The Lexus LC 500 and Why Lexus is Crushing Mercedes-Benz
Last year was a big year for automotive sales in the United States, with many companies bringing in record profits. In the luxury segment, Lexus pulled out a victory over their Mercedes-Benz rivals. But is that surprising? If you look at the LC 500, you know that it’s not.
I haven’t had a chance to wax poetic about the LC 500 yet, even though I was in the hot Lexus Theater at Cobo Hall watching Akio Toyoda reveal the vehicle himself. While I knew in advance what the announcement would be, I didn’t know Akio would be there, and I didn’t know what it’d look like.
Mr. Toyoda has a very charming personality, but it’s also easy to see how much he loves driving, how much he loves Lexus, and how much he loves making cars people want to drive. Even if he hasn’t been completely successful in the past in that department, we have to give him credit for such vehicles as the amazing LFA.
Akio goes on to tell the crowd that they had no intention of putting the LF-FC into production. It was just supposed to be an example of how future cars would look. But, people liked it. People begged for it. People saw it and said that is what they want to see out of Lexus.
As many of you know, automakers can make good looking concept vehicles that never see production. Just look at last year’s Buick Avenir, and this year’s Buick Avista. Both are beautiful cars, but both will probably never seen production.
But Akio Toyoda wanted to be different. He ordered that it be produced, as close to the concept as possible. The results are the LC 500 that he debuted in Detroit.
So why is Lexus beating Mercedes-Benz? Have you LOOKED at the LC 500? While I agree it looks better in person, it still looks stunning in pictures. We live in the future, it’s about time our cars looked like they belong here.
Mercedes-Benz vehicles don’t look bad, but they look very subtle and understated. They don’t appear to take risks. Lexus, interestingly enough, is the company taking risks.
The polarizing front grille, the sharp body lines, the starship tail lights. The LC 500 is a vehicle that you’d talk about if you saw it driving down the road, whether you considered it beautiful or ugly. You wouldn’t even notice something like a Mercedes SL.
Lexus has long had the luxury part of their vehicles figured out. And since they came from Toyota, they’ve always had the reliability figured out. They just never really had the passion figured out. The stunning design. With their latest line of vehicles, they are working on that.
Will the LC 500 be good to drive? We don’t know. It has the same engine from the RC F, but in a car with a lighter body. Carbon fiber components help there.
But the reason why we can respect Lexus now, and why Lexus is selling so many cars, isn’t the luxury. Many concept cars and designs show off what a manufacturer could do if they could be bothered to build the car at all. They are a showcase of “look what we could do!”
Lexus is actually doing it.
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