LexFather

I dunno, Infiniti has a car company with the damn rocks and trees upon introduction, well they are catching up 14 years later. That was a pretty atrocious blunder one of the worst in the history of anything. The Mercury Maurader was horrible too marketing wise.Indeed the IS was not built to be a Lexus which is bad and good. Bad as in it is so to the left, people can't believe it's a Lexus. It's good as in the IS has the lowest age buyer of any new luxury car, only 30. Lexus then made the ES totally to the right. So there is no in-betweener. Either luxury-ES or sport-IS.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yeah i agree, in terms of decisions i think making the is300 is a very good one, that way the es300 doesn't have to carry any performance load and so lexus can make it all the way right. but for the is300, imho, i think it would be better if lexus can spend more time to give it the little essense that will make people think it's a lexus instead of a huh-it-is-not-a-toyota thing. i am sure they will address that in the next design

STIG

toyota motor debuted TOYOTA ALTEZZA(with 2.0 4 cyliner engine) as in japan and LEXUS IS200 (2.0 liter in line 6) in Europe at the same time?? ( i m just asking tho)
i know they love IS and it's the only japanese 3 series alike.

LexFather

Yes, pretty much. However, they did not bring the IS 200 to the states. Lexus research indicated 4-cylinder entry level luxury cars are B.S. to the American consumer. Lexus has never offered a 4-cylinder in the USA as they were afraid it would dilute the image and brand. So that is when they decided to drop teh 2JZ in there.
The 2nd problem was the 2JZ had too much torque for their 6-speed manual to handle to Lexus levels. It wasn't much more, maybe 20 lbs more at peak range so they had to use the 5 speed manual which was a lot stronger. True, it has one gear less than most of the newer cars out but Lexus avoided a tranny failure issue ala Acura and the TL/CL/Odessey/MDX.

I think Bergenstein was in charge at the time, and they did not want to change the interior or exterior as they wanted to bring a very young buyer to Lexus. So no investment was made to change anything.

The IS 200/300 has won accolades worldwide for being a true 3-series competitor. Only until the more recent more powerful competition has the IS started to be underpowered.

In a world where people are more concerned with peak horsepower than quality paint and panels fitting correctly, I am not surprised.

STIG

the euro IS200 has 6 cylinder 2.0 engine 1G-FE borrowed from MarkII/Chaser and japanese IS200 has 3S-GE (4 cylinders ) and 1g-FE ( in line 6)

my point is it is kinda weird that IS never been their prime target for american lexus cop. we see so many ads about LX,RX,ES but i dont really see any IS ads anywhere.

IMO, ES itself is killing IS sales even tho they are totally different cars.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

actually sick, the 5 speed on the is3 is a nutorously disappointing one. it's so weak it can't really handle much power

TheOfficeBoy

Odd, I keep seeing the IS ad where it morphs into the Team Lexus IS race car...
On the other hand, I don't see many ads for the ES, GS, or SC.

LexFather

http://www.infinitinews.com/corporat...02110916.shtml

Infiniti sales for last month.
Sales for Infiniti, the luxury division of NNA, increased 3.8 percent from last May, with 11,143 units sold.
The Lexus Division recorded best-ever May sales with 26,155 units sold, an increase of 13.9 percent.

Xenthar

Ya...lexus does sell alot more, which is good, but thats why its losing its exclusivity. Its as common as toyota or honda. i actually hope that infiniti doesn't sell to the point where you see a few on the road next to you whenever you drive somewhere.

LexFather

Lexus says its growth won't hurt brand's cachet
Mark Rechtin of Automotive News, whose recent article on the next Lexus IS appears here just a couple of stories down, has written a fascinating, thought-provoking piece on Lexus' success and where it's headed.
The article, titled Lexus says its growth won't hurt brand's cachet, also appears on AutoWeek's website.

Read on for the full text of the article:




Sales at Toyota's 15-year-old Lexus Division reached the 2 million mark this month, a milestone that is triggering concern about diminishing exclusivity for the luxury brand.

It took Lexus more than 10 years to sell its first million units in the United States but only four years and four months to sell its second million. And Denny Clements, Lexus Division general manager, projects that the third million will take just three years and six months.

Lexus is taking steps to protect its dealership service standards as its volumes increase. But executives say they aren't worried about becoming less exclusive and won't cap Lexus' growth.

Executives say buyer conquest and loyalty rates are rising simultaneously, a rare combination that they say accounts for the luxury brand's growth spurt.

Lexus sales have risen from 97,593 vehicles in 1997 to 259,755 units last year. Sales jumped 25.3 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2003.

But some analysts warn that Lexus is in danger of losing its cachet.

"There is always a risk that if everyone at the shopping center has a Lexus, then it's no longer of interest," says Todd Turner, analyst with Car Concepts in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

But Yuki Funo, CEO of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., says Lexus should sell as many vehicles as customers demand and not restrict volume.

"Luxury is not always because the product is rare," Funo says. "We are appealing to the luxury market by the strength of our product, franchise and customer service. Lexus has been successful in keeping the integrity of its franchise despite the volume growth."

Funo says there is more danger in failing to maintain customer service standards with a larger owner base than losing exclusivity.

Clements says Lexus dealers have invested $750 million to upgrade or expand their stores in the last 20 months.

The brand has grown in both loyalty and conquest rates over the past three years, according to consumer purchase data tracked by the Power Information Network.

Last year, 44 percent of all Lexus vehicles that were traded were done so to purchase another new Lexus vehicle, the Power data show. That compared with 31 percent in 2002. The figure in the first quarter of 2004 was 48 percent.

What's more, every luxury brand except Saab is seeing a greater percentage of its customers depart to Lexus than they were three years ago, according to Power.

Lexus says it had a conquest rate of nearly 70 percent in the 2003 model year, representing buyers who came to Lexus from another brand. The rate of buyers replacing a Lexus purchased new with another new Lexus was 54 percent in the 2003 model year.

LexFather

I totally disagree. It's not like Lexus is selling mostly 20-40k cars. They start at 30k and most of the lineup is above 40k. They have expensive cars selling well not just their entry level cars/SUVs.

And the Toyota/Honda comment is a little off. They sell 450,000 Camrys and Accords a year. Just Camrys and Accords. The whole Lexus lineup sold 260,000 cars last year.

You want true exclusivity, buy a Bugatti Veryon.

Xenthar

I'm not saying that lexus is cheap or anything...I'm just saying that alot of people have lexus's...i guess more people can afford it more now i guess.

vraa

iTrader: (2)

The Infiniti G is nice, but too many kids have it around here and it just feels weird.

Xenthar

cuz its the car to have even if it is someone expensive

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 1SICKLEX
THe J30 was a disaster. The G20/M30/I30-35 were all lackluster FWD models. What reputation?


How do you define disaster? Don't know about where you live but here there are j30's everywhere. Very popular. I had one. I only had 3 complaints. Tranny could have been smoother. Could have had a teench more driver legroom. It was a sedan. That comes down to only one real problem, the tranny. Otherwise, I found it to be very reliable and the luxury appointments were on par with lexus. Even better in some respects. For example... the seats smelled like a baseball glove. All leather, quality leather, far better than I've seen in the lexus cars I've been in.
As far as reputation, I believe infiniti was doing the pre-owned certification thing before lexus. That would mean they have faith in their cars to deliver the goods. I think infinit's biggest problem has been marketing. Lexus says..."The passionate pursuit of perfection." Infiniti doesn't have a slogan, at least I can't think of one.