Lexus GX550 Production slow down (3 Viewers)

[Larry]

Just received a call from my Lexus sales rep.
He said they were notified from the regional rep that Lexus is slowing down production of the GX550.
They did not give a reason why.
Could be anywhere from implementing upgrades to solving current issues or even producing the hybrid model.
Anybody else get any notification on this?

 

[serbiansizzle]

Just received a call from my Lexus sales rep.
He said they were notified from the regional rep that Lexus is slowing down production of the GX550.
They did not give a reason why.
Could be anywhere from implementing upgrades to solving current issues or even producing the hybrid model.
Anybody else get any notification on this?

I haven't seen anything official from Toyota/Lexus, and I am not sure if they would share this information with dealerships either.

I am not sure what your situation is with your specific spec GX you're after, but it could also be used as a sales tactic to help you expand on your options of inventory coming in. They tried that with my friend, who ended up in an X5 because he couldn't negotiate on anything and he was set on a specific trim from the only dealer in town.

Supply is still relatively low compared to the demand for the vehicle. I would be surprised that Lexus would dial back the production, as they seemingly have no problems pushing out Tundras who have had more problems than the GX.

 

[Larry]

That is possible. He did mention he would update me on pricing changes. Which I thought was odd. And I saw reps at the auto show this weekend that mentioned prices may be going up. Why would they need to fake a slow down just to raise prices? They could do that anyways. Don’t they usually announce price increases at the beginning of a new model year?
I hope it is not dealerships playing games. He mentioned they were only getting allocated 3 this month/March. I think they usually get twice that. One more thing I just thought of. Another dealership about a hundred miles from me has had zero in stock for several weeks.
I would think Lexus would have to notify dealers that they were slowing down. Otherwise the dealers would be wondering why there orders are not arriving.

 

[oldseniu]

According to a sales breakdown video from Kirk Kreifels. The sales of the Landcruiser 250 was down quite bit in December? I also noticed there is less inventory of Landcruiser in dealers surrounding me. Suspicion is that Toyota shift the production capacity to 4runners and other models. Maybe they are also shifting production capacity of GX to some other vehicles? Maybe?

 

[jpto]

IMO it's 100% the dealership playing stupid games. Dealerships don't have visibility into production numbers.

 

[Larry]

IMO it's 100% the dealership playing stupid games. Dealerships don't have visibility into production numbers.

They may or may not have visibility to production numbers. But they must have to be notified if they are getting an allocation for the month and how many.

 

[serbiansizzle]

They may or may not have visibility to production numbers. But they must have to be notified if they are getting an allocation for the month and how many.

That's true, but their allocations can be tied to a few different metrics. I used to work for an Audi Dealership and there are some factors that could increase or decrease your allocation for a specific model:

• Sales history
• Market demand in the dealer’s area (Makes sense why some areas get flooded with GXs while other regions only get a handful)
• Customer satisfaction and dealer performance metrics
• Current inventory levels

 

[jpto]

They may or may not have visibility to production numbers. But they must have to be notified if they are getting an allocation for the month and how many.

Yes they do get visibility into their allocation but that's very different than production numbers.

Allocation can be based on a number of factors all up-dealership sales, model sales mix, customer sat surveys, if they broke some an unofficial rule (my dealer said if I flipped my GX they'd get shorted on allocation & lot of dealers surrounding the greater Toronto area aren't supposed to sell to Toronto customers so locals get their fair share of cars) etc.

EDIT - oops saw serbiansizzles post after I posted mine