MadHungari

As a previous owner of a Mercedes and, before that, more than one Porsche, I miss the club activites that membership offers. Each club is a national organization that publishes its own magazine and has national events. Each also has local chapters that publish their own newsletter and have a variety of local events. Why not Lexus? And by asking, I am in no way criticizing this excellent web-based club. But a "real" club would certainly enhance Lexus ownership, loyalty, and even sales.

Kansas

I suspect that the reasons are related to Lexus being a particularly a high volume brand and simply an extension/brand of Toyota Motor Company. Mercedes and Porsche are companies and not just brands and have been around much longer. Mercedes clubs are nothing like they were many years ago when Mercedes cars were rare in America. And Porsches used to be owned by real automotive enthusiasts instead of like today and the past couple of decades where they have been mainly status symbols.

I don't think there is all that much to bond Lexus owners together. As I move back and forth between our Toyota and Lexus brand vehicles, I increasingly regard Lexus as just that - a brand for marketing purposes.

Shawn808

I think its the demographic of Lexus and Toyota owners. Most people who buy a Lexus or Toyota don't necessarily do it for the "performance" or "image" aspect but more so for the reliability I believe. Plus other then the LFA and now defunct Celica and MR-S there are no real "fun" cars in the Toyota/lexus line up. Fun cars I think are what keeps clubs going, Porsche's are Fun, BMWs are fun, even Miatas are fun. Hence they all have clubs. To prove my point even further I think you can find more miata clubs then Mazda 3 clubs or even Mazda 6 clubs. The fun car factor gives club members something to share, otherwise its just transportation. I am sure once the LFA gets its numbers up there, there will be a club. Mercedes can be fun (note AMG) but I think those clubs have more to do with the history and legacy of the car like Kansas mentioned.

Its sad and I hate to say that the SC430 is not a "fun" car but thats kind of expected. Even Lexus themselves said that from the start it was designed as a cruiser, from its interior to the power top and shape. I mean come on they designed the car around the lines of a "boat" I dont know how much "cruiser" you can get. Not to mention the weight etc.

mak89

iTrader: (6)

Magyar vagy?

bad co

Theres Club Lexus seating at the united center. I'm going to the Bulls Celtics game so i'll tell you how that works.

Kira X

iTrader: (24)

I agree. Outside of the online forums, most Lexus owners don't have the share any sort of bonds. I see all of the BMW, Mercedes, Nissan, and Supra guys hanging together, but it's rare to see the Lexus owners get together. Maybe it's because Lexus doesn't focus on performance as much as Porsche or Mercedes. Plus the only true performance Toyota/Lexus cars today are the IS-F and LF-A.

That's true. I hope that the LF-A pushes Lexus to make an official club. Maybe once they have a new SC, the IS-F, LF-A, and more performance based models, we might see a club. If they made a club now, you'd just have a bunch of bone stock ES' and RX's showing up since that's what most Lexus owners drive.

I agree with you. The SC430 is pretty boring. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a nice car and I'd love to own one someday, but there's nothing exciting about it. It's not anywhere near as exciting as an AMG Mercedes coupe or an M series BMW.

flipside909

The Lexus Club seating is available at certain arenas and ball parks across the country. At Staples Center, there is a Lexus Club area which is basically luxury box seating. At AT&T Park in San Francisco, the Lexus Club seating is prime seating right at field level behind the dugouts on the visiting and home sections. There are no special perks for Lexus owners, just upgraded service. Think along the lines of sitting in 1st class seating on an airplane.

motohide

I can get 50 Corolla AE86 owners to pay $150 and attend a track event for a full day, eating nothing but tire dust and potato chips and 2 bottles of water, only with a shout on a web forum.

In contrast, I can't get 15 Lexus guys to show up at a static meet for FREE, and can't even keep any of them around for more than 45 minutes, before people have internet deprivation syndrome, and start heading out to Starbucks never to see them again that day. And I noticed very few of them talk to each other outside of the internet forums?

For Lexus enthusiasts to have a true fun meet that caters to the wide variety of guys within, we would need to have a indoor facility, with Starbucks Kiosk, a free Wifi and laptops with 4 cores, catered by the best French chefs, with a go kart track adjacent so they don't hurt thier own cars, AND be within 10 miles of everyone's house so there's no airbag suspension incidents, and has to be attended by every VIP shop in 100 mile radius, and Corporate Lexus hauloing the LFA to rev 9400rpm, marking the top of the hour each hour. That would suffice in an ideal world. .

lamar411

i want to go to that game.

Koma

iTrader: (3)

And most BMW "owners" lease bone stock base 328s.

MadHungari

Perhaps it is time to look for a 944 as my 4th car . . .

mmarshall

Many of this forum's (Club Lexus) members, especially in CAR CHAT, don't drive Lexus-brand vehicles, or, in some cases, they own and other vehicle-brands as well as a Lexus. This is true even of some of CL's management, moderators, and editors. It may put a little damper on the kind of social-club events the OP is referring to, but it makes for a superb place to go for general auto conversation......IMO, one of the best places on the Internet. That's the whole idea of CAR CHAT. We talk about almost everything on four wheels....and sometimes on two wheels.

gengar

It's just the name for the seating area - there are no real benefits. Parking in C lots (the associated parking tickets for suites and the Lexus Club level) used to get VIP parking for those driving Lexus vehicles, but I haven't been to a game in a year or so.

The irony is that Lexus just killed their Performance Registry, which was the only thing resembling an official community.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

no kidding, i got the email too. it seems like they haven't been able to get much attention.

i think it's always both sides, organization and participation. if lexus wants to do one, they can, but they will have to pour certain amount of resources including manpower to not only maintain it, but also to promote / market such society. it can be quite costly and personally i am not really sure about the return to them. on the other hand, they need dedicated / loyal members who are willing to spend time on the community. with quite a few big lexus sites out there (and lexus has nothing), that's hard

KaiserSea1

I find in meets our car is like a stepchild. A lot of IS drivers and a few GS, but no LS or SCs at the meets. I think it is because our car is such a lousy tuner. All our mods are dress up, not the kind of stuff to get enthusiastic about. I could not get too excited about the IS mods because it just isn't a very cool car. I took my kid to a CTS-V meet and we had a blast. Lexus has some good products but no culture behind it.