Lexus redirects 35,000 vehicles to hungry U.S. dealers

Lexus will redirect roughly 35,000 vehicles from overseas markets to U.S. dealers, easing a supply squeeze that has dragged down the brand’s sales this year, executives told dealers at the brand’s annual meeting in Atlanta.

The temporary boost in inventory was the most immediate news for the Japanese luxury brand’s 246 U.S. dealers, who also heard about upcoming product enhancements, sales goals and plans to retail both the GR and Century sub-brands over the next two years.

The extra inventory comes as Lexus tries to protect its record sales run while shifting investment back to core models after a stretch of halo launches.

DeJuan Ross, group vice president and general manager of Lexus Division at Toyota Motor North America, spoke to Automotive News on Oct. 6 in advance of the meeting. He said dealers would be told that roughly 90 percent of what they sell will be all-new or refreshed over the next 18 months and will get a sneak peek at the brand’s replacement for the slow-selling UX subcompact crossover.

The product investments mark a pivot back to the brand’s core volume drivers following recent high-profile launches of low-volume halo and premium models, including the GR GT and Lexus LFA.

“We’ve had some years in the history of the brand where maybe the core didn’t get the attention that it deserved,” Ross told Automotive News. “Reinvesting in the core and refreshing those core products at a more regular cadence will be well received by the dealers.”

Along with the refreshed NX crossover and recently redesigned ES sedan, Ross said the top-selling RX would be upgraded as well as a coming freshening of the TX. The brand will also add the three-row TZ electric crossover to the lineup next year.

The UX was launched in 2018 as an entry point to the luxury brand, but U.S. sales peaked in 2021 at 17,581 and fell to 8,421 in 2025. Through September, U.S. sales of the UX are up 2.2 percent to 7,050.

Inventory relief inbound

Lexus dealers have been clamoring for more inventory, with tight supplies the main reason the brand’s U.S. sales are off 2.9 percent to 262,768 through September after back-to-back record years. Lexus closed September with just 16 days’ supply and hasn’t had a 20 days’ supply since June 2024, Ross said.

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To ease the squeeze, Ross said Lexus secured roughly 35,000 additional vehicles originally destined for softening overseas markets, primarily China and the Middle East. Most of that allocation will land at U.S. dealerships during the fourth quarter and into the first quarter of 2027.

About 10 percent of the windfall — roughly 3,500 vehicles — will consist of the high-demand GX off-roader, with the remainder spread across core nameplates including the RX, NX, and ES.

Ross noted that despite the lack of inventory, September was still the best in the brand’s history. However, its chances of achieving a third consecutive year of U.S. sales records will depend almost entirely on whether it can get enough vehicles to sell.

“It will be close. Very close,” Ross said. “A lot of factors have to come into play, including logistics, port processing and how quick we can get these vehicles to the dealers.”

Lexus expects to finish the year with around 365,000 U.S. sales — just shy of its all-time record of 368,300 set last year — before targeting roughly 370,000 sales next year as total industry volume edges up, he said.

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GR, Century plans revealed

A select subset of Lexus dealers in the U.S. will begin retailing Toyota Motor Corp.’s new GR GT and GT3 street legal high-performance roadsters in late 2027, Ross confirmed. He said “about 100″ dealers would participate and have agreed to undisclosed financial commitments to retail the GR sub-brand in the U.S.

Participating stores sent handpicked “Meisters” through high-performance training over the summer to familiarize themselves with the upcoming line of high-performance vehicles. Ross estimated first-year volume for GR at just 250 to 300 vehicles nationwide, distributed via a “centralized digital pull” model rather than traditional lot inventory.

As for the more exclusive Century sub-brand, Ross said the first models would not go on sale in the U.S. until late 2028 and that participating dealer counts would be well below that of GR.