BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Of course they care, Lexus took a huge chunk of their market share, the Europeans did the best that they can to catch up, it is what it is. It is more like there is nothing else that they can do, so they just let it be.

spwolf

i know they care... LS and RX are only Lexus models that lead their sales segments. LS leading the hardest one. Last year it outsold brand new 7 series, A8 and got outsold by S class, but not by much, of course after recalls and all media frenzy, pretty darn good results.

LS is astonishing success for Lexus. New one is not that far off.

LexFather

FYI they have sold right over 3,000 Equus for 12 months, right on target! Congrats!! One thing they did get right is IMO the look, while derivative, the proportions are good, it looks like a luxury flagship.

Pretty sad that Hyundai on its first try can sell a D-class flagship and Acura, Infiniti, Lincoln, Caddy, Volvo can't or don't.

Again congrats to them! They found a niche. Lets see if it continues.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

last i checked both bmw and mb improved on their quality the past few years, while lexus quality dropped noticeably (until last yr)

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

Only MB was bad from 99'-06', Lexus was bad from 06'-11'............is funny how Lexus picked up MB's downward trend.

BMW was never really bad, they were just on the ugly side during the Bangle's era, they were always consistantly good, but are getting very good during the recent years. I think in general all cars are getting very good in the last few years.

The funny thing is, all the Bangle designed Bimmer are starting to look good to me.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

wow, this is the first time I hear you say something positive about the Equus, I thought you only like Lexus products

I too think the Equus looks great, sort of like a stylish Asian W221 S-Class

I think anyone can do it, those guys just don't bother to even try. Acura don't even have a V8, so that's out. I think Infiniti just got discouraged by the sucky last generation Q45 so they stop it all together. Sounds like Caddy want to have a flagship some day.

I think it will continues, Hyundai is doing better and better. Lots of people would love a low cost flagship. Is just us that are used to high quality Lexus that dislike the Equus.

BNR34

iTrader: (1)

I tend to exaggerate things. So if I feel something is low grade, I made it sounds really bad. It is not bad, is perfectly acceptable, just not great.

That's because there is nothing to break on them. We had a 1986 Nissan 720 pickup, I don't think a single light bulb burned out on it during the 20 years that we owned it.

rogers2

Everybody wants to be number one despite the B.S that comes out their mouth. At least VW/AUDI admits it. The RX/ES is the best thing smoking for Lexus in sales. I see those cars everywhere. As far as the LS I really don’t think they’re worry as much as they use to be. As the LS prices goes up people are moving back to BMW and Benz.
If the next LS don’t be huge it may get left behind.

Mr. Burns

Hyundai can do it because the Equus sells well in Korea and they can just import it here, any sales it gets is just bonus. The domestics don't have that advantage and Acura and Infiniti were overshadowed by Lexus.

LexFather

Then you read selectively. I've been very vocal about how well they have done but their paid marketers posting here and elsewhere only want to pick apart and find any little negative they don't agree with and then try to paint someone as not liking something. I never understand the mentality of people who dismiss and don't applaud the 10 positive comments but rather focus on the 1 negative comment they don't agree with.

The paid Hyundai marketers posting online have ruined Hyundai threads.

Actually the LS 460 is the best selling LS even as the price went up. Lexus is very happy with the LS here and worldwide. Rememeber initially the hybrid sold like hotcakes even as it was the first $100,000 Asian luxury car. People buy a new LS, lease a new S/7. It was found 75% of 7 series sales are leases and like 90% in NYC are leased.

Not sure why the LS is getting some negativity, it is by far the best D-class flagship non European by far and the only true competitor. The LS also doesn't offer 4 cylinders or 6 cylinders like the 7/S class.

scgt652

Dont' forget the CT. It leads its sales segment by a wide margin.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

not hard when it's the only car in its segment.

scgt652

I was thinking the CT's segment would consist of the Volvo C30 and Audi A3.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

bmw was never bad but they were never "good" either. but like you said recent years they up their quality more and i think that's good thing

to me problem with bangle is he designed cars for the future (which he also commented as well). he designed a car for 7-8 yrs later. just look at the 7 series. when the car came out most people were like wtf. but look at it now, LS, S all try to learn and take the good stuff from it. now the 7 looks "normal". so yes, he really designed something for the future

Mr. Burns

Prior to Bangle BMW design had stagnated majorly. He brought in a fresh direction for the brand, without which I doubt BMW would be where it is today. Lexus needs their own Bangle, and I'm not convinced slapping the spindle grill onto otherwise same old styling will achieve the same thing.