marshmallo

LOL, IL's got egg on their face.

pagemaster

Of course it cost a ton of money to go from one gen to another. Each redesign costs a designing the vehicle, prototypes, testing, new parts, new tooling etc. The ES is tied in with the Camry, Avalon and Highlander which significantly reduces the costs. Not so with the SC. Toyota also sells more Camrys in a few months than they do SC all year. This is why is cost a lot to redesign the SC430

UberNoob

isnt SC based on GS platform which is also shared by Crown?

pagemaster

Crown is likely very low volume. Not sure about the GS.

Trexus

I totally agree with you that it costs a lot of money to go from one generation to another but the benefits do exceed the costs as we know Toyota is the most profitable auto manufacturer in the whole entire world. I agree the ES is tied to the Camry, Avalon, Highlander and of course the RX and don't forget we will also be getting the Venza as well.

I don't think the SC is selling at a loss, we know it just doesn't sell as much. Just like a diamond; a low volume seller but the profit margin is high to make up for low volume and remember the SC is the "Crown Jewel".

Discontinuing the SC would make the Lexus lineup incomplete. As of current the SC is the only coupe Lexus offers. Lexus has three SUV's; RX, GX and LX. Lexus has four sedans, two entry level models a mid-level and a flagship. Lexus has three hybrids which are an entry level SUV hybrid, a mid-level sports sedan hybrid and of course the flagship hybrid. There is no entry level hybrid which Lexus is working on and will be a dedicated hybrid. This would almost make the Lexus line-up complete. Then of course we'll get the exotic sports car which will take Lexus to another level.

pagemaster

I am not sure if they are selling at a loss but they are not selling at the rate and price they were a few years ago. IMO the market for a two seat convertible luxury roadster is about to die if it is already not already dead. Most likely the SC430 largest market is the United States and in my mind there is no doubt that the days of a speciality car like the SC430 are done in the United States and Lexus is not making the mistake of investing significant resources into a dead market.

No doubt it that the Sc430 is well made with some very high quality materials but if there is no growth potential in a market there likely won't be a redesign. IMO is would a big mistake to spend resources into the SC when they can spend it elsewhere.

I think this is the biggest mistake Lexus will ever make. Same thing with the Lexus F series. IMO there is no need to have a IS-F in the line up at all. Concede the market to AMG and M series BMW and maybe V series Cadillac and do what they did well and make well made cars with very well made interiors.

I think this is mistake by Toyota just like Toyota over forcasted Tundra/Sequoia sales and now are paying for it.

Just my 2cents.

LexFather

The SC is NOT getting discontinued.

Koma

iTrader: (3)

Not everyone wants a soft comfy luxury car. Some people want a performance luxury vehicle. It makes sense to offer something for those of who want a performance luxury vehicle but also want reliability. Also offering a performance division means expansion into other markets. Having halo vehicles is also great PR.

Trexus

Thank You Mike and I'm sure Lexus thanks you as well for your support...

MPLexus301

iTrader: (3)

You could tell them that until they're blue in the face and it wont matter...so I stopped trying

Trexus

Thanks for your 2 cents but I woulda asked a penny for your thoughts...J/K...

Since Lexus already has the SC this could be their foundation to revamp it into something that people will want. Why start from scratch? That would cost even more money. If Lexus had three types of coupes such as the IS coupes, SC coupe and of course the LF-A now people can't say that Lexus doesn't have choices in their coupe line-up.

I do not think Lexus made a mistake with the F performance series. Enthusiasts want this and there is a market for this. I believe BMW wants to sell like a million M3's worldwide so there is a market for it and Lexus wants a piece of it but of course BMW is the benchmark and I will praise them for it. The IS F is the entry level performance sedan hopefully we'll get an IS F coupe and maybe a mid-level performance sedan such as a GS F similar to a M5 or an AMG E class. Only time will tell and I don't think Lexus is losing any money on the IS F.

I totally agree with you that Toyota over forcasted Tundra/Sequioa sales but Toyota did not predict that the U.S. would have hit the bubble in the housing market, credit crunch crisis, higher food prices, banks closing and extreme high gas prices. Toyota has a long term goal and when the U.S. economy gets back on it's feet Toyota will be there going strong with newer technology and so on. The best ideas come when hard times are here and now...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Let's hope a new one isn't the same 'funky slug'.

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Well, after a presumed 10 year run, Toyota has most likely recouped their R&D costs for the SC. This is a low volume, sort of halo car, with a long production run. The problem was that they didn't introduce a 6 cylinder model (ala SC300) so their customer base shrunk from the SC300/400 crowd. They will produce another SC. Same way MB has the SL and its updates are few and far between, Lexus will continue with the SC. But since they are low volume cars, their production runs will always be a decade or so. Unfortunately this means towards the end of their life, the cars will seem behind the times in terms of amenities and features. This is exactly what happened to the SC300/400.

Trexus

I hope so too...

pagemaster

Long production runs and forcasting are over IMO. The faster you redesign a car the more competitive advantage you will have. Lexus needs to kill the SC right away and spend this money on their more mainstream cars.

IMO Lexus cars really aren't moving right now because of a lack of design compared to the competition...Infiiniti really makes a better product with there cars right now than Lexus and it shows especially in the design.