mmarshall

I'm not a big Porsche fan in spite of the fact that they make some great sports cars. The company in general, and many ( not all ) of its marketing, sales, and service reps tend to be aristocratic and arrogant.

But I WILL say one thing for them....perhaps something that cannot be said of virtually any auto company in the world anymore. Though they did the Cayenne in conjunction with VW's Touraeg...and have loose connections to VW and Audi....they have still managed to remain mostly independent and have neither bought out any other manufacturer or HAVE been bought out by any. I can think of very few....if any......other manufacturers like that, especially in the U.S. market. Lexus, for all its quality and refinement, is a Toyota division, and Mercedes-Benz, of course, is just one part of the big Daimler-Chrysler system. BMW, of course, is part of a European conglomerate that is linked to the British Austin-Mini and Land Rover firms...although recently Land Rover was sold to Ford.

ariana8

I think you guys are under-valuing these results in terms of how well Lexus is perceived.

The survey showed Lexus number three in "prestigious" i.e. how much driving the car impressed someone as showing that you were rich or powerful. Driving a really terrible $200,000 piece of junk DOES say more about your wealth - maybe not your brains <smiles>.

But Lexus came in number ONE in two categories that I consider a LOT more important. Quality of the car. And whether the person surveyed would recommend it.

So <shrugs> the bottem line is that Lexus came in ahead of Porsch and Mercedes in terms of whether all these rich folks liked the car and whether they would recommend it. But came in third in terms of how rich they thought it made you look.

So for quality get a Lexus. To impress a rich boy or girlfriend or <evil smile> a car thief get a Porsch or Mercedes.

mmarshall

Problem is, if they do this, it will mean firmer underpinnings and suspension, lower-profile, harsher-riding tires, and probably increased road noise levels as well. This all detracts from the reason many people shop for a Lexus in the first place.......isolation and quietness.

Perhaps the best course to take would be to firm up the IS and GS models ( or keep them firm ) for the sporting crowd, keep the ES and LS soft ( or soften them up even more ) for the easy-riding crowd, and offer one or two models with a variable-damping suspension ( something like the GM MagnaRide ) for those who want their cake and eat it too....although variable-rate suspensions are still somewhat of a compromise.

Gojirra99

The best is to keep there current cars the way they are to keep current customers happy, & then start a performance division building variants with revised suspension & stronger engines etc., they don't even bother to offer a sport package for the GS now . . .

DakotaRX

Great to see Lexus move up the ladder, but remember this was a survey of a limited number of persons with money. The leading consumer mag has been putting Lexus there for several years. The biggest reason- Quality. That's one of the reasons I like it. They rate every Lexus as one of the top vehicle in their respective classes. Every one of them are "Recommended" buys. They may not rate the SC and GS as the best in their class because of their handling being less than BMW, Porsche or M-B but they still recommend them. The LS is the top rated vehicle period and the RX330 was the top rated SUV, then replaced by the RX400, and now this year they were rated just below the Toyota Highlander. Also note in their ratings that all the Lexus vehicles carry some of the best, if not the best percentage of resale value. We as Lexus owners already know we have a great vehicle but we also know that not everything is perfect to everyone and Lexus keeps working on that. Enjoy the ride!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yup that's what i think they should do. keep the current ones intact and then build something extra on top of the current lineup

marshall, everyone knows what brought up lexus, but that's in the past imho. now a lot of people who wants lexus want more out of the car (and different)

akhbhaat

Porsche is a luxury brand? Ever been in or driven a 996? Might as well include Ferrari and Lotus while you're at it.

There goes that survey's credibility.

Gojirra99

I think they include Porsche because they define luxury based on price, not the characteristics of the cars,(i.e. owning cars the price of Porsche's is a luxury to anyone), plus I think they only survey based on the more mainstream, mass produced brands, so Ferrari, Lotus, Lambo's, Bentley's & RR's etc. are not included

akhbhaat

They're using the economic definition of luxury, then.

Tell me this: if they're aiming at a more mass market audience (as indicated by the brands available for voting), then why have they chosen such an exclusive voter base? Net equity of $750,000+ is less than 10% of US households. No doubt far more than that are able to obtain some sort of Lexus or BMW.

Gojirra99

May be that's exactly what their intention of this survey is : to gauge prestige from the top end of the luxury market for mainstream luxury cars ? Not just from anyone who can afford to buy a new car with a luxury brand name at the entry level . . .

XeroK00L

Report of the same study for the last year for comparison:
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...21/016837.html

Porsche & Mercedes-Benz tied for the first place, while BMW & Jaguar tied for the third.

Lexus and Porsche tied for the "most improved" brands.

LexFather

It just shows how important BRAND and IMAGE is b/c I am sure a lot of these people surveyed were not "gearheads".

No matter what people argue, this is an incredible accomplishment for Lexus, especially considering how all the established luxury brands literally LAUGHED when Lexus debuted in 1989

encore888

Incidentally, the world's largest auto retailer, AutoNation, says it considers true luxury brands in the US to be:

Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, Land Rover, Jaguar and Porsche.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/busine...ury_Sales.html

Not bad to be the youngest of all the top 6!