Despite the terrible sales, the flagship LS will continue to live on.
Three of Lexus’ most popular models in Europe are set to be discontinued. As you might have guessed, the company is focusing on SUV models in the region.
After the sale of the stock, the CT and IS will be removed from the European portfolio of the Japanese company. The three items are no longer in production and Lexus does not plan to bring them back.
“It’s a decision made based on the evolution in our portfolio,” a unnamed spokesperson for Lexus stated to Automotive News. The evolution of Lexus is more towards SUVs if you look at Lexus’ sales in Europe and across the market.
The numbers prove that the brand’s noncrossover models are the slower-selling. The marque’s oldest offering in Europe, the CT hatchback was also sold 2,344 times between January and August 2019. This is a 35 percent drop compared to the same time period in 2019. The IS sedan sold 1,101 units in the first eight months 2020. Meanwhile, the RC gained 422 new customers.
The numbers for Lexus’ SUVs and crossovers are comparable. With 10,291 sales in the first eight months, the UX was the brand’s best-selling vehicle on the Old Continent. With 7,739 sales, the NX came in second, followed by RX with 3,474 sales.
These numbers are so surprising, Lexus intends to keep selling the LS flagship sedan in Europe despite the marginal sales numbers of – only 58 units in its first eight months 2020. The LS is our flagship. It’s a model that is innovative and strong brand builder, despite the low numbers,” a spokesperson told us.