TOKYO — Lexus’ worldwide gross sales climbed 6 p.c in 2021 and fell simply shy of an all-time excessive, regardless of inventories being crimped by the worldwide semiconductor scarcity.
In detailing full-year outcomes on Tuesday, Toyota Motor Corp.’s premium model mentioned general quantity elevated to 760,012 autos in 2021. North America topped the regional charts, with gross sales up 12 p.c to 332,000 items on strong deliveries of the RX and NX crossovers and ES sedan.
Within the U.S., Lexus completed third within the luxurious gross sales race, behind No. 1 BMW and runner-up Tesla.
China was Lexus’ second-biggest market, reporting a 1 p.c improve to 227,000 autos. The China outcomes have been an all-time excessive for Lexus on the earth’s largest auto market.
European gross sales notched a 2 p.c improve to 72,000 items.
Lexus’ world electrified gross sales rose 10 p.c to an all-time excessive of 260,000 autos. However the model’s solely battery electrical providing, the UX300e, chipped in simply 5,800 items.
Hybrids nonetheless did the heavy lifting for the premium model, as did crossovers. The Lexus crossover vary booked gross sales of 495,664 autos, for about 65 p.c of worldwide quantity.
The general world tally was the second-highest annual end result for Lexus and got here regardless of tight inventories triggered by the worldwide semiconductor scarcity. The 2021 end couldn’t fairly match Lexus’ all-time gross sales document of 765,330 items booked in 2019 earlier than the pandemic.
If provide and inventories had not seized up the second half of 2021, Lexus doubtless would have notched a brand new document final yr, spokesman Norihiro Tsuji mentioned in a briefing on Tuesday. And assuming smoothed-out provide in 2022, Lexus goals to prime 2021’s leads to the brand new yr, he added.
“We utilized stock within the U.S. absolutely, with stock getting decrease, there was nonetheless leftover demand for Lexus,” Tsuji mentioned. The Lexus model’s U.S. inventories dropped to 22 days as of Jan. 1, down from 23 days a month earlier and down from 29 days a yr earlier.
To tease the model’s all-electric future, Lexus additionally launched new images of the RZ450e Prototype, which previews the model’s upcoming midsize electrical crossover.
The photographs present a modern crossover with a pinched rear-end, steeply raked rear window and wrap-around taillights emblazoned with the model title Lexus spelled out in all-caps.
Within the entrance, a curving fender crease spins off the entrance wheel effectively and peels down alongside the facet of the automotive, lastly melding into a particular sheet-metal kink beneath the C-pillar. The hood bends low for a planted stance, and the wheel arches get black cladding that lend a extra rugged look.
The model’s trademark spindle grille will get crammed in for a stable look to telegraph the EV drivetrain.
Lexus mentioned it’ll unveil the manufacturing model this spring. Tsuji declined to provide a begin of gross sales date, however the automobile is anticipated to hit showrooms in late 2022 or early 2023.
Lexus plans to be an electric-only model by 2030 in Europe, U.S. and China, by which period it goals to be promoting 1 million EVs yearly. The model will promote solely full-electric vehicles globally by 2035.
Amongst Lexus’s premium rivals, Mercedes-Benz misplaced the worldwide premium gross sales crown to BMW in 2021 for the primary time in 5 years, after Mercedes was hit tougher than its German rival by chips shortages. Gross sales of BMW-branded vehicles rose 9 p.c to a document 2.2 million globally final yr, BMW mentioned on Jan. 12.
Deliveries of Mercedes vehicles fell 5 p.c to 2.01 million as a scarcity of semiconductors delayed the provision of autos regardless of robust demand, dad or mum Daimler mentioned on Jan. 7.
Naoto Okamura contribute to this report