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"We've Been "Motivated" to Move the New GS"

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Old 03-08-05, 03:28 PM
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Iceman
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Default "We've Been "Motivated" to Move the New GS"

I got a call yesterday from a very nice saleslady at my local Lexus dealer. I had been speaking to her a few weeks ago about the new GS and how I was going to miss the premiere event, but really wished I could see a brochure. They didn't have them yet, but she mailed one to me last week.

Anyway, in the call, she asked what I thought of the car. When I told her it looked great but only an AWD 430 would get me in for a test drive, she seemed pretty disappointed. Apparently their managers had some kind of meeting and then went to speak to each salesperson individually (a rare event, she assured me) to tell them to shake up GS sales. If there were any deals they hadn't been able to close, she said, they had the authority to be more aggressive since they were "motivated to move the new GS off the lot".

What I take from this is that Lexus must be banking on a really strong GS rollout. They want to put the automotive world (and more directly the BMW 5-series design team) on notice that they are deadly serious in this market segment. They must be incentivizing dealers somehow to make sales, which I would think is good news for anyone looking to buy. Normally you can't deal on a brand new model, but in this case maybe you can!
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Old 03-08-05, 06:08 PM
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doug_999
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Early C&D and Autoweek reviews have been lukewarm. I wonder if this has something to do with it? The 98 GS was a breakthrough for Lexus and I think that many people were looking for the same thing with the 06. It will be interesting to see how it sells over the next two years. I'm betting a bigger engine and sports package are going to help a lot.
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Old 03-08-05, 06:28 PM
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gs400998
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[QUOTE=Iceman]What I take from this is that Lexus must be banking on a really strong GS rollout. They want to put the automotive world (and more directly the BMW 5-series design team) on notice that they are deadly serious in this market segment.QUOTE]

Just received April 05 of Car and Driver today. Preveiw 2006 GS300 article shows 0-60 6.8-6.9 and standing 1/4 mile 15.4-15.5 (mfr's est). Many Japanese and European vehicles in the same segment has gone under 15 seconds for the 1/4M and even the much cheaper FWD Toyota Avalon ran the quarter in 14.9 in the recent Motor Trend test.
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Old 03-08-05, 06:44 PM
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Cadd
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How do you guys get C&D that early? It seems like I'm one of the last one to get it. My friends get it before me all the time!

Damn, I gotta have a talk with my mailman, maybe he's reading it before he delivers it to me.
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Old 03-08-05, 07:25 PM
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Xenthar
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Originally Posted by gs400998
Just received April 05 of Car and Driver today. Preveiw 2006 GS300 article shows 0-60 6.8-6.9 and standing 1/4 mile 15.4-15.5 (mfr's est). Many Japanese and European vehicles in the same segment has gone under 15 seconds for the 1/4M and even the much cheaper FWD Toyota Avalon ran the quarter in 14.9 in the recent Motor Trend test.
Those times are . Why would toyota give the avalon a stronger engine than the GS?
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Old 03-08-05, 07:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Xenthar
Those times are . Why would toyota give the avalon a stronger engine than the GS?
1. Those times are a full second faster than the old GS 300
2. Cough cough, BMW 525 with 184 hp. The current E320 is no faster.
3. Lexus has stated, they will offer multiple engine choices as well as more updates to engines instead of going 5+ years with no engine improvements
4. The Avalon is one model only with one engine. Yes, its odd that its more powerful than the GS for now.
5. People in this class want quality and prestige and interior accomodations. 0-60 is not the 1st nor 2nd thing on the shopping menu


Lexus sold 2k GSs last month, before the GS was officially launched. Yes, there were some 05 models mixed in.

That maybe Iceman's dealer. Looking in the 3GS forum, its pretty much MSRP for the GS for now.
 
Old 03-08-05, 07:54 PM
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Skulinex
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Hummmm now that I come to think of it, MAYBE lexus have something under wraps. What Im thinking is that they NEEDED to launch the new GS model period, regardless of what the engines were since the model was so overdue. Lets say they are using the 3.0 engine right now since, if they used the 3.5L 280hp, it would be too close in performance to the GS430 for the 430 to make sense saleswise. Now, when the brand is officially launched in Japan later on this year, the LS430 will be redesigned by then <bigger engine?>. They already announced that the GS350 will be for sale in Japan at launch time. So I wouldn't be surprised if they replace the 3.0 with the 3.5 soon after over here and MAYBE a bigger <or stronger?, double vvti 4.3?> GS4XX with the same or modified version of the redesigned LS430 engine. They have done it before, the ES300, when it changed body styles in march or so? of 2002, it still used the same 3.0 engine, by oct-nov they switched to the 3.3 engine.
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Old 03-10-05, 08:29 PM
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Hate to say it, but new GS is good. Not exceptional. Lots of competition. RL is really nice and so is the new Infiniti M. Germans might be discounting. It ain't 1998 anymore...
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Old 03-10-05, 09:07 PM
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Sunday afternoon drove thru the lot of the local Lexus dealer in Northern New Jersey and saw 4 GS300's(1 AWD) and 3 GS430's.Drove by Thursday evening and the same seven GS's are sitting in the lot.
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Old 03-10-05, 09:33 PM
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People, I invite you to look at all our new members and owners in the 3GS forum and compare to the RL or M35/45 forum. Mind you, most of the public doesn't know about these forums. The 3GS forum is much, much busier and has many more people with the GS already.
The car has been on sale officially since March 1st, its March 10th. It still a 42-62k car.
 
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