In Japan, a Lexus just doesn't have that cachet

Japanese are smarter :
Japanese buyers think Mercedes and BMW sedans have "greater panache,"

— thecar (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 9:36:21 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: -2   

I predict a 178 comment flame war.

— BMW530i (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 9:38:55 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I will put no comment on this article , Flame Yahoo and LA Times =)

— thecar (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 9:48:24 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Is this the standard Lexus fanboy excuse, Wilco?

Buying a luxury car is "stupid" from a financial point of view, even a Lexus. If we were all "smart", we'd be driving Geo Metros. Cheap, efficient and reliable.

— Willis (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 11:35:01 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Show me where I bashed Lexus, Will. I said buying a luxury is stupid from a financial point of view.

— Willis (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 12:19:10 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

Last I remember the LS460 won a comparison against 7-series,S-class,and Audi whatever the hell it was,for the most technology and I think that a true luxury brand should be innovative like Lexus:World's first actual low beam LED headlights(not drivinglights),world's first 8 speed automatic transmission,world's first key card,Self parking(prius had it first), and the list goes on.

— 2JZSoarer (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 10:56:06 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

My mistake the LED headlights are only on the LS600h,
but non the less a Lexus!!!

Here's the definition Prestige:Widely recognized prominence, distinction, or importance...

Well Lexus does fall in the category of prestige,because Lexus does have a distinction:Quality like no other brand,excellent design,ultra luxury,and very innovative!!!

— 2JZSoarer (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 11:14:47 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

worlds first key card?
i give you renaults.

— Rupert (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 4:37:50 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

This is much akin to Cadillac/Lincoln being considered run of the mill in their home market. Of course the "import" will ALWAYS have more panache- no exceptions. Unless you think a better performing Corvette has more prestige than a 911 here.

— mitchatlexusofmarin (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 12:46:51 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

12,000 LS460s in the first month. If you look at yearly sales, Lexus is not far behind BMW for #2. So if you add 12,000 to the existing sales of the year, that puts Lexus ahead of BMW, and #2 behind MB. Not bad for a brand that is a little over a year old, and has only 3 exclusive models (LS, GS and IS) In the next couple years, the whole brand will be marketed, and sales will grow exponentially.

This LA Times article was a complete non-story, must have been a slow news day.

— 1970toyotamarc (View Profile)

Posted on 11/15/2006 4:03:30 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

2JZSoarer - 11/15/2006 11:14:47 PM
0 BoostDrop the Boost Up the Boost
My mistake the LED headlights are only on the LS600h,
but non the less a Lexus!!!

Here's the definition Prestige:Widely recognized prominence, distinction, or importance...

Well Lexus does fall in the category of prestige,because Lexus does have a distinction:Quality like no other brand,excellent design,ultra luxury,and very innovative!!!
-----------------------

Lexus has good quality, the IS/GS are nicely designed but i don't think the brand is "ultra luxury". Ultra luxury you're talking about Bentley, Maybach, Rolls Royce type cars. It does have premium luxury like it's counterparts.

Lexus is much like Audi. The prestige factor is not there. Why? well i'll leave that to the rest of you to judge on since it is subjective. IMO since Lexus/Audi doesn't have the long history behind them they rely on marketing. Lexus and Audi have not been marketed as well as BMW or Mercedes have over the years. You always hear about Celebrities buying a BMW or more popular Mercedes Benz. Lexus/Audi is more conservative/modest luxury and that's fine. Sometimes understated luxury is a good thing.

— Agent63 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 6:04:50 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

Lexus Dude wrote:
Also Lexus has prestige, more than Mercedes, BMW or Jaguar and certainly more than Audi, which are rebadged VW's with leather and AWD. The Germans know how to rip-off people, they're brilliant at it.

More than a Merc...? Where is that?

Nobody says that Lexus is producing bad cars. But still, they are not the innovators. They just use the german concept to beat the germans...
Most times the trends are set by the Germans and the Japanese reproduce it a la Japan.

— TUFF (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 9:31:52 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

mitchatlexusofmarin wrote
This is much akin to Cadillac/Lincoln being considered run of the mill in their home market. Of course the "import" will ALWAYS have more panache- no exceptions. Unless you think a better performing Corvette has more prestige than a 911 here.



I lived in Germany for 6 years and the funny thing was they thought of American cars were prestigious..they loved Cadillacs..they were much more expensive there so most couldn't afford them..it was a ton of Opels there which are GM made..they mostly drove VW's, Audis, BMWs (3 series and wagons)....Most of the Mercs were taxi's and other service vehicles..though there were some..but considering that most were expensive, Germans financed cars for up to 30 years..I was in Frankfurt...which is a city and most people there and most of Germany use public transportation instead of driving cars becuase most can't afford cars.

— ryaajus (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 9:56:02 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Japanese has small BALLS , has nothing to do with prestigeous BS crap. Buying a MB or BMW just to make them feel like Godzilla. Reliability is their last concern people !!!!

— 99gs400 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 10:30:33 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

The Japanese see Lexus for what it is. Just like in America we see David Hasslehoff for what he is.

— audiot (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 11:20:23 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Lexus has no prestige in Japan. They KNOW it is just a toyota.

— audirevolution (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 1:34:36 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -1   

American sports cars are highly desirable in Europe.

The world is weird, go figure.

— answer (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 2:25:44 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 0   

This guy should do some more research.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 7:33:47 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

The japanese are right. Lexus is just another rebadged Toyota.

— drhasslefree (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 7:34:42 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

Just a Toyota is still better than anything Germany has. Like I said, Lexus' toughest competition is Toyota, not Germany.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 7:34:54 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 2   

I agree with the Japanese on this one as well, and this comment by Willis "This has nothing to do with intelligence. FACT is, the German luxury brands are more prestigeous, developed and associated with luxury than Lexus is at the moment"

— Sauceboy01 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 8:24:55 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

For those that don't know,the Lexus ES 350 is just a rebadged Camry (not a bad rebadge but still people should know this and not be fooled by fancy ads)

— chewy (View Profile)

Posted on 11/16/2006 10:14:17 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

In Canada, Lexus/Toyota dealerships have traditionally been paired together, get over it, smart people will choose a mere Toyota over a BMW/Audi or MB. The sales numbers show they should just hide out in Europe and wait for Lexus to come finish the job.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/17/2006 1:14:03 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

ok non-informed people - here it its

In Japan, most of the Lexus line was already available as the top-line Toyotas!!!

Of course Lexus has no 'panache'

— dealer (View Profile)

Posted on 11/17/2006 4:20:15 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

What do you expect. All that the people of Japan see is Toyota is taking its higher end models and slaping a Lexus badge on them. I wonder how the sales of Lexus compares to the same cars Toyota sold as Toyotas two years ago.. now if they are the same then is Lexus a flop?????

— austintyson (View Profile)

Posted on 11/19/2006 9:33:42 AM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

I have a correction to make. Richmond Hill just built a new Lexus dealership and it's independent of the Toyota one. I guess since Lexus has their own cars now that aren't based off Toyotas, they're separating the dealerships.

btw, the LS460 seemed to have lots of cachet in Japan.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 11/20/2006 1:00:42 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1