It will sell a ton. Mediocrity sells, but it’s not luxury. Lexus and Toyota are now in the business of making pedestrian cars people need, not anything people want.

I think you’re wrong, the LFA did a lot for Lexus they just never capitalized on it. Why build a showcase of what you can do and then chose to never do any of it? If they had built cars alongside the LFA that built off of that which people could purchase they would have set the brand on an entirely different path.

Have I ever seen an LFA on the road? Yes.

Except that it was, and was their whole reason for existing in the first place.

I absolutely can and will post my opinion about any vehicle I want positive or negative. Deal with it. Lots of other people have posted agreeing with me, attack them.

What you want from me is not what an enthusiast provides. Lexus vehicles are not just “a choice” for me, I am passionate about the brand, that’s why this forum is here. It’s like a football team, people passionate about the team don’t only care about the team when they are doing well, they also complain and come up with solutions when they are terrible.

Lexus absolutely can sell inexpensive affordable
mainstream models AND proper premium luxury and performance models at the same time. They don’t have to have a full line, just a couple models.

You ignore that for a significant time Lexus drove the luxury market in the US, they were the leader and everybody else had to adapt their offerings to answer theirs.

They’re going to be the leader in EVs? lol, how? They’re a decade behind.

 

and mercedes sells a lot of gla, glb, cla vehicles too.
and they need to, to stay in business.

completely ridiculous statement. you're an s-class driver and can't relate to normal people now, lol.
a lexus is definitely an aspirational thing. my book keeper just got a 3 year old IS. you'd think she'd died and gone to heaven she's over the moon about it.

holy contradiction batman. what do you mean by "a lot" then if they didn't capitalize on it? i certainly agree they didn't capitalize on it. i think they thought it we do this, people will rush to buy lexus vehicles. there was such an absurd disconnect between a 400k supercar and a 35K (at the time) ES350 though, lol

oh you mean bring any of the greatness of the lfa to the other vehicles? well the v10 was never happening (insane cost). the single cool gauge and trick moving ring made it to several models. the lc500 is kind of a 'lite' (grand touring) lfa. they brought carbon fiber bits to more other models. what else could they have done?

i just think the lfa was gigantic (and enormously expensive) mistake, when those billions could have been spent making the product line better or broader.

what do you base this on? lexus has really NEVER been ANYTHING like the german brands, but comparisons were always going to be made of course.

they sold a lot of vehicles sure, but at much lower ASP. they were always (and still are) a 'tweener' brand with well targeted models they could sell in high volume and without customization options. striker, help me out here.

it's definitely still possible. battery tech, manufacturing or other features breakthroughs can polevault them into high ranking. but yes, right now, their offerings are weak.

 

From what I can see, Lexus TX is playing safe with mediocrity.
People will go back to Germans for quality; I used to buy Benz's.

Fortunately, Lexus has not stooped as low as Acura whose sales actually declined significantly.
Infinity was so bad, its sales never got up in the first place.
A good opportunity for Genesis if they can style their vehicles right - however if Genesis keep styling their vehicles like the Chinese, then Genesis sales will get no where.

Presently, the best motor vehicles are once again Germans.

 

The best machine electronics come from Germany and Japan.

Nobody else is close.

As far as Genesis cars go, it will be a struggle for them to find a place in the car buffet of choices.

The niches are already filled way before they came in on the scene so really don't see how they fill a need or stand out from the crowd. IMO

All they can do is offer cars up to the market with "me too". Again, just IMO lolol

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Genesis has already outsold Infiniti for two consecutive years in the U.S. and their average transaction price is significantly higher than the Japanese brands, including Lexus. Their present issues are their near non-existent dealer network and limited production capacity due to almost all their vehicles being manufactured and shipped exclusively from South Korea, barring the GV70 EV.

Bringing up Genesis also indicates how smarter the Koreans were than the Japanese in the long-run, because all the Japanese luxury brands failed to establish in themselves in their own domestic market, instead putting all their chips in North America; whereas Genesis was created for the South Korean market exclusively because of the popularity of German offerings there. The original Hyundai Genesis was launched at a time when the E-Class was the best-selling sedan in all of South Korea. This is another reason why we don't see more "German competitors" from Lexus - they already had Toyota-badged sedans like Crown and Century that already filled that luxury void in Japan and Lexus never took off because of it there.

So we're left with vehicles designed to please the North American market only like the TX, which are low-effort and uncompetitive. VW did the same thing with the Atlas, which like the TX is also mediocre with the only notable thing being its large size for Americans. That's what happens when you rely on the U.S. market. Meanwhile, Toyota just expanded its Crown line and that still has a RWD midsize luxury sedan - Japan (and maybe China) only.

The Japanese are a decade behind because of their incompetency with software, as demonstrated by their bottom-of-the-barrel EV offerings. But poor product planning is also one of the culprits.

 

And I have no problem with that because it lets them make truly excellent vehicles too, thats what Lexus is lacking.

And at some point she will get a Mercedes or a BMW and she will never think about Lexus again, thats the point. We want Lexus to be aspirational to that same level. What does she get after her IS?

The LFA got Lexus talked about at the upper echelon of the car world, the only reason it wound up being a waste of money is because they never capitalized on that by offering vehicles that brought that dna down to where people could buy it.

You don't get what halo cars do for a brand. You can feel the S Class in every other Mercedes, you can see and feel the SLR supercar in all of the coupe offerings that Mercedes had at the time. The LC is an example of that, but its the only one. They should have offered more models on that GA-L architecture that brought the feel of the LFA to the consumer.

Lexus entire purpose was to create the best automobile in the world. Even today, this is their mission statement:

Where is that statement in the TX? There is no inspired design, zero innovation (even the PHEV has the same range that my Pacifica has and its hybrid system is 7 years old, the German competitors are getting 20 miles more EV range), no "uninhibited performance" its very ordinary and zero "moving experience".

This vehicle doesn't just not live up to my expectations, it doesn't live up to Lexus' own published mission statement.

 

Great post @Motorola .

These mfg do have to think about other markets and I forget about this sometimes. lol

So... basically we get what we can get. lol

Speaking about what's offered here in the US.

 

LC500 is an excellent vehicle.

 

I don’t think that’s the case, this segment is a HUGE segment for carmakers. It being a vehicle that is really only sold here is not an issue, and this is still one of the top 2 markets for cars in general.

 

I agree that it's absolutely no excuse for the TX just because it's targeted at North America. The LM was also targeted at China and questionable looks aside, that vehicle is far more of a showcase for luxury than the TX. What this leads me to believe is that Lexus simply doesn't have a high opinion of its North American customers now, unlike when they first launched the LS400 after spending countless hours observing consumer preferences in the U.S. Like the Atlas, it's just a very cynically developed vehicle.

 

That may very well be the case. The LM is a great example…

 

of course, i should have realized i don't get that.

no where in that statement does it say anything related to 'best automobile in the world"

no doubt it doesn't live up to YOUR expectations because YOU'RE not the target customer.

there will be tx buyers who are ecstatic with their purchase. they're not jaded like you.

 

I hate the VW Atlas.....it's such a cheap cop out because VW realized most Americans just want big soft cheap car with low fuel costs.

This TX feels it's exactly the same like of thinking.

 

I hate the VW Atlas.....it's such a cheap cop out because VW realized most Americans just want big soft cheap car with low fuel costs.

This TX feels it's exactly the same like of thinking. When I went shopping for a diesel manual car for my own fascination I found that the MK5/6 golfs were made WAY cheaper and had a lot of content cut vs the MK4.....and after some reading I found the MK5 was made with a "American centric design" aka fatter, softer, cheaper, and with far less quality and options.

The MK4 Jetta allowed you to get front/rear park sensors, full memory leather seats, power folding mirrors, wood/leather everywhere, quad heated seats, auto climate, satnav, HID auto leveling lights with heated washers, auto rain sense, a 6 cyl engine etc etc etc

That was insane to have those options in the same class and price of car as a civic/corolla/cruse/neon etc, it was a "real car" on a small scale. Issue was that Americans don't care about any of that and just want biggest possible for lower cost and that got us the MK5/6/7 because why waste the development time?

Now Lexus is doing the same damn thing when they used to be insanely high quality for their class period. Never mind price factored in they were just more solid and better unless you went massively more expensive. 2004 ES vs 2004 C class or 3 series is no comparison what cars are built better and with higher spec materials.....just like there is no question with a 2024 ES vs the same but it's just the other direction now.

 

Thats the current Lexus mission satement. The mission statement for Lexus and the F1 development process (the LS) was to build the best automobile in the world. This is the exact quote from the Lexus Story (published by Lexus):

But again, how does the TX live up to that mission statement I posted above?

Except that I am the target consumer as I just completed a exhaustive search for exactly this type of vehicle at exactly this price point and bought a competing vehicle at a $62,000 MSRP, which is well within the range of the TX.

I'm 42...high income, 2 kids under 10...looking for a upscale unibody 3 row crossover or minivan for my family...how am I not the target consumer for this?! I heavily considered the Palisade, Telluride, Aviator, high spec Explorer, Atlas, Infiniti QX60, Acura MDX, Kia Sedona, Toyota Sienna and Toyota Highlander...all its main competitors.

People are extatic about Camrys too, doesn't mean they are a great product. And again, stop trying to tell me that my opinion is wrong or a product of my own biases. I don't like the vehicle, its not because I'm f'ed in the head or totally unreasonable, I think its a lazy effort with many superior competitors. Please harass all the other people that have posted the same opinion as me instead of continuing to harass me. You can like it, thats okay.