I have yet to see one on the streets in Orange County, and lots sitting on dealers lots.

Sure is a nice car, would love to have one in the driveway.

Michael

 

Good question,

I can't entirely answer it but I'll do my best.

Last year Acura sold 517 RL's in the month of October alone.

This year Acura sold 1310 RL's in just October.


Whether most of these are new or 2004's being discounted is the hinging factor. But from what I've been told, the dealers sell them as fast as they get them.

 

It went on sale Oct 14, so it's not even a full month's count of the new RL. Guess we'll have to wait until next month to see how well it's really selling.

But I can say this...I still have not seen any on the dealer's lots, nor on the road...where could they all be?!

 

I imagine it must be selling pretty well. The dealers can't even keep them on the lots.

 

i've seen one on the road here

 

I predict Nov sales for the RL to be somewhere around 1500+.
Down here they sold 7 RLs from Friday-Sunday and took 3 deposits on inbound cars. There are a total of 15 deposits pending.

From asking clients for else they looked at before deciding on the RL...50% looked at the 530Is as their first choice, 30% E320s as their first choice, 15% LS430s, 5% Audi A6s, C55, 545 and one was looking at the Jaguar S-Type. None of the customers have purchased RLs before buying this one. 2 are current MDX owners and 2 also own SL500s.

So, I would say the RL is doing very well at least in the SoCal region.

 

There are already 8 owner reviews in the Edmunds forum so people are definitely buying them. Haven't seen any on the road in So. Florida yet, but a little exclusivity isn't a bad thing as long as there is still demand for the car.

 

I have seen 2 so far.

 

I have only seen two RL's at the dealership near me, but none on the road yet.

 

In my area, the RL is sold out for the next 6 months. Even the freakin demo car was sold so I couldn't get a close look at it when I got my oil chnaged at the dealer.

 

i've saw one at my dealership last week with a sold sign on the dash

seems like they are selling pretty well

 

I've seen 1 on the road, went to the dealer to play with one and fell in love, unfortunately I could only afford the TL

 

I have not seen one on the road. But I have seen two, one black and one white, sitting in the dealer's parking lot. Considering Benz sold four thousands somthing E sedans and Lexus sold two thousands something LS430s in average each month, Acura should have no problem selling 1500 RLs monthly.

 

there is a 6 month waiting period for the RL in Bergen County.

 

I talked with 3 dealers in my area.

The first had 10 coming in and had 9 sold 3 weeks before their arrival (I haven't checked back, but I'm sure the last one is gone).
The second had 10 coming and all were gone.
The third had 10 arrive, they sold 8, and had two on the lot (they claimed they were both last minute backouts).

I went to the third dealer and I was hinting at making a deal on one of the cars on the lot. The saleman didn't even attempt to sell me the car. I'm not sure if he just was a poor salesman, or he didn't want to deal on a car. He kept prompting me to order the exact color I wanted, which I figured meant little negotiation room, so I told him I would get back to him.

I got the impression that the dealers want you to order the cars. They "claim" they are selling them as fast as they can get them and you need to order the car you want (which takes around a month and a half).

I'm interested to hear anyone elses experience.

 

Hard to say.

The RL has not been on sale for a full month yet.

Here are the Acura sales figures for October >

RSX 1,600
CL 3
TL 6,717
TSX 1,870
RL 1,310

As you can see, the RL was on pace with the RSX/TSX last month. Not a bad start I'd say

 

Also of note... Acura's daily selling rate is up nearly 38% while Honda's daily selling rate is down about 34%

 

I would assume the RL is so far avery positive thing for Acura, since it must be a niche with a lot more profit to it than say the TSX and RSX.

 

This is a marketing strategy, I am sure Acura can mass produce the RLs but instead they rather have consumers wait in line. Why? Simple... if you have 10 on the lot, in every color possible then what will you do? You will bargain down the prices. By not having them available, the dealership can now charge you not only MSRP prices, but perhaps some more.
Remember your ECONOMICS CLASS people! "Supply and Demand"

 

I think Acura is more concerned about having RL's sit on the lot, so they don't want to overshoot their estimate. Cause if you look at the sales numbers, the new RL is selling better than the old RL...for 2003, Acura sold a little over 6,000 RLs...Acura is estimating an annual number of 20,000 for the new RL...if anything, they have actually already increased production.

 

I've seen only one.....a demo parked at the dealer. I've seen none on the road here.

 

And a smart marketing strategy at that. Lexus did the same thing with the SC430 when it was first introduced and people were actually paying more than MSRP for pre-owned ones because the only alternative was to wait 6 months for delivery. Mercedes did the same thing with the new CLK when it was first introduced.

Acura won't be able to play quite the same game since they're not in the same league (yet) as Lexus and M-B, but at least it helps maintain brand integrity.

 

And welcome to the wonderful concept of Just In Time supply. Toyota and Honda pioneered this concept to cut down on the amount of time cars spend sitting on the lot collecting dust. It also helps their financials by reducing inventory costs to nearly nothing. Plus, it has this wonderful side effect of creating added demand. Personally, I think it's brilliant marketing.

 

I've been told by a sales mgr that Acura is prodcucing 20,000 RL's per year, for the entire country. If that's true, this becomes a pretty exclusive community and helps maintain its resale value.

 

December number is in: Acura sold 1,967 RL's.

So,
1320 in October.
1941 in November.
1967 for December.

The average for those 3 months is 1743. If Acura can sell at least that many for the next 12 months, it'll sell 20,912...just a little over the 20,000 mark they had forecasted.

 

They said that about the TSX too, but it ended up being way more because the demand was there. The number is just a target, but if the demand is there, they will produce more.

 

That's great news!

I've now seen 2 others in So. Florida. I didn't really expect them to sell well in Miami. Much too understated. The higher the factor the better down here.

Just keeps it more exclusive!

 

While averaging the sales might be the right idea, the new RL was not available to the public in October 2004, until the 14th. (I took delivery the next day.) So perhaps the average sales right now should be based on November and December only.

Regardless of the figure arrived at, RL sales will be altered in the near future by Infiniti and Lexus competitive introductions and buoyed by better weather in the north and mid-west (usually a spur for new car sales).

 

RL sales numbers are AMAZING!

Go Acura!

 

I heard somewhere that they are already discounting the car in Southern California. I don't know if there is truth to that, but just what I read somewhere.


Michael

 

That depends on what you mean by discounting. If you negotiate well, you can get anywhere from free accessories at MSRP or even Free accessories with 500-1500 dollars off MSRP. Just remember that if the dealer you go to won't discount, another one probably will. (Just over internet quote, I was told all RL's were 1000.00 off.)

I live in N. Cal by the way.

 

I think the better question these days is "who the fuck still buys cars for MSRP?"

 

I did!

I spend time negotiating various contracts at work. The most important attribute for a successful negotiation is the ability to say "NO" and to be able to walk away from the table without a deal.

I couldn't do it! Sure, I could have waited longer and gotten a better deal. But I wanted it too bad! It's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's just the way it was. I don't regret it, but others should do better, especially as time passes. I just got weak in the knees thinking about driving home in that RL.

Ok, I did get a very good deal on the accessories!

 

Well, technically if you got a deal on the accessories, you didn't pay MSRP since in the end, you still walked away without paying sticker for everything...

But it really is much rarer these days for people to pay the sticker price.

 

Great point. I also negotiate contracts at work and the last thing I want to do when I'm on my own time is negotiate. However, Acura did give me an excellent trade-in on my '04 TL. Since it was approx. $500 above Kelley Blue Book I considered it the equivalent of $500 off MSRP, and I closed the deal in late October.

Whatever... I'm happy!

 

The dealers in my area can not meet current demand. My dealer has already sold their allocation of vehicles to July 2005. Some customers have bought under the stipulation that their car will have to act as the dealer demo/showroom car until the next car comes in. I was fortunate, I bought 2 days after release, took delivery as soon as it arrived, (after a 1.5 month wait). To date, I am the only customer in my area who has taken delivery of a new RL that has not been test driven by someone else.

Dealer has told me that the total allocation of vehicles for Canada is in the 600-650 range from October 2004 until January 2006.

 

Ive seen more Maybachs than RL's

 

Never thought I'd see those two names in the same sentence! (To anyone that thinks I'm making a comparison, it's just a joke, ok?)

 

I guess this answers all those RL opponents out there who ask, "who would spend $50k on an Acura?" Personally spending $50k for a loaded AWD 300 hp sedan doesn't seem as wild as spending the same for a lesser-equipped 225 hp one just because it's from Germany or RWD.

Anyway, if they keep selling at this rate, Acura shouldn't have any problem meeting the 20k annual goal.

 

Gentlemen, all new cars sell well. The RL debuted strongly in 1996. Lets see how it does after the GS and M are sold full swing this year.