industry sales rose 15 per cent in December, led by Ford Motor Co’s 33 per cent increase.
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