I think it takes a big bag of nuts (in the head or in their pants or not) to introduce a GSF with a much lower power number than its direct competitors and then charge $80k for it. As for the LSF, well...nobody except Lexus knows why it didnt happen. The LFA was still relevant at the time and you can't have a sedan outpower your flagship supercar that you are charging $400k for.

 

Well, the mystery's been solved. Hybrid will be couple of thousands more expensive than V8. Theoretically it's parallel pricing and positioning in correlation to six figure retail price but in practice once again hybrid is more expensive than the petrol sibling. And in this case more expensive than complex V8 sibling which is hard to explain. We already know 500h will not offer the performance or sound of V8, so unless it offers some great city fuel efficiency like at least 35% improvement over V8 I fail to see the point of the hybrid.

It will only get more complicated once bi-turbo three liter V6 show up in new GS next to this hybrid power plant. You know what that means right? It means that you should forget all your wet dreams of new turbo V6 producing 415hp at least in GS. HP output of new turbo V6 will be lesser than GS500h cause once again hybrid will be more expensive.

 

Let's take a moment to consider who the LC Hybrid customer is

lives in a 2-4 million dollar home, probably owns multiple homes

takes curated vacations in the Turks and Caicos

highly educated

shops in boutiques

they want high end experiences, which the LC hybrid will provide, style, luxury, comfort, quiet, exclusivity

it won't sell a ton of units

if you want to beat the horsepower drum, go for it, but you are just not connected to these customers.

 

So none of these things you mentioned apply to S-class cabriolet buyer who opted for the V12 bi-turbo model?

Nice summary and I do get what you are saying, but all of the things you mentioned in the list apply to the LC500 as well.

 

At that end of the market, there are very small slivers/nuances of customer segmentations. Yes, some will "want it all" with something like the superfluous bi-turbo this and that on top of everything. But there's no doubt that some of those nearly same people are cognizant that they don't need/nor potentially want that much power. And here in LA, S-Class Coupes and Convertibles are pretty common place now.

 

Mercedes learned that you need to have the alternative fueled sibling to cheaper, or the same price as the gas counterpart. That is an easier pill to swallow than paying more for something that is considered "less". Making the LCh thousdands more expensive I feel is a mistake.

Also I saw a video from KBB about the LC and they briefly showed the navigation screen is where you activate the heated/ventilated seats. I know someone was asking about that earlier.

 

Jill

i would say that the LC hybrid an MB pick the model 65 crowd are financially similar

the 65 crowd as PBM eloquently pointed out seeks the top model, regardless of price consequence

the LC hybrid gathering (too few to be a crowd) consider multiple aspects of the objects they choose to own

regarding hybrid pricing, I believe setting the hybrid above the ICE only model is pretty std in the Toyota/Lexus spheres.

GS and RX being examples

when the Q50 came out the hybrid was more money. The hybrid also had power and economy advantages. Now the Q50 red sport with more power than the hybrid is out and at a slightly higher price

 

THSD right now is pretty much the thing of yesterday and somehow Lexus got stuck with that expensive RWD hybrid setup that doesn't justify the premium anymore. I have no clue why they went ahead and made changes to the transmission part of the drivetrain instead of to, let's say, develop two separate electric motors for each wheel to replace centralized electric motor and CVT altogether.

 

Why do you say that?

Looks like you don't know how HSD works.

 

i would have to say the 65 amg owners are likely much more financially capable than LC owners considering that 65 cars are all north of 200k.

100k car (where LC is) is not that super special anymore

 

I was going to say this, you beat me to it.

Some LC buyers (not all) maybe able to afford a S-class 65. It would be safe to assume that every single S-class 65 owner could purchase a LC. Sort of a different class of buyer.

 

I think you'll find most buyers of cars at this price point can afford more expensive cars. Most people buying $80k+ cars aren't buying the most car they can physically afford.

For instance, by any measure of "affordability" you find out there, whether it's % of monthly income, or multipliers of ones income I could afford basically any car, as a lot of CL members could.

 

True. But none of us got to our current financial positions by buying the max we could "afford". The same is true of those who are even better off financially. I would have to have money just stacking up in the corner before I would throw down $200k+ on a single car.

 

The S-class coupe 65 option ($238K) is more than the total of the LC alone, assuming that is debuts at $100K. S65 is Rolls Royce and Bentley territory.

 

Absolutely, but that's the pitfall of saying "people who buy the LC Cannot afford an S Class Coupe", they can most likely if they are looking at an LC...they just choose not to.