Lexus smiles as sales of the RX 400h jump 28%

It's become a truism in the new auto market: sales of big vehicles are down. The details are different for each country and automaker, but the gist is the same and fuel efficiency of the oversized SUVs and trucks is partly to blame. In this bleak environment (well, bleak if you're an automaker that's used to relying on sales of big vehicles to prop up the bottom line), Lexus is announcing a bit of good news: sales of the RX 400h - which gets 29 mpg U.S. on the combined cycle but still emits 192 grams of CO₂ per km - in the UK were up almost 28 percent compared to the same month a year ago. You can almost see the gloating faces of the Lexus PR team when you read this part of the announcement of this increase:

That growth stands in stark contrast to the fortunes of rival luxury brands, which suffered an average decline of 30 per cent in SUV sales. And for some famous names, new registrations have tumbled by as much as 50 per cent.

Somebody's pretty pleased.

[Source: Lexus]