Are American Buyers Losing Their Taste For Japanese Luxury Brands?

They say the tough times separate the men from the boys, and I think we can all agree these are pretty tough times.  When the economy is on a high there is a surplus of money and some of that money is spent on less rational items such as luxury cars.  After all we all want to feel like we have made it and live the good life, right?

But when those times get tough the real world sets in.  Your adjustable rate mortgage has doubled, your job is in trouble, the credit cards are out of control, add to that your attractive nanny got pregnant and your wife is giving you the evil eye. 

So with your world in turmoil you cut back to the core and you try to refinance that home, you send the nanny back to Rio with a promise of silence and a six digit severance package, pull those kids out of private school, and that shiny new luxury car goes on the classifieds at Autospies.com.

It is pretty obvious that most luxury brands are hurting right now, but if you look at the last three months you can see some appear to be just praying for a turnaround, while others are taking the matter into their own hands.  A case in point may be BMW.  Simply put my friends they are not standing by idle, they are pulling out the deals and moving cars and gaining market share.  You need to look no further than the simple fact that this time last year BMW was trailing Lexus by over 1850 units and only three months into the year they are ahead of Lexus by over 700 units.  Something is wrong in Lexus land, or something is incredibly right over at BMW.  I don't know which.

Looking at the sales figures since January though, you do see some specific trends.  The German 3 in general are staging a comeback, while the Japanese 3 are still in the desperate throws of the recession.  Infiniti in particular is in a downright free fall dropping a staggering 47.60% in March alone.  Acura led this slide early last year, so the percentages are against already lower numbers from the prior year.  Lexus though is experiencing real problems.  Almost every month for the last six months they are losing more and more sales. Whether this is from consumers holding off on the purchase of a new Lexus or moving elsewhere as yet to be seen.

The German 3 on the other hand are still suffering along with the rest of us, but they are bucking the trend never the less. Audi is still down on last year, but is closing the gap rapidly, and is gaining market share. BMW has pulled out all stops and is reacting to the customer’s concerns with special lease rates and financing starting last month.  Mercedes too is showing a reversal of the trend with specials.

I guess my big question is why are the Japanese suffering so badly?  Remember these were the powerhouses when the economy was good.  Did they so successfully harvest a crop of entry level buyers that the market evaporated beneath them?  Are they holding on to current designs until they are stale?   Are they so worried about other factors, they fail to realize they the customer the have carefully cultivated over the year simply doesn’t have the resilience during economic downturns?

Don’t forget the Germans though, why are they reversing the trend?  Is it because of an onslaught of new models has placed them at an advantage?  Are they simply responding with specials now to boost sales only to haunt them later?  Are their customers inherently better positioned to weather the bad times?

Think about it and give us your best shot.