Lexus Goes After Tesla Owners in Full Bore Effort

Early Stages

It's no secret that Tesla has taken over the electric vehicle market. To the point where established automakers are scrambling to catch up. That includes Lexus, of course, who is leveraging their many years of hybrid experience to grab some market share. We recently compared the RX and Tesla Model Y, which revealed that these two seemingly very different vehicles actually share a few things in common. But Lexus is just entering the early stages of its battle with Tesla in this rapidly growing and highly competitive segment.

Photos: Lexus

Keep on Going

One such effort was a recent advertising campaign that got Lexus is a bit of hot water. But the concept behind their hybrid ads was rather simple - to tout the fact that these gas/electric vehicles are able to keep going when EVs must stop to charge. Indeed, this is the major advantage that hybrids hold over all-electric vehicles, and it makes sense that Lexus (and Toyota) would be happy to talk about it.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

Several Advantages

Lexus is also happy to talk about its many other advantages lately as well. This includes their expansive dealer network, with parts on hand. Tesla, of course, doesn't have service centers and owners must wait for someone to come to them if they have a problem. Plus, while Tesla has had its fair share of issues, Lexus would like to remind you of its perennial wins in just about every reliability and quality contest out there in the world.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

Getting After It

Lexus' latest effort in converting Tesla owners to its existing product centers around printed advertisements asking owners to "trade in their Tesla." The ads also state "you've had your fun, now it's time for zero compromise." EV owners were quick to make fun of these ads, but there is a bit of truth behind them. Whether or not they're effective in the real world, well, that's not entirely clear. But it is clear that Lexus is working hard to go after those folks.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

Time Consuming Task

Of course, designing and building all-electric vehicles from the ground up takes time. So these are just tactics designed to compete in the interim, while Lexus has a number of EVs in the works. The automaker just started selling its very first EV, the UX 300e, in China and Europe, with Japan being added to the list in 2021. So the automaker is obviously in the infant stages of electrification.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

New Strategy

The LF-30 Electrified concept was another step in that direction, albeit a super futuristic one that probably won't see production. But at that vehicle's introduction, Lexus was quick to announce that they had shifted their electrification strategy. These changes involve not only a continuation of hybrids, but also new plug-in, fuel cell, and battery-electric-powered vehicles.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

Coming Soon

It's obviously going to take a few years, but Lexus appears committed to taking the fight straight to Tesla. Not to mention every other automaker out there scrambling to build more and more EVs. You have to imagine that all of them will use their many years of expertise building cars to their advantage as well. And personally, if we were Tesla, we'd be a little worried about that.

Photos: Lexus

>>Join the conversation about Lexus prepping a Tesla fighter right here in Club Lexus.

For help with your repair and maintenance projects, please visit our how-to section in the forum.