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Affected by a COVID-19 epidemic that hit the world, China's car market, which was not optimistic, fell into a state of malaise again. Although the same is true of Lexus brands that have continued to sell well over the past year, even if there is no "price increase" at present, it is equally difficult to find a market even when it is given a discount.

A few days ago, a media visit to a number of Lexus dealers in Beijing found that all Lexus models have a small amount of inventory, with the exception of individual hot-selling models that are relatively tight and still need to book and wait for cars, almost all of them have no "price increase".

According to the inventory and policy concessions of a group of current Lexus models sorted out by the media, cars are also the best-selling model of the brand, ES series, only a small number of existing cars are available in the entry-level ES200, while ES260 and ES300h do not have existing cars, such as today's car booking still needs to wait 1-3 months, at the same time, the series of models do not have discounts or price increases.

And its hatchback car CT series is not its best-selling model, and it has been on the market for a long time, so it has an existing car for a long time, and the current discount is about 10, 000 yuan. The same is true of the flagship car LS, because it is not a best-selling model with a current discount of about 80, 000, but because of its high positioning, it is basically based on "fixed production by sales". It takes more than 3 months to book a car.

In terms of SUV models, the entry-level Lexus UX currently has a small number of existing cars, but also does not support color selection with ES series models, the current discount rate is about 10, 000 yuan. The situation of the more popular NX and RX models is relatively different, in which NX has a relatively hot sale due to the current discount of about 40, 000, so it is necessary to consult the inventory situation in advance in each Lexus 4S store. If you book a car, you have to wait for more than 3 months. And in the past are "price increase" 50-60, 000 RX models, the current fuel and hybrid models are in stock, of which fuel models have no discount, hybrid models discount 30-40, 000 yuan. Lexus LX, the flagship SUV model, has stopped selling the flagship Lexus LX in Beijing and other restricted dealers because it does not currently have a national 6 model.

It is worth noting that the LM, the latest flagship MPV model just completed in Lexus, has become the only model with a "price increase" at present. Due to the low output of the model, it is basically in the state of "one car is difficult to get". According to the dealer's explanation, although there are customers' desire to increase the price and pick up the car, they cannot place an order, and the order for the car will give priority to "VIP customers", so the price increase of the car is not clear. However, according to previous network news, the current LM model price increase has been as high as 850000, which means that the model is still a bestseller.

According to the current market situation, in the past, many best-selling Lexus models had to raise prices and wait for cars, but now they still have some cars in stock, which also shows that in the overall flagging market environment, the relatively best-selling luxury brand Lexus has also suffered the impact of the environment.

The Lexus brand has not announced its specific sales in China since 2020, but according to the first quarter of 2020 sales announced by Lexus today, cumulative sales were 28017, down 27.5% from 38626 in the same period last year. Among them, the sales of smart hybrid models were 10351, accounting for 36.9% of the total sales. It is worth noting, however, that Lexus, which surged 25% against the trend in 2019, also suffered a 21.4% decline in the first quarter of 2019.

Although Toyota Motor Company has previously decided to reduce the production capacity of its premium car brand Lexus from March 16, including Toyota's two factory production lines in Japan, due to the Chinese market, one of the major export markets, demand has fallen sharply as a result of the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic. According to Toyota executives, "there are very few customers in Lexus stores", so it will be decided to cut production for half a month to deal with overcapacity. However, as the impact of the global epidemic intensifies, Toyota will stop production at five factories in Japan from the 15th, which will also include the Lexus brand.

According to the feedback from dealers, because Lexus's best-selling models generally have a lag of 2-3 months from booking to picking up cars, which has cushioned the impact of overseas factory shutdowns, so the current inventory of new cars sold is still sufficient.

However, as the domestic epidemic is gradually brought under control and enthusiasm for car purchases is rising, it is not clear whether the discontinued Lexus will continue to stop production due to the intensification of the epidemic abroad, and it is unclear whether the delivery problem will be prolonged.

According to Lexus sales figures in China in 2019, Lexus sold a total of 200521 vehicles in China and 160468 in 2018, up 25 per cent from a year earlier.

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