Sunday, April 5th, 2009
Toyota is not exempted from the declining car buying market as they found that out through figures on sales for their $64,000 Lexus LS sedan and $67,000 Lexus SC Coupe. Demand for the best-selling luxury car brand in the U.S. dropped 37 percent in the first quarter, led a 43 percent plunge in sales of the costliest car models. The company has sacrificed profit margins to stanch the decline.
Toyota had its first annual loss in six decades as the global recession decimates auto sales. Surging incentives at other luxury brands including Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Daimler AG and Audi AG has forced the Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker to more than quadruple discounts on Lexus models in the last two years, according to Edmunds.com.
U.S. Lexus sales shrank 27 percent in Toyota’s fiscal year that ended March 31, versus a combined 23 percent drop for Toyota and Scion models. While the premium line accounts for 12 percent of Toyota’s overall U.S. volume, analysts estimate it has generated a much larger portion of profit.
(Source) Bloomberg
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Posted in Toyota | Comments
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
One thing that Volkswagen has to work on for its fleet of car models is the pricing scheme. Volkswagen is a familiar brand in the car industry and there is no doubt that consumers will always take a look at their models. However, when it comes to actual car deals, Volkswagen has had a knack of falling short of closing them. The reason? Pricing
The Passat CC typifies why it may not necessarily hit large sales volumes based on consumer preference. Volkswagen is just not price-friendly. Its pricing scheme competes with the luxury brands like BMW or a Mercedes Benz. So if you had a choice, it is obvious the potential car buyers would go with the familiar car brand names over a Volkswagen.
The Passat CC promises a lot of keen features. But it has to work on the pricing scheme it has come up with. From the looks of it, this model may find itself faltering in sales especially now that other car manufacturers are unveiling economical cars which carry practically the same features.
The CC is, alas, less car per dollar. A lot less. For the kind of money you could spend on a V6-powered CC, you could haggle your way into a pretty decent BMW, for instance, or drive off in a platinum-plated, mink-upholstered Cadillac CTS with enough left over to buy a Vespa.
Source
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Posted in 2009 Vehicles, VW | Comments
