Bad News Guys

[Dixgas]

Just followed a link from another motoring forum on the number of new cars registered up to July this year, Ford and Vauxhall are at the top, but Lexus have reported a 32% increase in sales so far this year, I suspect this is all down to the IS300h, looks like we've been rumbled.

Still it was nice ( this exclusiveness ) while it lasted.

D

[Steve44]

:( yes, saw a record 7 IS's today, Red/Blue/White/Sonic Titanium/Grey F-sports and 2 Black Lux's - on my trip from Leics to Liverpool today!

[Bob99]

Had an email from webuyanycar.com which let you find how many cars were registered in uk. So there are -

IS 300h

F Sport - 528

Luxury - 596

Premier - 259

SE - 300

Total - 1683

Quite an exclusive club at the moment. My premier is also fitted with the nissokku wheels which I doubt there will be many around due to the original pricing being astronomical and I don't see them in the options list anymore.

B

[ColinBarber]

year to date (end July) there have been 2,483 ISs sold. Things have certainly picked up compared to 2012 when only 1,046 were sold in the whole year however that was from an ageing model. Best full year for the IS was in 2007 with 8,778 sold.

The 6 year model cycle that Toyota/Lexus use don't really work well in the UK, after 4 years sales seem to fall of a cliff.

[Steve44]

just reading the AutoExpress article on this and putting it into context - year to date BMW sold nearly 23k 3-series models so far in the UK! UK's 10th best selling car of 2014!

[Dixgas]

Ok guys I get the picture, but tongue was some what in cheek when posting.

Bod99

Taking of exclusiveness, I have a V6 petrol model, would be interesting to know how many of this model been sold.

D

[ColinBarber]

Across Europe Jan to June there were 6,923 ISs sold, 5366 of which were hybrid.

Waiting for Toyota to update their hybrid sales figures for July in the UK so we can see how many of the 2,483 total were hybrid/petrol.

[Silver Arrow]

year to date (end July) there have been 2,483 ISs sold. Things have certainly picked up compared to 2012 when only 1,046 were sold in the whole year however that was from an ageing model. Best full year for the IS was in 2007 with 8,778 sold.

The 6 year model cycle that Toyota/Lexus use don't really work well in the UK, after 4 years sales seem to fall of a cliff.

It only falls off because the opposition are much more aggressive with their 6-7 year cycles. Their drive to make their cars more and more efficient, almost yearly, means that people still get reasonably up to date technology at the end of the cycle.

If you look at Lexus, historically, the evolution is more like step changes every few years as opposed to yearly tinkering, if you know what I mean. Take the CT for example....same drive train for far too long, as is the Prius etc. By which time the opposition have caught and often overtaken the Toyota stable cars.

You really would have expected the CT to have been light years ahead of where it is today (e.g. Lithium batteries, plug in versions, sub 50g/km etc), when others have already started to do that (e.g. Volvo, BMW etc)

It's probably also one of the reasons why Lexus are so reliable....everything is bullet proof, tried and tested.

Ultimately though, just over 2400 IS's sold is a small number, which will get smaller as the germans start getting their cars below that magical 99g/km, which they will within 12 months, I'm sure!

[DJP]

Everything tried and tested except the infotainment system!

Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC

[Steve44]

Everything tried and tested except the infotainment system!

Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC

+1! I thought the Japanese were good at electronics and Hifi etc.

[ColinBarber]

Everything tried and tested except the infotainment system!

Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC

+1! I thought the Japanese were good at electronics and Hifi etc.

They are, just not Aisin.

Clearly developed by engineers for engineers and it also hasn't gone through extensive quality assurance.

[Martin F]

+1! I thought the Japanese were good at electronics and Hifi etc.

They are and the electronics is never likely to fail, but as for user interfaces and software well that's another matter.

[ColinBarber]

Taking of exclusiveness, I have a V6 petrol model, would be interesting to know how many of this model been sold.

D

For 2014, up to end July, there were 2,483 ISs sold, 2,177 of those were IS300h models so that leaves only 306 IS250s. I suspect there was a similar ratio in the second half of 2013 as well.

[Dixgas]

Taking of exclusiveness, I have a V6 petrol model, would be interesting to know how many of this model been sold.

D

For 2014, up to end July, there were 2,483 ISs sold, 2,177 of those were IS300h models so that leaves only 306 IS250s. I suspect there was a similar ratio in the second half of 2013 as well.

Thanks for that Colin, it's not surprising I haven't seen another 250 in this backwater only the occasionally 300h.