Luxury Car

Jez said:
Look at it though, its just a big fat toyota with more buttons. Go and look at some Mercedes' and BMW's.
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Seems this is the view even of Japanese people, this is the blog entry I got today from my export agent..

As you know, Lexus is the top quality model that Toyota is betting the
company’s fate on. The other day, we got an order from a customer in
Japan and won a 2007 model of the “LS460 VersionU I-Package” for
around \7,000,000 (\9,650,000 if you buy them new). We, at JPC, had
dealt with some IS & GS Grades, a grade lower than this type but it was
the first time to try this grade. Taken it for a test drive to check the
condition, I noticed all the bits & pieces were top quality. No wonder!
They are made to compete against models such as Mercedes Benz S Class
and BMW 7 Series. Especially when I was a back seat passenger, listening
to the music coming out of the genuine Mark Levinson’s speakers, it
felt like sitting in a reclining chair in an acoustic room. As for the
engine, everything from the quietness, torque stabilisation to
vibrational absorption gives perfect comfort. As for acceleration, it
can reach around 100Km instantly in D-mode and it flies along showing
the 385 horse power with its V8 Engine despite its huge body of 2060Kg
just in the vehicle weight. Seems perfect, but I cannot help thinking
something is missing in a car this expensive… What is it?

Well, it is not fun, I mean, fun to drive around. You do not feel the
“joy of speeding through everything” as with a BMW. You do not feel
the “car’s adjustability to the individual driver” as with a
Mercedes Benz S Class. It seems the maker cannot decide in concept
whether they want its Lexus to be sport-mode or stability. People who
choose BMW or Mercedes Benz have the reason for their choice. Maybe
people who choose Lexus do not worry much about its feeling of drive.

Also, although the interior is made incredibly luxurious and you feel
the comfort, it does not seem anything special compared to BMWs and
Mercedes Benz. Simply speaking, it looks like Toyota took the most
popular bits & pieces out of its range of vehicles and put them
together; I feel that it needs more to be one of the world first-class
cars.

In fact, according to news from some economic papers, the Lexus are
struggling to make sales. Lexus dealers were aiming to get more than
half numbers of their customers from people who were using BMWs and
Mercedes Benz but only 20% of the new customers changed to the Lexus
from imported cars. Being successful in the USA with the new style of
sales, which is no door-to-door sale but just let the customers come to
them, they wanted to bring it to Japan to expand their share in the
market. I guess, Japanese like different sales styles to the Americans.

When we won this auction, before taking it to the customer, we wanted to
take it to the dealer for its guarantee transfer but they did not accept
it if we do it on our customer’s behalf, insisting the customer has to
do it himself. I am talking about a case when he has to drive to the
nearest Lexus dealer, 100Km one way, leave his car at the dealer’s, go
home by train, go back there the next day by train to get the car and
drive the 100Km again back home. I could not believe that it is what
Toyota says when their usual stance is customer oriented and they do not
let this car’s guarantee transfer without this customer’s
ridiculously troublesome task, so I rang the Customer Service Centre at
Toyota’s main office. I got a man who introduced himself as the Centre
Chief. Although he was polite, the answer was the same as the one I had
got from the dealer. I then asked him what their stance is when it is
going to give the customer great inconvenience, he just kept explaining
the rules in selling the Lexus. Unfortunately I could not get a good
answer. To be honest, I was not happy with their explanation, but I
could clearly see that they are themselves under pressure in selling the
Lexus. With the introduction of RX SUV and Hybrid private car models, I
wonder how the Lexus is going to sell in the future.
 
[TW]Fox;12179986 said:
No Comms pack, ghastly fake M5 wheels, overpriced.

No thanks!
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No comms pack? Whats the Black thing in the armrest then?

Overpriced? - Only if your daft enough to pay the asking price, thats merely the haggle starting point.

I agree, the wheels are awful - they (the garage in question) are BMW specialists, I doubt it would be too hard to negotiate better wheels into the deal.

Its local to Sone, so he can have a look if he wants, I've seen it and its quite a nice one. :)
 
[TW]Fox;12180112 said:
It's a telephone. The Comms PACK (ie, a package) also includes Satnav, 16:9 widescreen and television. This car hasn't got it.
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Oh, I see.

Why the hell people need / want a TV in a car fails me though.

And sat navs are for people who can't follow directions & / or road signs! :p:D
 
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