After crunching the numbers, Lexus cites an outsider as this year’s top luxury segment performer.

WHETHER elite end membership is of really deserving of the model that has made Tesla the biggest mover in the luxury car sector is open to debate, an established involver appears to agree.

In talking yesterday about the likely impact its latest and first electric model, the UX 300e, is expected to make, Lexus took time to unwrap the impressive registrations run and commensurate market share improvement this year enjoyed by Tesla.

It also shared thought in response to being asked whether the car that has driven the American marque’s incredible year-to-date count of 2659 registrations, the Model 3 (above), has all the qualities to be considered premium.

Lexus NZ general manager Andrew Davis opined “there’s a debate about whether it’s true luxury or not”, but added that for now Lexus is happy to keep considering the medium sedan as a credible competitor for its own, battery-dedicated crossover.

However, it will keep tracking buyer patterns and consumer preferences.

This aired during a presentation in which Lexus made the point that while interest in electrified cars is growing, the ramp up has been particularly evident in respect to prestige machines. These have achieved more than 33 percent share of this year’s premium market.

Breaking down that dataset revealed information the American make hasn’t shared itself – perhaps because it no longer has a press relations division and is also famously secretive about divulging specific registrations information in any market.

Unfortunately for Elon Musk’s crowd, NZ is the only country in the world where Tesla sells in which that data is freely available, as sales stats are catalogued through Government channels.

Tesla has nothing to be ashamed of here. A jump from seven percent share at the start of the year to 21.7 percent is a mighty achievement, potentially the largest growth in this sector by a brand since record-keeping began in the mid-1970s.

Lexus NZ believes there’s more fuel in Tesla’s tank; Davis says he won’t be surprised if the eventual wrap-up shows it securing a 25 percent slice for the whole year.

Statistics he shared showed that even though the entire luxury car sector is in good health, with an expectation that it will achieve 13,500 registrations – so, double last year’s count – Tesla’s ascendancy has been hurting established brands.

Lexus reckons the German Big three of Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz have all lost ground.

The Japanese marque, on the other hand, has also been growing, though not as spectacularly as Tesla, It says it will move 1000 cars this year – the current tally is 934 - and has 1400 forward orders in hand. It also hopes the addition of more electrified models (next is a plug-in hybrid NX, further into the future there’s the RZ, based off a fully electric Toyota also on sale next year) will push that annual return to 2000 units. It’ll obviously have to work harder still to beat Tesla.

Tesla has three model lines here (Model S, Model X and Model 3), with a fourth – the Model Y – set to come in early 2022.

The Model S and Model X earn their luxury status by being well above $100,000 – but just one version of the Model 3 crosses that line, and only when outfitted with options. It’ll likely be the same with the Model Y that’s expected to start rolling in very soon (Tesla, of course, is saying nothing) as it’s effectively a crossover-formatted Model 3.

What brands are decreed to be ‘premium’ or ‘luxury’ (both words tend to be used) is arbitrary; basically, the industry itself decides. Currently there are around a dozen that make the cut. The listing does not include super-exotic brands – they’re in a different sector still.

The version of Model 3 that has been achieving the registrations run is the cheapest model, which benefits from achieving the full Clean Car rebate from Government.

An incentive knocking more than $8000 from the sticker appears has exploded interest in the derivative. Last month, for instance, 408 were registered. Even so, at around $61,000 after the rebate and before options, it’s the cheapest choice in the luxury stable. Too cheap?

Lexus New Zealand knows the Model 3; it secured one for evaluation when determining what cars the UX 300e might be cross-shopped against. Exactly what version of Model 3 was not specified.

Davis says he was intrigued by the experience. His reply when asked why Lexus had decided to consider Tesla as a luxury brand, on strength of that exposure, was also interesting.

He acknowledged there was some in-house debate about whether the make really fits the bill.

That’s understandable. It’s priced in that league; but, then, all EVs are expensive. Yet otherwise what qualities are there? Some would say that though it packs reasonable technology, and build quality of the examples that come from China is much better than those from the original sourcing plant in California, the car is still quite blue collar in its overall presentation.

Speaking to this, Davis reminded that, during UX 300e’s development, the intent was to ensure it was always a Lexus first and electric car second. Translation: No compromising the famous levels of build and engineering perfection.

As to Tesla’s approach with Model 3?

“We’ve been treating Model 3 as a competitor, as such.

“After driving it … I know we’re a bit biased, but when we assessed the car …”

“It’s definitely an ‘EV first’, rather than what we’ve been saying with 300e being a ‘Lexus first.’

“We’ll keep tracking it and leave it in there (the list of competitors) for now, but yeah … there’s a debate about whether it’s true luxury or not. I’m biased.”

Interestingly, subsequently during yesterday’s presentation, Davis and his crew made a point of reminding that the UX 300e, at $79,900 before rebate (which takes it down to just above $71k), could be considered as a viable alternate to fully electric versions of Hyundai’s Kona and Ioniq hatch (as opposed to Ioniq 5) and Kia’s Niro, in their respective ultimate presentations.

Lexus NZ does not catalogue those cars as being luxury contenders.