[FDMeloan]

March sales of the new 3 Series ramped up to over 10,000 units this month which is a 33.6% increase over the 7,555 cars sold last March. Sadly, the number crunchers at BMW of North America headquarters in New Jersey took the easy way out and combined E46 and E90 sales for the sedans so we won’t be able to celebrate the sale of the last E46 sedan. Maybe it was the loss of one hour of sleep this past week-end that caused them to cheat us out of our important sales statistics. Note that the 325i and 325xi sedans comprised almost 55% of total monthly sales.

Of interest to some is the fact that total sales of the 325i, 325xi, 330i, and 330xi sedans totaled 7,956 units this month while the Lexus IS250 and IS350 sales totaled 5,210 units. Lexus is gaining on the 3 Series folks!

For comparison, Mercedes Benz sold only 3,906 C Class units in March, down 20.3% from the 4,901 units sold last March.

Please note that I am report only the United States sales data.

[EnI]

Oh, Fred. Your Lexus favouring makes me sick.

Let's do it again.

Lexus IS sales:

March 2006: 5,210 +1,086.8% ... 1,389 of IS350; 3,821 of IS250
YTD 2006: 13,165 +897.3%

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2006,+02:23+PM


BMW 3-series sedan sales:

March 2006: 7,956 +60.5% ... 2,420 of 330(x)i (1,526 of 330i; 894 of 330xi); 5,536 of 325(x)i
YTD 2006: 22,751 +47.5%

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2006,+01:14+PM


March 2006 ratio:

BMW 3er sedan : Lexus IS
7,956 : 5,210
1.53 : 1


But let's put both sales numbers on comparable base:
5th full month of sales ratio:

BMW 3er sedan (Nov 2005) : Lexus IS (March 2006)
8,884 : 5,210
1,71 : 1


Let me remind you:

Originally Posted by GregA

If you compare IS' 1st full month sales (Nov 2005), and 3er E90 Sedan's 1st full month sales (June 2005), you'll see the interesting difference:

3er: 6,486
IS: 4,447

The ratio is 1.46 : 1

And then take the IS in its 4th full month (Feb 2006), and 3er E90 sedan in its 4th full month (Sept 2005):

3er: 6,523
IS: 3,882

The ratio is 1.68 : 1

The ratio between 3er sedan sold and IS sold - on comparable base - is still increasing (from 1.68 in February to 1.71 in March 2006) , not decreasing. Meaning IS is not catching the 3er sedan, but the opposite: the 3er sedan is increasing the advantage over IS.

------------------------------------------------

Remember the new Lexus GS launch? Everybody were full of predictions how GS will eat into 5-series sales. A full year after GS' debut the GS sales (GS300 & GS430) started to fall (in March 2006: 2,483 -22.6%).
And 5-series sales? Booming! 5,625 units sold in March 2006 (+33.4%). Even the sales of 530(x)i and 545/550i only are better (2,779 +13.6%)

[canucklion]

good for Lexus, and do you see me caring?



hmm, no

[fibercus]

Interesting info! Thanks for the update

[FDMeloan]

Originally Posted by GregA

Oh, Fred. Your Lexus favouring makes me sick.

Let's do it again.

Lexus IS sales:

March 2006: 5,210 +1,086.8% ... 1,389 of IS350; 3,821 of IS250
YTD 2006: 13,165 +897.3%

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2006,+02:23+PM


BMW 3-series sedan sales:

March 2006: 7,956 +60.5% ... 2,420 of 330(x)i (1,526 of 330i; 894 of 330xi); 5,536 of 325(x)i
YTD 2006: 22,751 +47.5%

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...2006,+01:14+PM


March 2006 ratio:

BMW 3er sedan : Lexus IS
7,956 : 5,210
1.53 : 1


But let's put both sales numbers on comparable base:
5th full month of sales ratio:

BMW 3er sedan (Nov 2005) : Lexus IS (March 2006)
8,884 : 5,210
1,71 : 1


Let me remind you:



The ratio between 3er sedan sold and IS sold - on comparable base - is still increasing (from 1.68 in February to 1.71 in March 2006) , not decreasing. Meaning IS is not catching the 3er sedan, but the opposite: the 3er sedan is increasing the advantage over IS.

------------------------------------------------

Remember the new Lexus GS launch? Everybody were full of predictions how GS will eat into 5-series sales. A full year after GS' debut the GS sales (GS300 & GS430) started to fall (in March 2006: 2,483 -22.6%).
And 5-series sales? Booming! 5,625 units sold in March 2006 (+33.4%). Even the sales of 530(x)i and 545/550i only are better (2,779 +13.6%)

GregA:

Look at this way. If I didn't report the Lexus IS sales you wouldn't have anything to do.

[E90Fleet]

FD, could you post the Group monthly results on here aswell in future please

Thanks

[FDMeloan]

Originally Posted by E90Fleet

FD, could you post the Group monthly results on here aswell in future please

Thanks

General:

I always post the BMW Group sales report as well as the 3 Series sales. Hit your "page down" key and look around as it's there. It seems that few are interested in that report so it moves down the page rather quickly.

Fred Meloan

[Bimmerista]

Good point GregA, in fact once the xi 3 series sales are fully factored in as well as the new coupe/convertible on the e90 platform sales, Lexus will fall even further behind.

I also have a suspicion that the IS will suffer in the medium/long term from the same affliction it had in the past, with sales falling off sharply after the wow factor of launch fades. The G37 launch will also hurt the IS I feel and in fact I am more interested in the G 37 competition as a truer competitot to Da 3er.