Originally Posted by Rockville

and the Lexus owner should expect the same service for their IS250 as their LS460L. The owners may have different needs but they are not stratified. This may be the missing factor that the three pointed star offers like a country club. Maybe the price of the 600h needs to be over $100k to attract such a buyer as Spwolf said. The Lexus culture is not set up for this ultra rich encounter. We are supposed to treat every guest like a friend in our home. I used to sell Rolls-Royce when our full time rep was not available and it was a different type of sale than the Mercedes buyer. The Lexus owners tend to be even more understated even though a lot of them could afford a Rolls. I may need a new wardrobe with a Yachting theme and start getting Robb Report. The 600h will be waiting when the Gulfstream touches down I guess....

Rock

Originally Posted by rominl

and GRAND_LS 4, you suck dude

Originally Posted by LexArazzo

Well, I happen to have a chance last year to sit in a brand new SL65 inside a dealership, that's the most expensive car in the MB line-up.

Originally Posted by LexArazzo

Haha yes, I was thinking only about the regular production MB's. But I like the SL class WAY better than the SLR, the SLR is not a good looking car to me at all, I'd take a SL65 or SL55 over it anytime & go for the other exotics like the Carrera GT etc.

Originally Posted by rominl

actually i talked to lexus marketing people about this, that how lexus is going to use the "same" car (LS) to capture such a big market. that seems like a very tough job.

basically they are going to have the ls460 base with a very affordable price, just like the current ones, that will continue to dominant its segment. but this time arond lexus will have the L, and also the ultimate 600hl. the L is going to grab more buyers from the s class and also the 750il, both from a size and price stand point of view.

and then there is the 600hl, which is head to head with the s600 and the 760il. however, from what i was told, lexus will NOT go out hard and advertise on the 600hl. they will let people know such a car exists, but they won't spend too much effort to sell it to public. i was told that i shouldn't expect to walk into the dealership and see a 600hl sittingthere waiting to be sold.

instead, they are going to reach out in private channels and such, directly to the target audience / buyer, and sell the exclusivity and class. basically dealership will bring the car to the person to sell it. i think this is pretty interesting.

while different, it's somewhat similar to mb and bmw anyway. you go to bmw and mb dealerships, you can almost always find a s430 or the 750il sitting there where you can sit in and feel it. but you don't see a s600 or 760il most of the time. they don't expect to sell a lot of them anyway, and they don't want to have that car in the show room since they don't want everyone from the street to just sit in them.

and if you look at the price of s class. the s550 starts at 85k, and the s600 goes as high as around 140k. so that's about 60k difference.

now look at the ls460, ls460l, and the ls600hl. keep in mind there is no s class that compete with ls460 directly (no swb s class in the US i think). so assume the ls460 starts at around mid 50s, and the ls460h starting at around mid 60s, if the ls600hl caps at around 100 to 110, that's about 40 to 50k difference. kinda "on par" with mb ratio wise

but then, what do i know..... i am still hoping for lexus to hire me

Originally Posted by LexArazzo

Haha yes, I was thinking only about the regular production MB's. But I like the SL class WAY better than the SLR, the SLR is not a good looking car to me at all, I'd take a SL65 or SL55 over it anytime & go for the other exotics like the Carrera GT etc.

Originally Posted by Stevekil

It doesnt make sense why LS460 will be in mid 50s but LS 460L will be in mid 60s? I doubt if there will be 8,000-10,000$ difference between SWB and LWB versions.

Price differential b/w A8 SWB and LWB is 4,000$ , same for 7-series.

Also, I believe that with the arrival of LS 460, lexus should move away from massive under-cutting. I have a bad-feeling about the long-term ramifications of this cut-rate strategy at a global level. May be okay in US, but globally? Is it a good idea to undercut your competitors by 24% (as seen b/w LS and 7-series) and 48% (as seen b/w LS and S550).

If I were brand-strategist at Lexus, I would take this Model change opportunity to close the gap in pricing by placing

LS 460: 68-69 K
LS 460L : 72-73K. and go from there, content and options being similar to A8 and 7-series.

Sure the sales might drop slightly, as there will be few buyers who will tell themselves "why buy similar priced japanese luxury when I can get german luxury for same price", but there will also be a lot of trend-setters who will go for the new LS. The LWB will further boost Lexus in this regard.

LS 460 has

1. More cutting edge technology than even S550, advanced safety features etc etc
2. 8-Speed tranny
3. 5 year old LS is more reliable than new A8 and 7-series.
4. best in class service
5. best in class power
6. Significantly improved handling (I hope this time it will match BMW)
7. Un-surpassed craftsmanship.

In my opinion, if lexus harbors vision to become global brand like BMW and Benz, they should move away from cut-rate philosophy.

Originally Posted by LexArazzo

.. a Z06 corvette, which is a true sports car, can blow the doors off the S65 in a straight line & on the track.