Toys4RJill

mmarshall

That's just it, though. You're not going to be 26 forever.....so enjoy your youth and vitality while you still can. And, no offense, but, the only thing "Old Man" about an LS430 is in the minds of your friends....not in reality. An LS430 can be enjoyed by persons of any age...as I myself liked luxury cars when I was young (still do). The only problem I had when I was young was that I couldn't afford the new luxury cars I wanted....I had to settle for 5-6 year-old models, and even then it was a stretch.

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

Thats my car and it does look a little old manish lol

MattyG

No Lexus didn't make a mistake but rather a deliberate decision. Right about now the two biggest groups in the US are boomers and millenials. Both are around 75M people and they have widely different tastes in anything, not just cars.

The Gen-Xers are right into their best earning years, youngest at 35 and oldest at 50. Problem is that they are the middle child because they aren't the majority of the population. Boomers have the money but millenials are prized for their future buying power. Gen-Xers have other obligations so their money also has other priorities.

Toyota and Lexus made a decision to establish a youthful image due to current trendiness but the cycles are getting shorter and shorter due to a world of internet driven pop culture. No luxury car manufacturer wants to be associated with "old people's cars" because that's a declining population during the prime car buying years. The flip side is that trends don't last as long now because we live in a Twitter-driven short attention span world. If you want to market edgy, you have to be ready to quickly change styling language once the current trend is over.

And that doesn't even take into account self-driving vehicle tech that can be paired with the car/ride share business.

mmarshall

I'll bet it's nice to drive. The LS430 was arguably the most refined vehicle Lexus ever built, though those obviously-aftermarket wheels and tires might bump up the ride a little.

Rhambler

05ls430518

iTrader: (1)

Yah it is so much fun to drive i also have ppe headers bc coilovers and some other stuff, i always loved mercedes amg models and bmw m cars but they are not very reliable, so i had 2 ls430's before this one and was amazed with the car so i thought about building my own "f-sport ls430" and this is the build in progress. After owning 3 of these cars it sold me on the build quality and overall wonderfull engineering behind the Lexus brand.

G Star

iTrader: (2)

You do realize the basic premise of this topic is the antithesis of the styling of your LS.

Lexus made the conscious decision to move away from the styling of your model and make more exciting vehicles so people like you won't get busted on all the time. Even though you think you agree with Rhambler, you actually made the reverse case.

G Star

iTrader: (2)

Lexus is second to MB in overall sales in the premium segment, even despite basically having virtually no SUV sales in Jan/Feb 2017, due to a supposed shortage in inventory. Cadillac wishes they were in this position.

I know the spindle and new styling has been triggering many traditional enthusiasts but Lexus made the decision to make that sacrifice for a chance at a new audience. From what I've seen with responses from young people, its been effective.

EZZ

They also have top of class handling dynamics, bulletproof reliability and a cheaper price point vs their German rivals. They do some cars right for younger audiences like the LC, LS, IS and RC but still need to improve in areas like powertrain and infotainment.

They arent perfect but they are going their own way. Honestly I dont ever see IS350s ever vs 250s and 200ts so I dont even know if all that many people actually care about horsepower.

LeX2K

Lexus has always made excellent cars so how is changing the styling putting a silk hat on a pig? Doesn't make sense.

theory816

Doesn't really matter since the last good designer left Lexus years ago.

Johnhav430

I think the car business is tough all around. And it's different. When I was little I dreamed of BMWs and Porsches. I don't really think as many millennials have such a dream? It's not necessary in many of their minds to have a car that is high end, where the marginal cost hugely exceeds the marginal utility. Being a private family business, and owning a car dealership is dangerous, things will be far different in 10 years.

Should Lexus try to get younger buyers, I think so. They have to follow the money, although from what I have heard, millennials, to their credit, like to save, which imho would be bad for "expensive" cars. If the notion of a monthly amount rather than what something really costs is gone, that makes it harder for costlier vehicles to sell, meaning Lexus could find itself producing the wrong products if they only targeted millennials. They may need to be like BMW and build vehicles that are not necessarily what they know, such as FWD based cars, 4 cyl., non-sporty vehicles. Could that mean less reliability for Lexus? Hopefully not. But they do need to try something new my .02

mmarshall

Although each person, of course, is different, and circumstances vary from person to person, in general, it's those in their 50s and early 60s, just before retirement, that have the most money to spend on new cars, not the millennials. People in that age group have been working (and hopefully saving) for decades, are often empty-nesters, so they don't have the expenses of kids any more, their mortgages are often paid off (unless they recently moved), and they have no trouble making ends meet or paying monthly bills. So, if auto companies want to sell vehicles....those are the people they should be targeting, not teens or those in their 20s.

Noble8626

Come on folks, this is a Lexus forum that gets updated with new Lexus information almost as quickly as it becomes available. We've known for several months now that new advanced technology and powertrain engines (TTV6, TTV8) are in development (LC-F) or are already out (LS500 next month) so I don't get why there is still discussions as if no one knows when or if Lexus will replace their dinosaur powertrains?? Sure they were a little late to the party but that's the Lexus way. Let everyone else be the guinea pigs so Lexus can come in and perfect it hence the reliability accolades.

While we sit here and nitpick the current state of Lexus, let's not fail to recognize what's also literally right around the corner.