Big surprise coming from Lexus-Photo of the Maybach/Bentley crusher!

Another Lexus that looks like a direct copy of M-Benz/Maybach: another compliment to Stuttgart.

That picture looks really good.

I agree, I wish Lexus would stop trying to enter a market where they aren't needed. Any big baller considering a status symbol car (which RR and Maybach are) isn't going to consider a Lexus, and that design looks like the Maybach, which isn't good as it is ugly as well.

What kind of a mentality is this? to stop Lexus from entering a market where its not needed? Guys this is business and all you can do is compete, and I give two thumps up to Lexus for being able to compete in every category, it will be a start for it just like the first LS400 then in few years it will dominate the market. I think this L650h in reality will look even better, and will be a close competitor to all the above, I'm saying this because you all need to remember that this Lexus will have a smaller engine, less price, and much better quality/reliability as that's the way Lexus dominate the market.

In the uber luxury category, less price equals less status. The more price the better. This is why you don't see Geo Metros is rap vidoes.

Heritage? Race history? Do you think Master P or the latest 22 year old multi millionaire basketball player gives two cents about that?

face the facts here folks, it is not old world money buying Maybachs and Bentleys, it is primarily young, foolish, rich people with a few Sauidi sheiks thrown in for good measure. None of them care AT ALL about race history or how long a car company has been producing vehicles. They care about the latest and the greatest nw thing, the thing that costs the most and has the most flash (or as someone living in 2002 might say...bling).

Lexus already has proven that it not only could survive in the luxury marketplace, it could in fact dominate many aspects of it. In the late 80's and early 90's we heard this exact same argument predicting the demise of Lexus and other Japanese luxury brands. A decade or so later the rest of the world was playing catch up to the "no prestige" brands with no history.

If Lexus makes an exlcusive, expensive, well designed car it WILL sell.

Good luck! They might as well name it a Phaeton

*gag* thx for reminding the world how ugly a maybach is; even being disguised under a gorgeous designo gold/red paint combo and sticking the lovely lexus emblem in front doesnt help its looks much, back to the drawing board for maybach designers..

I agree that is certainly looks liek a bad photoshop deal (very bad in fact) but the point still stands... "heritage" means nothing to a 22 year old kid with a 40 mil contract and THAT is the guy buying Maybachs and the like.

its an ugly car, that will never come out, and yes, heritage means something for those who gets cars like that... btw to all you guys who watches too much BET, MTV and crap that blasts the celebrities all over the TV as if they are pretigeous, they probably make a good..... 10% of all Maybach, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Pagani, Aston Martin, etc owners... funny how you guys believe the host of "fabulous life of...", that these people are the ones who runs society... well guess what... they don't. And Lexus will not bring this car out...

is that a real car or concept picture? if its real, looks pretty good

Remember their was a concept from Lexus called LF-S.
This Photoshop is based on that Lexus Concept,much more than on RR or Maybach.But yeah that concept was shorter in length and wheelbase so the author has sticked a bangle butt(maybach butt) in this photoshop,to make it look bigger,longer and fatter.

But i completly agree that If Lexus people are thinking to enter this ULTRA Luxury market than they will surely succeed.If not dominating it with the next 10-12 years, but atleast they will become a strong player,contender,competitor...etc

I know their potentials.It's above all.

BTW this Photoshop looks OK but we can't just say it that it's based on Maybach or Rolls.Lexus had a concept which looked same like this thing.
Called Lexus LF-S.It was a four door Coupe.


JUGNU----->THE CARMAN

I am sure this also will be a hit in the US. For the rest of the world... hmm. BTW, Bugatti sold more than half of its completed cars in the New World. Don't expect to see a lot of Lexus cars in Monte Carlo, Dubai or Baden Baden, though...

Even though the car is a fake, I honestly don't think Lexus would be successful in this type of market.

Why? Heritage. Heritage IS VERY IMPORTANT here. You buy such a car because you want people to know you're wealthy and are "someone".

Rolls-Royce needs no explanation. Maybach was a luxurious pre-World War II German luxury car brand that dissapeared after the war. During the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s, they built beautiful classy cars. Maybach had a lot of prestige. Wilhelm Maybach worked for Daimler-Benz at one time and perfected the carburator for example. Maybach also had a 16-cylinder engine at one point.

Now let's say Lexus made this car. Heritage? None, not really. The car will probably be cheaper than the Rolls or 'Bach, but if you're shopping in this class, money is not an issue. The more expensive, the higher the perceived brand image in this case. Lexus should stay out of this market: for now (that means a few decades).

BME5301 - You are correct. The typical buyer of a Rolls, Maybach or whatever is concerned with image and prestige. The only way you can get that is by a history. Lexus has no history other that making reskinned Toyotas. (Garage in Garbage out so to speak) It could be a completly new vehicle and it won't matter, the only ones buying them will be Gangsta Rappers.

The latest reports say that Lexus & Infinity are planning to build Design Centers in German --- right in BMW-, Audi-, DCX-land --- in hopes to pool the essential European "flare" that is so highly regard by the global industry. In a couple of years, we just may see fruits of German labor that will have produced the next LS, GS, G35 & M35/45, FX, etc. Of course they will be still seen as Japanese products, but with German style.

BTW... this article was featured in the latest Road and Track....don't think that it's someones random photoshop. Dumpsty, I found it interesting too that Lexus and Infiniti want to start building cars in Germany to gain credibility.

this wont sell no matter what it looks like. history is important, no matter what people say. imagine i invented a new car company, that made a very good 3 series sized saloon. good for me i have success etc. then i suddenly make a lux limo to compete with r-r? oh dear i fail. that is why mercedes made the maybach name to compete in that market because even m-b doesn't have enough prestige to go alone in that market. that is why it is a mercedes-mclaren slr not just a mercedes slr.
bentley has found it is more profitable at a lower level (continental gt)and so has decided to stay in that market and for its higher end cars has made them look very different and drive and feel very different. a lexus, no mater how good it is will not sell in this market place. imagine you are a millionaire at a party "so what do you drive?" (expecting r-r or maybach or similar) "a lexus". "oh" (moves away to someone with taste)
tvt01, what 22 year old wants a lexus? none of their cars are sexy, and that sells to a 22 year old. and there is a very small market in the uber-rich young market, the older market is what they target. no 22 year old would want a luxo barge like this, they buy slrs and carrera gts and lamborghinis.

Yeah Right.

Toyota and Lexus is trying to rule the worlds of auto industry. This concept car is definitely better looking than the maybach. Come on.. give them a break, at least they alway try to bring new car and make it more exciting. Lexus definitely going to take maybach throne for sure. And you already they are going to have at least 500+ plus horse for sure.

Lexus for Life

It's so funny that people talk about "heretige" as being important in this car class when Maybach proves that quite simply, it is meaningless.

You can say whatever you want about the past of Myabach as a brand, what it did 60 years ago and so on, that is MEANINGLESS to the buyers of Maybachs today. The people buying them know and care NOTHING about what Maybach was half a century or more in the past. They care about a couple things... having an exclusive car that everyone knows is expensive, having a status symbol, and turning heads. The Maybach does that. Now I will say that the MERCEDES heretiage helps the Myabach tremendously. People look at it as some sort of super Benz... beyond an ordinary Benz you have Maybach. But it is NOT the Maybacj name that gives it prestige, it is the Benz name. Likewise Lexus now has enough clout that a "Super Lexus" would be looked at in much the same way Maybach is now. Give it a different name, not Lexus, lets say they call it Empress just to pull a name out of the air. The "Empress" would be the super Lexus just as the Maybach is the super Benz, and THAT would sell.

Let me give you a small non car example. There is a watch that has become very popular the past 10 years or so called Panerai, many of you are probably familiar with it. Stallone and Swartzenager made them popular years ago in movies. Well they flaunt around this long history they have, how they were Italian navel watches in WWII and so on. Well the truth is that the company is in essence 10 years old. Prior to that there were about 300 Panerai watches ever made and they were made by a sole jewelry shop using Rolex movements and turning out tools for a few divers... that's it. But Panerai has built a false sense of history to give them a basis to work off of. Lexus already has enough "history" in the last 16 years to build off of, augment that with a little marketing hype and as ugly as this car is it or soemthing like it would sell.

TV,

Maybach is a REVIVED brand. There is something catchy and mysterious as well as attracting about it. Same deal with the Bugatti Veryron. If I remember correctly, Bugatti dissapeared in the 1930s.

DCX did a lot of marketing when they released the Maybach. They made people AWARE that Maybach is a revived brand which died out after World War II. Like it or not, it works and people fall for it. IT's called MARKETING.

Only thing this thing can crush is the Execs at Toyota that decide to actually build it. Not a bad photochop pic and NO A HYUNDAI WILL NOT LOOK LIKE A MAYBACH IF IT WAS IN 2 TONE. Retarded.

I do believe that Lexus will indeed start to market high price low volume uber type rides to build more prestige into their brand. They have successfully emulated the Germans so far in everything except desire.

bugatti was one of the most prestigious brands in the world, above maybach. the royale of the 20s had an 8 litre v16 on a 170 inch wheelbase and only 6 were ever built. 170 is not a typo, it was that huge. and it was french.
and the "empress" lexus would still be viewed as a toyota. mercedes and maybach have history. lexus does not. lexus is like a ninja, and is japanese in presentation. it is ruthlessly efficient, and does its job perfectly. but like a ninja or an assasin, it has no soul, passion or feeling. i don't really think a maybach does either, but that is not a car, it is a coach to move people fast. a rolls-royce or bentley is a very different proposition.

bmw530i, i completely agree on the marketing thing. if i marketed yellow and blue non matching socks as essential lifestyle accessories, they'd sell.

This is year 2006, why would ANYONE wants to buy a car for $300k that looks like the 1930s, 1940s? Heritage? What does heritage has to do with modern life? Those that would buy a Maybach or Rolls over this Lexus and pay twice the price, I assure you that those people know NOTHING about cars and what they get out of them. Give me ONE example if such Lexus is built what would the Mabach/Rolls would have that this wouldn't? If heritage is the answer, I would say go spend $450k on a maybach and after driving it for 2 months and see your neighbor driving this Lexus PLUS a Porche, trust me you WILL think twice the next time you do that.

"This is year 2006, why would ANYONE wants to buy a car for $300k that looks like the 1930s, 1940s?"

people pay millions of dollars for 1930s and 40s cars simply based on heritage.
if you had a maybach you wouldn't have any neighbours, and if your neighbour had a lexus (the least prestigious of lux cars) and a porsche (the most common of super cars), well you just wouldn't talk to him. ever.
people with money to spend on maybachs have other cars and often private jets, so the notion of the lexus being cheaper but still competing with a maybach is ridiculous. however if it tried to compete with the bentley flying spur (which does occupy a strange market postition) it might have a chance, but i wouldn't buy one no matter how "good" it was.

I would buy it, why not try it? If you don't like it, you can always get a Bentley or Rolls. At this price range, changing cars is no biggie. Also, what do you do when you already have a Bentley or Rolls for many years? This is what's happenig in my neck of the woods (LA) people are sick of MB and Bimmers, they want something new.

I'm not even sure if peopel are agreeing or arguing here anymore!

Yes, I agree 100% that MARKETING is what sells Maybachs, not some perceived history or legacy behind it. Simply put Maybach buyers are not purchasing them because it is a revived brand (really just a name with no true links to it's past), no, they buy them because they are expensive, exlusive, status symbols. All those same criteria would apply to an "Empress" or whatever Lexus decided to call this boat sized monstrosity.

You see I am not a particular fan of this type of thing, and I am not a fan of Lexus in general for that matter, but I truly believe this type of car WOULD sell for them. Talk of the need of a heritige or legacy have already been proven wrong by Lexus itself. 15 years ago people said BMW and Mercedes had nothing to fear, Lexus had no history, who would spend 70K for a car with no legacy? Well, as Lexus has risen to the very top of the sales and owner loyalty and satisfaction charts and is thought of in the same league as BMW and Benz... well I guess the argument is now a moot one. It has been proven catagoricaly that people WILL buy lucury brands even without true history. I can name you dozens of similar examples in the world of fashuion, or watches or other high end items.

History is nice because it makes marketing that much easier, but it is NOT essential to sell this type of thing, Lexus and Maybach (again, no REAL history there, just a name) have already proven that beyond a shadow of any doubt.

History; Heritage... not meaningless in this category of a car. If Lexus produces a car like this, they won't have any of those qualities. But, so long as it is a good car they will make a name for themselves and people will buy.

BTW this is most likely a photoshop. I would love to see where autospies got this article.

Comparing a theorhetical super high end Lexus to the Phaeton is not accurate. Lexus is already a luxury brand with incredibly good dealers, customer support and sustomer satisfaction. VW is considered an inexpensive, "fun" care or a family hauler. Those buying luxury goods of any kind are as interested in the after purchase support as they are in the item itself. VW cannot compete with or offer what lexus already has.

I do not want to defend Lexus that much because I am not even a fan of thier product, however I would LOVE to buy a Lexus if they ever made a car I liked because the dealers are awesome. Some of the nicest dealerships I have ever seen, FAR nicer than the best of BMW or Benz are Lexus dealers with Infiniti not far behind. They have the normal things like loaner cars but they also have services FAR beyond that, and very nice waiting areas and so on. They ooze "luxury" and it is in large part because of this that they score so well on satisfaction surveys.

I considered buying a Touregg a few years back but based mainly on the lack of dealership support I chose a BMW X5 instead. Lexus has the network of dealers at the highest level already, and that gives them a HUGE advantage.

"VW is considered an inexpensive, "fun" care or a family hauler"

only in america.
here vw is on a par with saab, volvo and in a few cases, lexus. (ie touareg/rx, even the phaeton is above the ls) it is above toyota, nissan, honda, ford etc.

"Lexus has the network of dealers at the highest level already, and that gives them a HUGE advantage."

again only in america. the only lexus delearship i can think of is also a toyota one.

Rupert...

Good points, I am speaking from an American perspective.
It is amazing how differently cars are positioned the world over. In Europe Mercedes are taxi cabs, in the U.S. they are marketed exclusively as high end luxury vehicles.

In the U.S. VW is a cheap, fun car that skews very much to women and young adults. No one in the U.S. would EVER think of VW and say Mercedes or Lexus in the same class. This was the problem with the Phaeton in this country at least.

I recall visiting Switzerland where I had conversations with people who LOVED Jeep Cherokees. They thought of them as VERY high end trucks. Of course in the U.S they are a dime a dozen pieces of junk.

It's all about perspective.

jeep's (grand cherokees mainly) are actually quite high end here, competing with the m-class on kudos. and the chrysler grand voyager (town and country in us) is THE only vaguely fashionable mpv.
mercedes' aren't taxis, they're....weird. lower end models (a,b,c) are for indians (im serious, every indian family i know has a merc), e class is for upper middle class (and taxis) cls is for more rich indians and upper middle class, clk is for every footballers wife/barbie out there, sl is for anyone who has the money, s class is an expensive taxi and limo, cl is an autobahn muncher.
lexus is for poor indians and reps(cept the rx, thats for school run mums). the ls never worked here, it looks too brash and american.
don't forget m-b offers all the small engines here, like the e/clk/c220cdi and e/clk/c/slk200k, and s/cls/320cdi and s/cls/350.
seriously, in west london, you can't move for the mercs and bimmers. i went up through kensington and saw no fewer than 7 brand new s classes, in about 3 miles. they had come out about a month before,
vw's touareg is a success here, competes very strongly with m-class, rx, x5 etc

Clearly Photoshop.

I don't know how the Touareg ended up doing here but I know they are offer something like $6,000 in dealer incentives for the V8 and 2-3 thousand for the V6 models... so they are not exactly flying out the door. There is a real disconnect with people as to why VW is selling a 45-60K vehicle when the average VW is more like 20,000.

if you got the diesels the touareg makes more sense

The Maybach still uses an engine with only 3 valves per cylinder, so it might crush the Maybach if it has a better engine (not necessarily a more powerful one). The Bentley is the equivalent of an Audi A8 with a more elegant interior but it has a mediocre instrument panel for a car of its class, so the Lexus might crush the Bentley also. Lexus is bound to offer the latest instrument display technology, a finely crafted interior, a price that the average hardworking and overtaxed upper-middle-class slave can afford. The Rolls has an aura not possessed by any of the other cars mentioned so it will never crush the Rolls. Does anyone really believe that a Rolls customer would even consider a hybrid?

The Maybach still uses an engine with only 3 valves per cylinder, so it might crush the Maybach if it has a better engine (not necessarily a more powerful one). The Bentley is the equivalent of an Audi A8 with a more elegant interior but it has a mediocre instrument panel for a car of its class, so the Lexus might crush the Bentley also. Lexus is bound to offer the latest instrument display technology, a finely crafted interior, a price that the average hardworking and overtaxed upper-middle-class slave can afford. The Rolls has an aura not possessed by any of the other cars mentioned so it will never crush the Rolls. Does anyone really believe that a Rolls customer would even consider a hybrid?

the bentley has nothing to do with an a8. not related at all.
im sure the lexus won't "crush" either of these cars, but it will find a niche, whether it be very exclusive airport taxis or...well that's it. that's all maybachs are used for anyway.

Can you say Photoshop???

Whoever siad this car ugle is to say MB Maybach is ugly. Well it is. And Lexus will look better for sure. Just a matter of how much, but both cars will no doubt look better than BMW 7 - ugliest car ever at that price range.

Lexus does have the ability and finances to produce a car of this caliber. But I am sure with their good business sense, they will wait to see how the LS600hL sells before they give the true green light for production of a Maybach fighter. A Maybach fighter is going to cost lots of money in R&D. I can only imagine what a Maybach fighter would like. Probably reclining ottoman seats for both passengers, individual DVD monitors, a sound system better than a concert hall, power everything, etc......
The least Lexus could do is produce a concept version and see the public reaction to it at autoshows. This will also help determine whether the time is right to produce such a vehicle.