CheeseyPoofs McNut

November sales for the Acura TLX: 2,987. Compare that to October sales at 5,777 and we have a very disappointing month for Acura.

I would imagine it's a result of many prospective buyers getting in on great end of model deals in Oct. And who knows - perhaps the Consumer Reports reliability survey dinged them a bit too - hard to know how much reach that has. Either way this puts the damper on anyone who was betting on them hitting the 50k mark for US sales for 2015 as they now sit at 43,572.

Cheers!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

their marketing campaign still sucks.

touting safety but the TLX dropped in safety ratings....

RedRyder

iTrader: (1)

Hate to hear that, but not really surprised. Transmission issues don't help. And that^.

TacoBello

Holy.. sales dropped by almost 50%... what gives??

I've been seeing more and more TLXs out on the roads, as the days go by.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

def. the 9 speed jerkiness isnt helping

RedRyder

iTrader: (1)

^Given Honda's past with transmission woes you would think they would have made sure they got it right. Granted it is a new gearbox, but still.


Should have just put a manual in, no problems.

CaliAtenza

Problem is, its not Honda's gearbox...it's ZF's. Damn Germans making things overcomplicated sometimes. Honda would have been better off with Aisin's 8 speed.

mondster

Hoping this is an eye opener for them and it gets them to fix their shit

CheeseyPoofs McNut

I doubt most people care about the marketing campaigns. In fact I'll bet the vast majority of people never research the crash test safety results.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

They would have been better testing the crap out of it and working out all the bugs before selling a car with it.

TacoBello

I honestly don't put much thought into the safety results. It's nice if it's good, but it won't be a deciding factor for me, unless it is really bad. I can imagine people with young children might think differently though, but at the same time, it seems families tend to go for SUVs over sedans these days, so that can't be it either.

I've seen a bit of marketing regarding the TLX, but nowhere near what Ford does. I can't turn the TV in without seeing 46 Ford commercials. Granted, Ford is much much bigger than Acura, but even on that note, I don't see a ton of Honda commercials and they sell pretty well. I've seen a bunch of Pilot commercials as of late, but not much beyond that.

I can't imagine what has happened to cause sales to plummet almost 50% since last month.

mcmdds1

The 2016 Accord came out. Starting to see a lot of these on the road.

BEAR-AvHistory

Most likely incentive & end of model year cars drying up. Winter months are not all that great for car sales. Be interesting to see what the other brand did.

TacoBello

And maybe that's it... People jumped ship because the accord is cheaper.

TacoBello

I thought it was January and February that are generally slow for sales, after people spend too much on christmas, not November/December.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

Good catch! The 16 Accord Touring is getting good reviews - great bang for the buck if you don't care about the logo on the hood.

Sam Axe

Acura is not offering lease deals on the 2016 model yet and there is a dwindling supply of 2015s out there, some of which are early builds which may not be desirable to some who want to steer clear of potential transmission problems, or extra trips to the dealer. Much like the 2016 Accord refresh, I think the mid-cycle refresh for the TLX will be the one to buy.

BEAR-AvHistory

January/February are black holes for sales. November/December tend to be weather sensitive but not as good as new car intro months around September or feel good months like the spring.

The 3 series dropped from 11K to 8K. Will see what the others look like when they update the numbers

CaliAtenza

I luckily snagged an August build TLX...back in September.

Rocketsfan

Here are Acura's numbers for the past few months:

July 3530
August 4353
September 4753
October 5777
November 2987


TLX sales are about on par with Lexus IS sales which stayed about the same, but their sales the past 3 months have been weak compared to the months prior

July 4280
August 4537
September 3152
October 2950
November 3063

Cadillac ATS sales this past month compare similarly, but they haven't been great for months

July 1588
August 2449
September 2295
October 2528
November 2055

Infiniti Q50 Sales remained about the same for the past several months :

July 3807
August 3839
September 3557
October 3811
November 3782

kevTL888

the refreshed Accord definitely eaten into TLX's number. this is why i believe '16 TLX will be a short lived model year, most likely we'll see the refreshed/updated '17 TLX in spring of 2016.

TacoBello

Yeah, if the numbers keep trending that way, I could see the MMC come a year early for the TLX. It'll be interesting to see what happens, that's forsure.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Unless your in California, we buy cars no matter what month it is. What's weather?

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

I'm new to all these numbers, but does this include leases as well or just financed vehicles that were sold?

I'm wondering if September and October where high because of the specials that Acura was doing. Pretty much giving the TLX away for free.

carz0159

Doubt it. The 4th gen TL had horrible sales, and lasted a year longer than it should have just because the TLX wasn't ready yet. If the refresh isn't done or ready, they won't release it.


The TLX's sales have dropped because it isn't that competitive IMO. There are other cars with the same features and more features that are cheaper or better luxury cars that are priced similarly and have more prestige. Acura's reputation has really been ruined in the US after 2009 with a bunch of terrible noncompetitive products. If it weren't for the MDX, I doubt Acura would have survived as a brand. That being said, they have completely changed everything within the past year or so but Honda is definitely putting Acura at risk by stealing all of the features and technology that is supposed to distinguish Acura as a luxury brand. The new Civic looks much more appealing than the ILX and the new Accord looks more appealing than the TLX. Both are at lower price points that are built on the same platform, have the same engines, the same jewel eye headlights, same infotainment setup now. There is less differentiating the brand and many don't consider Acura a real luxury brand/ or rather a second tier luxury brand next to lincoln and friends.


Basically, I think the largest threat to Acura is Honda themselves. Lots of people won't consider Acura because of BMW, Mercedes or Lexus but the ones that do don't usually care about brand image and are more than pleased with the Honda siblings considering they are cheaper and are practically identical other than exterior styling (which Honda does better IMO).

Rocket_man

They moved a 1,000+ extra units in Oct due to very high sales incentives. That demand was lost then in Nov. Not much more than that. Not because of some updated crash test that no one outside of A-zine even noticed. Not because of some transmission thing... have you noticed that recent test drivers don't notice issues with the transmission??? They were largely resolved in recent production. We just obsess about it on A-zine. And not because the Accord Touring is stealing sales. There are only a few hundred of these nationwide and Honda never made many anyway and won't make many.

Simply a blow out incentive month followed by a lackluster month. They were never going to sustain 5,700/mo.

mapleloaf

Way too early to draw the conclusion you have, as the new Civic and Accords just came out. BTW, the Civic is not the same engine (only the 2015 SI has basically the same engine). Very different transmissions in the ILX and TLX vs their Honda cousins. Both Hondas are certainly good cars, but lets not get too carried away with the "platform" comparison as other luxury brands do the same thing.

NopeNope4425

The "other" luxury brands doing it, do it much better and have greater name recognition. It's fine if Acura is going to limit themselves to Honda planks and engines, but please make them LOOK, drive, and feel the part. Otherwise pocket the coin and buy the Honda, or spend it and buy from Tier 1 manufactures.

Edward'TLS

TLX buyers jump ship to the Accord, and MDX buyers jump ship to the Pilot.

This is not good for Acura at all.

Toyota never steal sales from Lexus, and VW never steal sales from Audi.

mondster

Funny that for the last 3 months, the tlx beat the IS, q50 and ats in total sales... and yet the TLX gets all the hate. Lol

TacoBello

That's because Acura put crazy incentives on the TLX, to get them moving out the door. Those numbers wouldn't be nearly as high if the incentives weren't there.

nist7

Just because the numbers dropped doens't mean something inherently happened in the market with respect to how the TLX is viewed.

It has to be seasonally adjusted. Maybe this time of year car sales trend down...as people get ready for Christmas and end of year model clearances are getting finished up.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

I'd buy a IS over a TLX if the IS had more space.

TLX is a nice looking car though.

Rocketsfan

Toyota Camry must've been eating into Lexus IS sales the past few months ...

BEAR-AvHistory

May its the GS; its up 1000 units last month.

Rocketsfan

No, no.... Must be the sexified Camry cannibalizing IS sales.

Seriously though I wonder if it's incentive-related? I ask because it's not like the GS is new... Unless it just went through an MMC or something.

Flipster23

iTrader: (15)

It's all incentive related.

NopeNope4425

Edward'TLS

Oh yes.

Only the TLX sedans has to be seasonally adjusted, while other luxury sedans haven't.

Only the TLX buyers are getting ready for Christmas, but other brands' luxury sedan buyers aren't.