Lexus knocks out Mercedes in China's high-end car market

Of course, Lexus makes cheap cars compared to Mercedes.

Buick should manufacture a home suicide machine.

Another false statement by EL34. Lexus vehicles are not "cheap" quality wise or price wise. Stop the bulls**t statements.

Hes refering CHEAP in price not quality. Get it straight people! Simply put, Mercedes offers MORE high end vehicles than Lexus. Period

I wonder where both of them are at, compared to Audi and BMW China sales?

"Figures from China Trading Center for Automobile Import show that Lexus has already led all the imported luxury vehicle brands during the first half of 2007"

Audi's cars are not imported for the Chinese market- they are built there. And they are quite easily the best-selling premium manufacturer if you discount Buick.

BMW is also far ahead of Lexus. I just want to know the numbers.

They sell about 68,000 Audis a year in China, about the same as in the U.S.

caltrans,
Audi sold about 58,000 in 2005, and about 68,000 in 2006 in China.
You may be including sales in Hong Kong and Taiwan with your number.

Caltrans,
Take the issue up with the writer of the story. They are referring to IMPORTED vehicles, not locally produced cars like Audi.

Audi sold 80808 cars in China, to be exact.
BMW sold 36357.
Merceds sold 21000.
So if Lexus has surpassed Merceds then it can't be far behind from BMW, unless Mercedes sales all of a sudden dropped.

Bogus article considering that Benz has released its sales numbers in this market for the first 8 months of the year while Lexus has reported sales for the first 7 months and is estimating what August sales may have been.

It's a safe bet they sold at least 1500+ vehicles in August.

Heres something to consider... The introduction of the new C-Class around that time. Something Lexus doesnt want you to know?

The introduction of the new C-Class at that time would have helped Mercedes sales, not hurt it. That is somehing Mercedes would not want you to know.

The Chinese aren't stupid unlike the Europeans. They prefer quality and beautiful designs to poor quality and boring designs. I am not surprised that Mercedes has been destroyed in China. Lexus is so superior. Always has and always will be. Next up are Audi and BMW. Lexus will eventually destroy these poor quality brands with their superior quality and intelligent buyers.

David youre a piece of sh*t!

Go live in China then with 50% illiteracy in the west and 70% of all females illiterate. The Europeans are some of the most educated and cultured people in the world. Unlike yourself sir. Then you talk about intelligence, lol. Dont come here with that garbage. Go to china, you'll be "intelligent" there :)

You should be banned for making such offfensive personal comments.

I was merely referring to how intelligent the Chinese are because they prefer Lexus over Mercedes. Europeans focus on all this heritage crap. It doesn't matter. Lexus kills anything from Europe in quality and reliability. Get over it you fanboy!

"Go live in China then with 50% illiteracy in the west and 70% of all females illiterate..."

Ok thats a bit offensive and ignorant. What have you been smoking lately? The Chinese literacy rate is among the highest in the developing world with an estimated 90% literacy rate China has more educated people than the entire population of USA. China also happens to have a dozen University that are among the worlds top 100 schools. China also graduates much more engineers,doctors, and scientist than USA,Canada, and Australia combined. You really have no clue what is happening there do you?

w209w114 learn your facts you twat.
You obviously know nothing about history.
How about you stop with your Europe rules BS and grow up. Ignorant fool.

Chinese will always buy BMW and Mercedes in front of Lexus only due to the name as all Chinese know what a BMW and Mercedes is, and the Chinese are not so mechanical minded as the Europeans or Americans that is for sure in fact they can barely drive.
I have had Mercedes S500 and BMW 535 I and now I drive Lexus GS430 2007 and the German cares don't even come close to a Lexus GS or LS - The Chinese are buying a lot of Lexus ES that is true, but that is because the cheap price in China about 500,000 CNY compared to the Chinese made Toyota Crown 3.0 VIP about same price so they rather buy IMPORT. They can not buy a BMW or Mercedes for that cash so they buy Lexus ES
which is in my mind not a good buy, but for the Chinese it is a Lexus and that also have a name, but for quality for money i'm afraid the Chinese are not that far advanced that they fully understand this.
I'm not Chinese as you might guess, but have been living here for about 10 years, so I do know what I'm talking about.

I don't know where you get this from " The Chinese aren't stupid unlike the Europeans " the fact is that have no idea about quality only brand names will attract them, everything they do is only to show off and the difference is how much they can afford to show off some Chinese will buy Lexus ES to show off because it is only 475,000 CNY and you don't get any Benz or BMW for this money, so Lexus is second choice, very few Chinese will buy Lexus GS or LS because they know the performance and equipment is far better than that of BMW or Benz, most of them don't know how to drive yet alone know how to use all that sophisticated equipment, I still see many Chinese driving the new Lexus LS460 or the GS430 still with a Mobile telephone in their hand when the Lexus has the very best hands free build in.
I drive Lexus GS430 and I also think it is much better value for my money than BMW or Benz also Bill Gates is driving Lexus

So is anyone willing to just avoid their respective fanboy bs and say - Isn't that interesting? I wonder what MB will do to regain it's position? Or something similar - rather than try to debunk the data or offer their already known opinion? Like, actually add to a productive discussion? Just wondering.

Is it just me? or does this seem like an article written by Housioncutie? It is extremely short, vague, and there's barely any supporting data. Looks like it was written by a 6th grader. Other than trying to bash Mercedes-Benz (the most hated & envied brand by Lexus fans) try to go ahead and prove this to me by providing concrete data.

Benz fans should envy Lexus. After all Lexus invented the word quality and reliability. Unlike Benz.

you mean to say a car that costs 30-40% less sells more volume!?!

no!?

Where do Lexus vehicles cost 40% less than Mercedes cars in China?
Get the facts straight.

This article is lacking in facts, and using estimated sales? Why not just compare M-B 7 month and Lexus 7 month sales?

Mercedes S500 '08 = 1,768,000 CNY (Chinese currency)
Lexus LS460L = 1,598,000 CNY

Cheaper price = more cars sold

Owned by the obvious = "Priceless"

That's about a 10% difference, not 30-40% that others claim is the price differential. More to do with the value of the Euro vs the Yen.

That's hilarious.

The $180 Invicta watch sells better than the $200 Pulsar. Out of this, Invicta gets the higher sale but Pulsar is still more prestigious, right?

Absolutely! But still approx. $20,000.00 US difference.

Lexus is a good car and not knocking it but the article is stupid. The article is going by approximation for the year and not actual figures. MB sold 15,600 in first eight months and Lexus sold 14,600 in first 7 months. Either way we are not talking about a lot of cars and the numbers in no way knock anything out. Gotta wait for year end ACTUAL totals. Again...stupid article.

David989 calling someone a fanboy....LMAO...

toyota and mb (and gm) are FULL LINE mfgrs, making everything from econoboxes to limos to trucks and buses.

lexus alone outselling mb is impressive. combine lexus and TOYOTA (which going downline from the IS matches mb in offerings, except not having something so basic as Smart cars), and there would be NO QUESTION at all that toyota simple STOMPS mb in sales.

in china.

AND worldwide.

combine audi + vw, and the same story applies.

Who cares about volume anyway. Toyota is designed for volume as transportation appliances to get from A-B first. Lexus was developed to capture some luxury market share with some leather and sound proofing. Great cars for JQ puplic. But I want a car designed for more performance, style, and safety. The faster I go in my S the more solid it feels. I also never get tired of looking at it. No other car I've driven feels as solid. I am open minded to other brands. But when it comes time to write the check nothing compares. Sure I could save a little with a Lexus and its a nice car. Have you pulled up behind the new LS? The tires are a little wider than a Geo Metro. What other shortcuts? As always you get way you pay for.

Huu I live in the U.S and my fun ride is a corvette. At just over 3000lbs and 400hp is plenty of fun and don't think the Sti could outrun. I don't need the bling for the S class, Just think its the best car. It also has the same 0-60 as the vette 4.2-4.5 depending. Some days I want luxury and others more fun.

and from a new thread, the lux market in China is expected to simply explode!

china passed germany, then japan in recent years. it is now second only to the u.s. as the largest market for new car sales.

if the number of new millionaires there parallels that in Russia, Lexus will easily achieve their goal of becoming no. 1 worldwide. (if they aren't already.)