RA40

iTrader: (6)

Did the purchase price of the cars remain the same there? I'd have a wary eye if they raised prices because they put "L" badges on it and have a fancy showroom.

TRDFantasy

Yeah, I agree Arazzo. The fact that the Germans were selling such low class models sure helped their sales.

Also, Toyota will never discontinue the Crown ... I highly doubt it. The Crown is a legendary model for Toyota in Japan. Imagine if Toyota discontinued the Camry in North America.

What I *think* will happen is that future Lexus models will increasingly break ties with their Toyota platform-mates. I think the 4th gen GS will not be based on the Crown platform, but could be a totally new platform. Also the Aristo I believe has not been uptated in Japan, or if it will be, it will differ from the GS. The key for Lexus is to be more distinctive, and they've publicly stated that's one of their aims right now.

Gojirra99

It's actually 45K for MB & 35K for BMW :
Article : http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/...g/sxtoyota.php
Lexus are selling below expectations for the first 4 months though, they expect to sell 50K to 60K in the first year, at the pace of the first 4 months , they're only going to sell 30K plus for the year if sales does not pick up from now til August. It will be difficult with just the IS, GS & the low volume SC

rominl

iTrader: (4)

lexus does currently have very few models for sale in japan, the GS, IS, and SC. however i don't think this could be an excuse in their lower than expected sales number. it's an expectation they set for themselves. they KNEW how many cars they have in the lineup. and they should also know pretty well about what other competitors are coming in as well. the fact that bimmer has 1 series or not, i am not sure how that would affect the sales of lexus (lexus has nothing in its price range right?).

dunno, personally i just dont' think there should be any good excuse for lexus' miss this time. they just need to work harder to build up their name in japan in general, which i already predicted to be a hard task

xioix

doubt it, and when they were toyotas I believe they were still more expensive than it was in the US

and the lexus models(cars) toyota always sold less because the crown is the luxury car for japan as they have a history

jrock65

Why isn't the ES350 out in Japan yet?

jrock65

BMWs are very expensive in Japan.

The 120i is almost the same price as the IS250.

The 5 series is typically about 40% more expensive than the GS.

Lexmex

I noticed in my HyperRev magazine from Japan that many owners simply rebadge their Toyota vehicles to Lexus and even go so far as changing interior wood and other accessories to get them as Lexus as possible.

MSMLexIS

No more aristo in japan only lexus GS.

Iceman

I completely agree. These were self-imposed sales targets that turned out to be 2x too high. Whatever the cause, only LEXUS (Toyota) can accept the blame. Time may well reveal that Toyota jumped the gun by about 3 years introducing Lexus in Japan. The question will be whether or not the brand name itself suffered irreparable damage or if early sales slumps will be forgotten with the slew of new models coming soon.

Gojirra99

I don't think they jumped the guns, you mean they have to wait another 3 years for the rest of the models to be redesigned before introducing Lexus ? Adding models little by little is probably a better idea, they could have introduced more Lexus models initially (like new ES, RX etc.) but choose not to, but only limited to the new IS, GS & facelifted SC, plus the LS460 this fall. They have to get a start somewhere & then gradually build it up. Acura & Infiniti are doing the same in Japan about 3 years later, it's better for Lexus to get a head start on them too since they're in a better position to.

Iceman

I think it's POSSIBLE they jumped the gun, introducing the brand before it was quite ready for prime time. It would appear that after the initial untapped demand for Lexus in Japan was quenched, there just weren't that many more people attracted to the current offerings. What will that do the brand image of the Lexus name in Japan? That will be an open question for some time, but by trickling in new models they may have missed the chance to make a huge splash right from the start.

I think of it kind of like a new ice cream shop. If a place opens next to your house that only offers vanilla and chocolate, no matter how good that ice cream is their market share will be small. People who don't like those flavors are forced to look elsewhere, and even fans will eventually tire of the lack of variety. Now you could argue that starting with two flavors and then slowly adding more would keep growing the customer base, and you could be right. On the other hand, maybe nobody would pay attention to their new flavor releases because they've already written that ice cream shop off and have gone elsewhere.

Gojirra99

What exactly is a huge splash from the start? when you wait another couple years, there will be new Lexus models, but the new Lexus model now will be in their mid cycle & more stale already.
I don't think Lexus was # 1 in America until 6 years ago although they did make an impact from the start 16 years ago by making other luxury car makers rethink about how to make luxury cars. They only have the LS & the ES250 in the beginning remember, not a big splash in terms of model range & sales compared to MB & BMW at that time by any stretch of imagination.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

the es350 isn't out yet coz' the car is not revealed yet. it's coming out soon together in japan and in the US, i would think.

about jumping the gun, personally i don't think so. i think lexus is more than ready to roll out their own name in japan. but either they don't push hard enough or they have missed some marketing. i am not sure if an ice cream shop would be a good alternative example to lexus in japan. it's much bigger scale and tons more money involved. i don't think toyota/lexus can afford to roll out a whole new lineup as lexus all together and able to manage it. i think it would be a disaster in fact.

just look back in 1989 when lexus first hit the US. they ONLY had the ls400, and soon after the es250. it's not until 1993 that they rolled out the gs300, and other cars to follow. should they wait till 1993 when they had all 3 cars "ready" before releasing? i don't think so. at least we can see from the success of lexus today.

Gojirra99

Do they even plan to offer the new ES350 in Japan ? RX will be upgraded too, but I think it will still be a Toyota Harrier in Japan.