im 29, just got an 06 sc430 and all my older co workers are calling it an old man car. they say things like "dont millenials want all the fancy tech stuff?"

i like the older cars, always have, always will. ive had my 2004 WRX since 2008, driven it over 120k miles, never getting rid of that thing ha

 

in the SF bay area, almost all IS's are driven by 20-30 year olds. the older people drive the ES and RX etc

 

I agree with this observation, though I believe he was talking about the average age of the 'buyer' of the IS, not the average age of the 'driver' of the IS.

 

haha yeah, a lot of kids getting their parents to buy the car for them

 

Maybe this was what President Akio was after the whole time?
Sharp looking cars to attract the young, but the parents would finance the luxury compacts like the IS.

But then the three Germans aren't trying to attract the young, yet the three Germans have the majority of the luxury market under control.

 

You nailed it,luxury market isnt for millennials,they dont have the bucks.Lexus needs a much more conservative style and a very comfortable soft riding car if they want market share.I dont imagine many people in their 50's and 60's that buy luxury cars are looking for a firm ride and rally riding suspension.'Stylish' body panels and whiz bang 'infotainment Centers' are cheap compared to engineering ride quality comfort and sumptuous interiors and get dated real fast.High end quality materials dont outdate,they hold value for a longer period on your investment.

Lexus has gone sports car with whatever the hell they think luxury is.Bad choice IMO,and the numbers are backing that up.

They strike me as lost right now.Personally I think they are in need of a complete overhaul in management.

 

Agreed...well-stated on your part. I talked to the Lexus folks at the D.C. show about this problem with the general marketing. At their level, they seem to understand the problem very well. The problem is.....the folks back at HQ, who are making the big decisions, don't. They still seem to be convinced that sport is the way to go.

 

You always have to look at who has the money and who has the aspirations. Who will spend the money on image, and who will spend the money on big cars, SUVs and other things. The cruise ship industry has had this problem for years and years. Old farts with the big bucks for the nice window seats, while minimum wage workers are at their beck and call.

But the ads don't reflect anything about who gets on a boat, ship etc. The vast number of millenials are on a variety of apps, not forums like this. We're talking about people who don't participate here. Go to the 2GS forum here for some nice retro-kid love. They are the millenials living a nice dream.

 

Though I'm 40 now (or rather, will be in 2 months), I've driven a 3 series since I was 22. An E46 for 12 years, and an E90 currently for 6, first owner of both (the E90 was a demo though). Now, the plural of anecdote is not data, but I don't think it's as rare as you'd expect.

 

I get that any car manufacturer wants to create a loyalty at the youngest age possible and key ingredient to that is make the cars more affordable so younger buyers get in, but my disappointment with Lexus is if you want to take risk in diluting its luxury panache on the bottom end (i.e. CT+UX), fine, but don't do it on the top end. Can we honestly say the new LS is on equal grounds with the S-class or even an A8 or 7-series?

The other thing too is Toyota's latest huge grille styling doesn't help Lexus as a value proposition on the merits of unique styling. The similarities and family resemblance between the two can be made, naturally good for Toyota but not so good for Lexus.

 

I think looking at the new LS, it might just be on the same level. The Lexus V6 is a better proposition compared to the new MB S450, and if you look at the stats, despite giving up some horses compared to the S560, both Manufactured stated performance times are identical at 4.6 to 60mph and that is V6 compared to the MB V8

 

Tough call. Toyota and Lexus for a long time were referred to as boring and not very interesting. These new cars they are making are designed to make you either like them or hate them. Having the meh attitude towards styling is something you just can't have.

 

Just my observation as many colleagues at work have kids 10-18. Many kids get new cars at about 16-17, or, they take over their parents' 2-5 y,o. car at 16-17. I have no idea whatsoever where this comes from, and nobody has been able to explain it to me.

I have a 4 y.o. and I have no plans on him getting a car at 16, from me, from his grandparents, or from his own savings. But I admit, it's so prevalent, I'm the outlier. All I can say is kids and parents seem to imply that a car is a necessity, for a 16 y.o., it's not optional.

p.s. I have to chime in another observation. My wife has a 22 y.o. cousin, who did well. His first job was almost 6 figures out of college (undergrad, grad will be over). But the way he acts, to his mom, I see the total manipulation. He basically got his mom to get him a 2 wk trip to Europe so he could relax before starting the job. In my day, I'd call him a *****. Sorry wifey!

 

Though I am (admittedly) not a parent myself, I think I can explain at least part of it. Some of it is the sense of entitlement that is prevalent in today's society. Contrast that, for instance, with when my late father bought me a used, high-mileage car as a high-school graduation present when I was 18, and I was glad to have that, though of course, I would have preferred a new car (who wouldn't?). I bought a couple more used cars in the meantime, and got my first new car (with my own money) when I was 23....by then, the 70s-gas shortages were taking their toll, and smaller cars were getting popular. But, today, or amber of different reasons, economics and the job market are not being very kind to young people like they were in my day, so a lot of parents probably feel that if they don't give their kids things, they never will be able to afford to buy them themselves. And, of course, that's assuming that their kids are interested in cars at all....many kids today aren't.

 

I will admit two things....having a 4 y.o., how much can I know about being a parent and kids' needs when they are 16, and two, it is far more competitive today, than when I was in HS. I mean when I was in HS, the best college in the nation accepted 19%. Today, around 6%.

It almost seems like parents want to be on the kids' good side, and this is part of it. Like there is a "it's so hard to be a teenager today" mentality. It is much more competitive, there is no doubt, with kids playing soccer at 3, SAT tutoring for $400/hour, etc. (lol my public school geared us for the SATs and I took it once, there were kids who got perfect scores coming out of our school [this dude russ is sure he did not miss anything yet got a 780 math--good enough for Yale back then, today, he would never get in])....who knows...again a former colleague who had young kids said no car until they change oil, change a tire, and drive a stick. Where his wife said son turns 16, Mustang GT. And the son was younger than daughter. Colleague said not gonna happen, but probably will since wife wears the pants...

edit just thought of my boss. He makes a lot of money. But he just had one son graduate college, and a daughter start. He told me, after financial aid, his contribution is $23k/yr. That's like buying a used car every year, for 4 yrs. To be honest, nobody I know is saving monthly what the online calculators say, for college. It's easily near $1000/mo. from the hospital ride home through 22. He told me when his daughter got her license, his insurance went up like $1300/6 mos., when they only have 2 cars. I said that's not worth it? He agreed and said tell it to my wife haha

That's around what we pay every 6 mos. to fully cover 3 cars. Needless to say, despite his imho off the charts salary, his daughter drops him off at work, so she can use the car. Do kids even realize what sacrifice their parents make, or assume daddy has a great job and he could buy a new car for me but won't?

I sent him that ticked off Vic youtube with the daughter's car and we had a laugh....