Can You GUESS Which Luxury Sedan Is Getting Its Sales Beaten Up By The Equus?

Umm the title references sales...not trade ins. Can we see sales numbers?

about 30 years ago for BMW. about 60 years ago for mercedes.

oops, make that 90 years ago for mercedes. they built huge luxury cars starting in the 20s.

LOL

what does the natural disaster have to do with the banal cars lexus has been building for years and years? hyundai is just beating lexus at it's own game: value pricing.

The A8 has less prestige than the LS, even Audi knows in America its behind Mercedes BMW, and Lexus in terms of brand cache. So not sure where your getting the A8 being in the top 3 for brand cache thats just not a reality.

Makes sense as the LS is the oldest, actually current S class is the oldest but it received a big upgrade in 2010(as it's life-cycle is 7 years compare to LS460's 5 years) both styling revisions and new engines, refreshed S500 is significantly different car than the original 2006 S500, almost a new car. The refresh has helped the S class sales a lot which were dwindling after the launch of new 7 series and then later by new A8.

LS did a very minor refresh in 2010. no new LS until 2014. that's 7 years of boring before more boring comes out.

i mean seriously....does anyone really think this car is beautiful?

@Eldard, It is interesting that you mentioned the quality of reliability of mercedes in which many people don't know because apparently they never own a mercedes. Now, grant it Mercedes makes some reliable engines which can do way more and beyond, but the buck stop there. Lexus actually supersedes the the mercedes in total quality and control concerning overall reliability. Many of us know this very fact, but we wont admit due to some egocentric ideal that german is superior.

Now the taste and touch is superior than the lexus, but what good is the taste and touch if you always see a check light on?

Autospies acts likes this is news. When this car came to market a lot posts on your surmised that the Toyota "Lexus LS460" was the benchmark and that car would take a beating as the sales of the Hyundai took off. Toyota's "Lexus" sales have been in decline for around 60 months +/- now and the tragedy in Japan and old prodcuts help the Equus gain a foothold.

salahs2 is correct with the luxury car market. S-Class and the 7 Series duke it out worldwide for the top spot with Audi bringing up the rear by a rather large margin with the hideous A8. The others are really classified as commodity luxury such as Toyota (Lexus), Nissan (Infiniti), Honda (Acura), Hyundai and etc. And the Koreans are only trying harder and getting better everyday, they are real hungry!!!!

very simple...the equus and lexus target the same buyer. they want value-priced comfort and luxury. they also tend not to care much about cars or the driving experience. just give them a comfy car at a value price and they're happy.

Totally agree with you Enthusiastx11!

If you are still talking about Benz relibality problems you are living in the past. Warranty claims have been dropping year by year to their lowest level ever. You obviously don't own one.

So you have to own one to read about their warranty claims and reliability?

Okay, lets add some of the numbers here.

the Equus as of the end of May, sold 1171 units in 2011

Assuming that the chart that Hyundai has presented is true, we have to only look at the number of those sales that were traded in. I would say people trade about 75% of the time (which is being quite generous)

that means in 2011 so far, 878 units of Equus were bought with a traded in vehicle. That means that only 182 (stupid) people traded in their LS for an Equus. And we dont even know what year those LSs were, they could be 1990 LS400s for all we know

As of the end of May 2011, Lexus sold 3742 LS models, so three times as much as the Equus and the car costs double.

I think those numbers speak for themselves.

You sir are full of win !

Logic on AutoSpies?

funny, you don't use this logic when the vastly more expensive S-class or 7-series outsell the LS. or when the GS is outsold 15 to 1 by the considerably more expensive 5-series.

When autospies posts an article that says the GS is stealing sales from the 5 series you can use your argument then enthusiastx....until then just go sit in the corner.

the slides shows these things called 'percentages.' it's this new-fangled mathematical tool that tells you the proportion of number. so let me explain....21 out of 100 equus buyers drove into the dealer in an LS and drove out with an equus. that's a phenomenal conquest number in the automotive world.

I saw two Equus in a day yesterday! o_O (On my way and back from Cars and Coffee)

Saw an Equus in traffic last week, thought it was a 460, oops my bad. But you get the point, that buyer isn't a car guy, he/she is a toaster person. On the shelf the cheaper toaster wins if it has as many buttons.
I will really enjoy how Luxury US responds to this challenge.

ignorrant viewpoint, so your sayin the only reason people buy the LS over the European competitors is because its cheaper and has more buttons........., where do you people get this stuff from. The LS and Equus are similar cars they both have less prestige than a 7 or S class. They both are alternatives to cars that are far more expensive, and they both have been around a relatively short time. The LS has its merits but in reality the Equus looks alot like feels as nice for the most part, has alot of the same technology and features for the person not concerned about brand cache (which everyone buying an Acura, Lexus, or Infiniti are not or they would spend a few thousand more to buy something else) why not buy the Equus?? If its everything you need in a vehicle and a lower price sounds like a logical choice. Its funny people knock Hyundais luxury attempts due to prestige but soon forget that Lexus, Infinit and Acura dont have the prestige of BMW, Porsche, or Mercedes yet when the euro fans knock the japanese competition on cache they say cache isnt everything jokes lol.

Give the Equus time, it fits the perfect price range. $60K does not get you a new Lexus LS, just a slightly used one, but you can get a new Equus with a bigger engine (upgraded for 2011), better performance and 90% of the luxury.

So the first group that takes a hit are the used Lexus LS sellers.

The big question is whether the Equus is prestigious enough for those who can afford the LS, to take a step back in prestige and just a little in interior refinement in order to save $15,000. I can tell you that most of the affluent Korean Americans faced with this question are thinking Equus - this is a large group that used to buy LS if they could not afford the S-series. Whether the rest of the Asian sub-groups follow is up to debate (word spreads fast in these minority communities). As for the rest of mainstream America, it will be a few years before they buy into the Equus as a prestige alternative.

Me personally, I love the understated anonymity of the Equus and would choose it in a heartbeat over the Lexus, but if money was no object, I would still choose the S-series due to its cost no object safety standards.