DShiekhi

If You Park in This Lot, You'd Better Be in a Lexus



Luxury carmakers, such as Lexus, want their customers to feel special when they drive their vehicles. The Edmonton International Airport in Alberta, Canada is helping the brand take that feeling to the next level.

Read the rest on the ClubLexus.com homepage. >>

MattyG

Well. Where to begin with this story? Sure it's a nice blurb on a Lexus forum so I won't blame CL for posting this story. But... I have worked in Alberta media so I know the context of what's going on. And this story is, frankly - ridiculous. This airport is located a good 45 minutes south of Edmonton in Leduc County. A long commute, usually a pricey cab ride and such. This airport authority shut down the only real functioning airport in downtown Edmonton (City Centre Airport). That airport was served by a number of jets, turboprops and close to transportation infrastructure. It also was used as an air ambulance hub and that too was shut down.

YEG is a northern gateway in Canada's western oil production hub, also known as the Tar Sands, Oilsands etc. Right now at least 100,000 workers in the oil patch have been laid off and lost their jobs. Families, young men and young women. At various times they have used YEG as a transportation point. So now a so-called "international" airport chooses to say: let's reserve some special spots for special people with Brand A of vehicle. Nice.

Why not reserve spots for Bentleys, BMW 7 series or maybe Ferraris?

Kick people when they're down and they have used your airport! Thank you clueless YEG airport authority.

Sulu

I originally interpreted the following:

as meaning that other luxury brands also had some reserved spots but now that I re-read it, I see that you could be right; it could be interpreted as "other brands represented" or "Lexus only".

It is a vicious circle, isn't it? Reduced oilsands development means lost jobs, leading to reduced traffic at YEG, meaning reduced revenue. So, to increase revenue, YEG makes a deal with the devil that further alienates the unemployed oilsands workers.

dseag2

Well, Lexus does that quite a bit to make their customers feel special. I'm sure they are paying nicely to have those dedicated spots at YEG. At AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas there is an area of the parking lot dedicated only to Lexus owners and it is closer. I don't currently own a Lexus, but it seems like a nice perk that adds to many other that would keep me loyal. (It obviously wasn't enough for me to trade in my '13 GS F Sport, but for many older Lexus owners who don't want to walk the extra distance they probably love it.)

MattyG

To me the issue is the horrible optics at a time when things are going horribly wrong in Alberta's economy and in the Canadian economy in general. They could have done a lot of things but it's not exactly a secret that AB is a truck town province and it's mostly domestic brands from Detriot. Now you're rubbing it in people's faces with an import premium brand at the airport. Why not just park a Lexus or BMW at the unemployment office and say, preferred parking only?

This is serious folks. In 30 years there hasn't been such bad times. You might as well put sirloin steaks for sale in front of the soup kitchen in a Depression Era town. And I'm a Lexus owner who never even got the benefit of the oil boom.

Littleguy

We have free valet for Lexus drivers here in Houston at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Consol Energy Center where the Pittsburg Penguins play has The Lexus Club

http://www.consolenergycenter.com/pr...ing/lexus_club

TripleL

The Lexus reserved parking is a nice perk. I've seen it at where the Texas Rangers play and Washington Nationals play too. Seems like the airport would be an awesome idea to me.

gengar

As has been mentioned by many other posters, Lexus has preferred parking at a number of venues across the world. I'll add Chicago's United Center to the long list. I wonder why airport parking suddenly raises so much furor.

I also don't see it as any different than the many airports that have varied parking under different pricing tiers. Most airports have economy parking, then covered parking / a garage closer to the terminal, then sometimes premium parking or even valet. Some airports, like Houston's IAH, even allow people to purchase specific parking spots that are permanently reserved. The only difference is who is paying for it - why is it such a big deal that Lexus is the one paying? It's weird, people usually think it's a good thing when big corps try to give some value back to their customers.

SW17LS

Why does Lexus care about these optics? Their consumers aren't affected by these economic realities. Its a perk that they have contracted with this airport (and paid for, by the way) and its part of their marketing plan. Companies market to their target consumers...their target consumers aren't in the soup kitchen.

Was this a smart decision for the airport and the city? Thats a valid question...but its not Lexus' problem.

ROYALISF

I second this. I was just casually walking into the stadium and thought man there sure are a lot of Lexus vehicles... little did I know. Made me wish I had driven the F down to watch them play. Nice and much appreciated perk.

MattyG

On the public Twitter feed. A city reporter says the Ford parked there within a few hours of the press release as a "protest park" of sorts. But then again a Lexus GS owner also tweeting about how he might like to park there... if he fits.

dseag2

Believe me, I understand that it is a "let them eat cake" mentality when Alberta is in such economic turmoil and many have been laid off due to the oil industry. It doesn't send a good message. I live in Texas so I understand the reliance on oil prices. Maybe not a great decision on Lexus' part, but I think their only goal is to keep buyers loyal.

mmarshall

As usual, money talks. This was probably a good decision from an income standpoint for the airport, but I wonder how may of those nice Lexus products parked there are going to get keyed or vandalized by jealous owners of other vehicles. A good camera-video program covering the reserved area might catch some faces, but that still doesn't stop a lot of people.

MattyG

Yeah dseag, these are not good times and I'm not even really an economic booster-type guy of Big Oil, but I've met the people who work up there and it's a good cross-section of society these days vs what it was 20 years ago. You have to think about the people behind the dollars. I actually would have loved to see that jacked-up GS in there as a good PR stunt just for fun. Might have gone over better. YEG is a blue collar town.

mmarshall, no I don't expect any keying or such. YEG is not like that and this airport has parking lot cams all over the place. Have to wait and see how this went over in about six months or so.