For Xmas, U Can Get a Lexus - Big Red Bow & All
Steven Cole Smith | Sentinel Automotive Editor
December 4, 2007

These past eight years, the sight has become synonymous with the holidays: A Lexus with a huge red bow on top.

This Christmas season is no different -- Lexus is airing three different TV commercials, two radio spots and three print ads backing its "December to Remember" campaign, which began Nov. 21.

In one of the new commercials, a husband tricks his wife into thinking that he is unable to pick up their son from hockey practice. When the frustrated wife steps outside their home, she receives, says Lexus, "the surprise of a lifetime -- a Lexus for the holidays," adorned, of course, with a bow.

So, do people really want those big red bows when they buy a Lexus?

Yes, indeed, said Lexus Prestige Communications Manager Nancy Hubbell. "They're iconic, part of the Lexus tradition."

Lexus says that nearly 10 percent of its vehicles sold during the holidays are purchased as gifts, and many of the 223 Lexus dealers stock up on the bows, which are supplied by the company, to either give, sell or loan to customers. The campaign has spread far outside the United States -- Lexus of Borneo is delivering cars this month with the big red bow attached.

Locally, Lexus of Orlando has its own bow program.

"I'm looking at about 65 of them right now," said Mysti Stange, executive assistant at Lexus of Orlando.

These bows are slightly smaller than the huge red bows in the Lexus commercials, though.

"We just get a couple of those from Lexus," Stange said, "and we use them in the showroom."

But the smaller bows, designed especially for the dealership, are free to any customer who buys a car.

Lexus of Melbourne handles it differently. They don't stock bows, but a local party store does, and they'll get one there -- if a customer requests it.

Of course, big red bows are not exclusive to Lexus. At least one supplier wholesales them to any dealer willing to pay $80 apiece,

Still, you think of big red bows, cars and Christmas, you think of Lexus.

By the way, when you think of Lexus bows, you're thinking in a fairly exclusive price range. The base price for the entry-level Lexus, the IS 250, is $31,625.

 

Nice...we have a few red bow owners on the site recently too.

 

ive always wanted one. not even for a lexus, but if i buy a car from the family, i would love to surprise whoever with a bow.

 

I've always thought those commercials were so funny. Clearly, I'm not the "standard" Lexus customer.

If I bought a brand new Lexus for my wife, she would look me straight in the eye and say "You made a forty THOUSAND dollar purchase and didn't discuss it with me?!?!?!"

 

 

It'll be a while until I'm finally out of med school to be able to go **** away money like that on a Christmas gift.

 

Hehe, there was a pretty incredible story in Lexus magazine where a husband and wife secretly both bought SC 430s for each other as a new year present!

 

How do the bows stay on?

 

It's a Lexus bow, it fixes itself into place automatically, sticks for 10 to 13 years, and then self destructs tiny parts of itself over the period of 5 months until you get pissed at what's left and have it professionally removed.

 

sounds like my ex

 

I have been out of med school for 30+ years and I can assure you that buying your wife a Lexus is not "pissing away money". The surest route to lifelong financial security is to keep your wife happy and to have exactly one, and only one, wife.

 

probably strong magnet with a cloth over it to protect the surface.

 

Maybe, hmm...Newport Lexus supposedly uses these:

http://www.kingsizebows.com/about.htm

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...04&newsLang=en