yaubrandon

Toyota is now conquering the world, with it's cheap product (not if compared with Korean ones) and the even cheaper and smaller Dihatsu line-up, and the high-class Lexus series. i think Lexus now starts to overwhelm the 3 bigheads of Germany in terms of quality (eg. interior/noise heard inside). it seems that especially the Americans are in love with Toyota. do you think the traditional bigheads can compete with this Japanese kid (Lexus particularly...)?



in fact i do appreciate Lexus's quality, but my favourite brands are still Audi/Mazda (well, not German brand)!

YoungWarrior

Lexus will do well in america and japan, but not in europe. However I belive the next generation of proffesionals will snub lexus, as theyre boring and every kid lusts after something german.

People just see the lexus name and think of luxury. And because its onwed by toyota they belive it to be uber reliable, and they still believe german cars arent.

siko

I think the Lexus phenomena is limited to the US… everywhere else people buy more German in the luxury segment.

Traditionally Lexus has been really boring to me, but lately they made great strides in improving the looks of their cars. WHich makes them more dangerous.

But, even tough quality is there, Toyota has been walking a dangerous line lately by overextending itself in many ways and reliability is down… and will continue to go down as they put more and more gadgets in the cars, exactly what happened to the Germans.

...

To really be in the league with the others, I personally think Lexus needs a uber-sports line (ala AMG/M/RS). Until you make cars like that to give boys like me wet dreams, you’re going to be second class in my books.

Mr. Chigga_Chan

I concur with Siko: Though Toyota/Lexus has been established as a quality leader in the luxury segment, they have been behind in innovation and style. This coming from an American, many people here still find them to be boring Old Man's cars that are bland to drive and uninteresting in appearence. However the latest iteration of Lexus/Toyota Models shows bolder designs which makes them a step closer to the Germans.

They still lack the razor sharp performance edge that the Germans still dominate in, and if they could get around that then they may become dominate in markets outside of the USA. Until they can convince someone to buy a Lexus GS650 over a BMW M5 or an E63, they won't conquer the world.

I also find it ironic that Toyota is experiencing those reliability issues.

SDNR

I have absolutely no doubt the Japanese will eventually equal the German competition (if they haven't already). I have said in the past that I feel the German cars have more "soul" ...but after contemplating this for a while, I am no longer certain that is entirely true. The Japanese auto industry is very different from the Germans but no less passionate or obsessed with technical advancement. In time I may come to love Lexus as much as the German cars -- having said that, I am not as in love with the recent offerings from Mercedes as I would hope to be. The S class is a technical wonder, but it's not a great deal better-looking than the new Lexus LS in my opinion ...the LS being the only Lexus model that has anything going for it, the rest of the range has very little appeal at all ...for me at least. The Mercedes-Benz CL is my pick of the current German cars -- it is magnificent ...my only complaint being the rather production-line looking interior ...but the quality is certainly not questionable ...first class. If Lexus created a coupe that could seriously take on the CL then I would be very intrigued to see it -- I'm not expecting anything like that to happen for quite some time yet.

Snake Vargas

I don't have anything against Lexus that disqualifies them intrinsically from consideration. Also, I think they can have what it takes to produce a car with whatever 'soul' you want, just as long as that doesn't mean 'German'. Like brand image, IMO, a car with 'soul' is as artificial as you want, and as present or absent as each car maker decides they want to add.

Nevertheless, I can agree that, for whatever reasons be it economic, positioning or otherwise, they seem to be content with being 'just good enough' at the time being.

Still, it's only a matter of time. So, when will we see Korea vs. Germany?

yaubrandon

now the fame of German cars are not as before already...
although Lexus isn't fun to drive (IS has a bit more) compared to its German rivals, i don't think ladies or some mem will mind. i think good handling means easy to drive only for ordinary people who look upon cars as a mere damn way of transport. otherwise you won't have those giant 7 seaters.

Imhotep Evil

Well, let me put it this way, even without the sales for Europe, Lexus would still be outsold by the germans.
Even without NA and European sales, the germans wouls still exist, Lexus wouldn't

yaubrandon

can you explain a bit?

Mr. Chigga_Chan

Most of Lexus' sales are in the United States. If Lexus did not have the US Market, they wouldn't have that many sales.

The Germans have strong market shares on several regions, America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East to name a few. German car companies have Global recognition despite what the cars actually offer, while Lexus does not.