Lexus's Segment Share Undercut Without 3-Row RX

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – Although it is the No.1 seller in its segment this year, the Lexus RX’s 3-row competitors are eating into its volume.

And that’s keeping Lexus dealers awake at night.

“Dealers are really focused on that (and) I would say if it’s not (their top complaint), it’s one of the most important misses from their perspective,” Jeff Bracken, senior vice president for Lexus in the U.S., tells WardsAuto in an interview here.

Lexus for years has been pondering a 3-row RX or another CUV with three rows, knowing many Americans like to have the option of a third row in a midsize CUV, even if they won’t frequently use it.

Now it appears dealers may finally get their wish with the larger, next-gen RX going on sale in November. The forthcoming ’16 RX uses the same platform as Toyota’s Highlander CUV, which offers a third row.

Bracken says Lexus “could make an announcement pretty soon” on a 3-row RX, seemingly confirming reports of the CUV’s existence.

Not only has the RX lost share this year to models in its Middle Luxury CUV segment, WardsAuto data shows, it also is losing sales to bigger CUVs.

“(Dealers) see how well Acura is doing with their third row (in the MDX), so clearly there is a significant market that we’re not in,” Bracken says. WardsAuto places the MDX in the Large Luxury CUV category due to its added length.

The RX’s market share in its segment through July was 15.5%, down from 20.1% in the same period year-ago, while the BMW X5, which has an optional third row, grew share to 10.4% from 8.9% among Middle Luxury CUVs.

Through July, Lexus sold 52,543 RXs in the U.S., down 7.7% from year-ago’s nearly 60,000 units.

The drop in RX sales through July is to be expected, Bracken says, given the current generation’s age. The RX last was all-new in the U.S. in early 2009 as a ’10 model.

While he said earlier this year the new compact NX CUV was having a positive effect on RX sales, as buyers came into dealerships to see it and instead opted for the bigger RX, some cannibalization now is occurring.

“Early when NX launched, there was almost no cannibalization, (but) today we’re seeing some,” he says.

Bracken expects Lexus to sell roughly 100,000 RXs this year in the U.S., 90% gasoline-engine-only RX 350s and 10% RX 450h hybrids.

Lexus delivered 107,490 RXs to Americans last year, an increase of 3.4% from 2013’s 103,920 deliveries.

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