Will Hyundai's Equus Catch Lexus With Their Pants Down Again?

Yes, Hyundai is so confident, they are saying it will do better in the U.S. than the VW Phaeton.

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People who buy Lexus's don't buy them for brand name recognition. They buy them because they are cheap luxury. Hyundai will murder them.

Price is a big factor with most Lexus purchases.

009 your wrong considering most Lexus vehicles are purchased, not leased. Other brands such as BMW are primarily leased many their buyers are more money conscious. Lexus buyers are more mature in age thus likely more established financially. Get your facts str8!!

thus many of***

Lexus has the lowest lease rate in the industry as of last year. So my point stands.

009, who had it before that. And that does not change the fact that Lexus owners are typically more mature in age and again, thus, likely more financially secure.

0-60 - Mature and financially secure? I'll give you that, but that can also mean that they are looking for conserving the cash they have accumulated.

Sort of like eating a steak dinner at Ruth Chris vs. The senior citizen menu at Golden Corral.

Wouldn't touch a 60K Hyundai with a 10ft cattle prod.

Funny they said that about Lexus too

I have to hand it to Hyundai. In just 1993 they were importing crap boxes over here with drive-train parts cribbed from Mitsubishi.

Now they are credibly challenging the near-luxury class.

Sometimes the most successful people or ventures are those who don't know they "cant do" something.

Yes....the economy is getting destroyed and no one has the money for an S-Cass Mercedes anymore, even at 15-20% cheaper the Lexus LS460 and 460L are not as convincing as the Hyundai in terms of value. I personally like Lexus quality, but Hyundai is not far off. I don't like any Hyundai cars accept the Genesis but even that car has issues. There is no perfect car, more models means more competition and better products for the consumer...So bring it on Hyundai! lol

I believe all luxury car manufactures are watching Hyundai, don't be fooled. It is ignorant to think, that a person who is poised to purchase luxury without the label flagging in front of them, check out Hyundai, then purchase one, then is multiplied over and over, you see where this ends up. Lexus is hurt yes in the long run, but a sale is a sale and you will see an affect over a period of time the way premium makes watch Lexus eat their lunch.

Basically it is idiotic to compare a hyundai to a Lexus. Common sense here 009. Value wise it would compare ok aganist a fully loaded Toyota Avalon. Trust me, the Merced,BMW and Lexus crowd would'nt be seen driving a hyundai. I dont care how bad this economy gets people will still want to drive the best name brand cars.....Period. Answer to your question...Hell to the No! hyundai will catch Lexus with their pants down with some fake wana-be Japanese Import.

ditto invisible..... BMW even made fun of Lexus in ads in the beginning. Now who is laughing?

I still can't compare Lexus to merc and bmw, to me it is still an overpriced toyota.

Which Benz uses a Smart platform? Which BMW uses the mini platform?

lol, ok lets call Benzes overpriced dodges haha.

Lexus,Mercedes and BMW crowd wouldn't drive a Hyundai? The same was said when Lexus came out in 1990.

I still think Hyundai should have created a new luxury nameplate for these cars. Could've made a big difference with regards to public perception.

That costs a lot to do

If Equus is a threat to Lexus then it's a threat to the Germans too. Why no mention of them and only Lexus?

JUGNU

Because they are targeting Lexus but with a serious price advantage, they have even said they want Lexus. To them Lexus buyers represent a group of buyers that are sensitive to price and have already sacrificed overall performance for pseudo luxury.

This type of buyer fits their target dead on. Want "luxury" for less? We have it! This worked wonderfully for Lexus in the beginning when the Germans faltered and Lexus could offer nice trimmings on cars that were far better in reliability and far cheaper. The American buyer it seems wasn't as well informed or didn't care as much about performance, so price became the king.

To Hyundai the Germans appeal to a different market. They will gain some of these customers, but in general they are going for the fattest cow in the field and that one is Lexus. The Germans however are next on the list, it is just a matter of time.

pseudo luxury??? I think Lexus does luxury better than most others (maybe even all in its class). BMW is for performance, Lexus is pure luxury. MB might be a mix. 009, get over your hate for Lexus.

where does the again come from? the genesis? oh yeah, lexus must be in damage control

Lexus succeeded by offering a very nice product that had high reliability. The American public in general chose reliability over wizardry and outright performance. Now it didn't hurt that Lexus targeted their audience with a brilliant advertising the campaign, and the Germans responded with arrogant ads.

I think the Equus will be equally if not more impressive than the Genesis. Hyundai is making strides and it's vehicles are proof of it. They won't be as good as Lexus is right now but they have a chance to be the same as how the rebadged Toyota's once was in the 90's. I respect Hyundai for making an effort in the luxury segments and they can do some damage whether its at a large scale or a minimal, they will capture some market share, with this recession in place.

Some of the comments here show a little too much defense toward Lexus.
And the other side of the comments show the other way for Hyundai. If a Chinese car can compete with good quality and lower price, then it's good for all consumers, isn't it? If Hyundai can compete with Lexus, then let the game roll. Consumers don't need to stand in defense for a particular company because of past nameplate. When I see an overly defensive comment by some of the users here for Lexus, I question their intention of posting it. Why is it so angry and disturbing for Hyundai to stand up against Lexus? Us consumers love competition. and if it can bring down absurdly high price of the luxury cars, it need to be praised for even initiating. We can't just let the prices to go high. Our salary increase lately has not been able to match with the pace of these German and Japanese manufacturer's. In fact, our jobs have been cutting lately. Hyundai, actually, is help us consumers to want those luxury features and performance at an affordable prices. And if Hyundai succeeds, Japanese and German will also lower their prices. All this because of competition. My two cents...

I guess what people here are trying to say is VW tried a luxury car (Phaeton) and failed, and now Hyundai is going for it. Whereas Lexus has already succeeded and is enjoying its success. A serious issue here is Lexus prices have been reaching some of its "premiumer" Mercedes counterparts and Hyundai wants a piece of the action. A lot of profit is just there for the plucking and Hyndai is capable of building cars which has been proven with the Genesis. Only time will tell and the state of the economy if Hyundai will succeed in following Lexus' footsteps.

As with Lexus who needs to go "sporty" in order to grow, Hyundai needs to go "decent and pseudo luxury" in order to grow too. LOL!!!

Having spent many days driving Lexus GS/LS/IS and also the Hyundai Genesis here a some thoughts.

Genesis quality. Matter of personal choice but I found the Genesis to be just as luxurious as an LS460/GS and I liked the dash design better- very reminiscent of the current S550 and its curved dash with a slight bulge in the middle.

Performance. oooooo....not so good.....BUT.....handling thru the twisties is not this car's game anyways so this is a moot point.

Based on my experience driving Benzes, Bimmers, Jags(yes the XF not just the geriatric XJ) and Lexus(including the LS 600) I would say Hyundai is at a similar point to Lexus say, oh around 1998 or so....

Based on this and as long as they don't screw it up somehow then Hyundai will in short time be right up there w/ the rest- especially if the econ downturn continues for another year or so....

Oh, and kudos to Jeff Bridges doing the voice for Hyundai's commercials- not quite as good as the Lexus guy but very good indeed....

According to them they're introducing these 'luxury' cars "to elevate Hyundai’s reputation to the level of Honda or Toyota. Only then might it be time for a luxury brand to push beyond that point.":

http://www.leftlanenews.com/hyundai-on-lexus-if-toyota-can-do-it-why-not-us.html

problem here is we seem to underestimate just how powerful Lexus is when it comes to their marketing and advertising strategy. Dont think for a second Lexus is going to let Hyundai beat them at their own game when they technically are not in the same class. Trust me they'll get trumped by Toyota before that will happen.