Lexus has slashed thousands of pounds from the prices of most of its line-up.
The Japanese brand, which serves as Toyota's luxury arm, has most notably cut the price of its entry-level electric model, the UX 300e, by up to £7100. The range now starts at £40,795.
Its EV stablemate the RZ 450e has been cut to £57,895 for the standard car, £2100 less than what it was in April.
The hybrid NX 450h+ and flagship RX 450h+, which are the brand's most expensive PHEVs, have been cut from £54,950 to £49,995 and from £67,100 to £63,995 respectively.
No price cuts have been given to the LBX, which went on sale earlier this year from £29,995.
The price adjustments are likely to be part of a push by the brand to stimulate stagnating sales: last month the UK's new car market grew just 1.1%, propped up by fleets (up 14.2%) amid a 15.3% decline in the private sales.
Any reinvigoration would put Lexus on course for its best year in the UK. The car maker sold some 8000 cars in the first six months of 2024, more than half of last year's record-breaking 15,963.
Slashing the RZ and UX prices also indicates that Lexus is looking to secure its ZEV mandate target early (by law, 22% of a car maker's total sales in 2024 must be made up of EVs), given slowing demand for electric models in the private market (down 11% year to date). Lexus's EV sales share is currently around 30%.
Autocar has approached Lexus for comment.
Other manufacturers are also offering price cuts, albeit in the form of deposit contributions. For example, Audi is offering a £14,000 contribution on the E-tron GT, BMW £4167 towards the iX xDrive 50 M Sport and Volvo £8000 towards the XC40 Recharge.
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In general, price cuts of new cars are to be welcomed. That said, price cuts depress used car residuals. On a related issue, although I understand why so many new car buyers are now favouring hybrids over EVs, owners of older hybrids will still run into problems with expensive battery replacement costs. This issue is well known for used Lexus and Toyota hybrids because Toyota had been producing hybrids for years.
So, if you bought one say three months ago, is your cars trade in value down £7,000?, I'd feel a little miffed,wouldn't you?
Not unless you plan on selling your 3mth old car Peter. Also
1: Most cars at this price are bought buy finance companies so it's the finance company that would take any hit
2: If it's a private sale and the car drops £7000, then presumably if you're selling it after 3months, you're going to buy another new car which equally will have dropped by £7000 so the cost to change is the same.
And most importantly of all
3: If you buy an EV privately and it's lost shed loads of money, why be disappointed? It's not as if there's no information that EV prices nosedive. Even with £7k off the asking price, it's still going to loose shedloads.
Lexus may have had a great year so far but to my eyes I'm not seeing any 24 reg examples. What I am seeing is loads of 24 plate cars lately which contradicts it being a bad years for car sales. Makes me wonder how these official figures are calculated.