Changing Toyota & Lexus Activity Highlights LeaseTrader.com’s July Trends

With short-term leases still going strong on LeaseTrader.com, site officials also noticed when reviewing their July trends that Toyota and Lexus lease buyouts appear to be easing.

LeaseTrader.com explained that Toyota and Lexus — still bouncing back from production and inventory issues stemming from March production setbacks — saw continued lease buyout activity from lease takeovers.

With retail inventories slowly returning during July, the site noticed lease customers continued to take over existing leases with less than 12 months remaining as a way to bridge them into 2012.

Last month, LeaseTrader.com indicated 14.3 percent of these customers said they plan on buying out the lease — compared with 17.1 percent in June.

The site pointed out these customers also acknowledged they will re-evaluate the buyout option at the end of the lease.

Chevy Volt Listings Appear

LeaseTrader.com recapped the Chevrolet Volt — General Motors’ electric vehicle — came into the U.S. marketplace earlier this year with a retail lease deal offered at $350 per month for 36 months.

The site determined the majority of its initial Volt listings have been from California, Michigan and New York.

“Most drivers report their decisions have more to do with life changes than vehicle performance,” site officials stated.

Short-Term Leasing Remains Strong

With the economy still in recovery mode because of lackluster employment data and pressures from the government debt negotiations, the site insisted leasing customers continued to soak up existing leases with very short terms remaining.

LeaseTrader.com discovered Japanese units — especially Toyota, Lexus and Honda — had the highest percentage of short-term takeovers in July compared to the rest of the vehicle population.

“We anticipate this level of short-term leasing to continue to increase even after Japanese inventories return because of the increased appetite for change in vehicle preference,” stated Sergio Stiberman, chief executive officer and founder of LeaseTrader.com.

“As more and more of today’s new leases move off the dealer lots we expect to see them coming into our marketplace about 12 to 18 months from now,” Stiberman added.

July 2011 Leasing Activity on LeaseTrader.com 

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