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Sedans High End Luxury Cars
24700 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 12:24 PM
You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
Let's try to define this forum as being limited to luxury performance vehicles where the mainstream version in a typical configuration has an MSRP of at least $60k.
A luxury vehicle with a base price of $59k qualifies because it would typically be bought with some additional equipment, bringing the MSRP over $60k.
Vehicles like the E, 5, A6, M, or GS, even if available in certain versions over $60k, don't qualify because they are cars from companies that have higher end cars in their lineups.
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Replying to: ljflx (Feb 18, 2005 7:39 am) I think that everyone prefers to buy something that has been made in his own country, right? But the real reason, IMO, why for Lexus it's harder to compete in Europe is that transportation from Japan to Europe is longer than from Japan to the US. Are Lexus built in the US (I don't know that they are)? As for Marketing: what are the German carmakers offering in Europe? A completely customized product. They can do that because they can deliever a car in about a month, if there is no waiting list. They can't do that in the US because Transportation is about a month (or so???). The Japanese have done the only possible thing (I can think of), to offer an (almost) fully equiped vehicle. I give them credit for that. 'Z' Germans believe they can make more profit with their option 'book' (it's too long to be a list). The other factor we shouldn't forget here is that the US is pretty much a primary market for Lexus (if not more important than Japan). For 'Z' Germans it's a secondary market. You can just see that at the limited product lines.
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These so-called luxury vehicles like "Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XJ-Series, Lexus LS 430, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Volkswagen Phaeton" They dont even have a reclining / sliding rear seat which is available in many smaller Crossover Utility Vehicles like Escape, CRV, Equinox, etc. Such seat provides more comfort for the passenger. After all luxury vehicles are meant for maximum comfort. Any comments.
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Replying to: yerth10 (Feb 18, 2005 11:24 am) |
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Replying to: rl81 (Feb 18, 2005 11:19 am) As for MB's reputation in Europe, it's rapidly going downhill even without Lexus and JD Power to pound on them. See for example: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/62b860d0-808a-11d9-bd50-00000e2511c8.htm- l opening: Visitors travelling by taxi to the DaimlerChrysler headquarters in Stuttgart used to have one choice of vehicle: Mercedes. The same was true throughout Germany. But on visits in the recent wintry months, the taxi rank has usually been headed by a Volkswagen, Opel or - worst of all - a Mazda. Jürgen Geier, a Stuttgart taxi driver who used to drive a Mercedes before switching to Audi, explains: "Mercedes has really gone downhill in the last few years. Other choice quotes include: For Germany's taxi drivers, this comes as no surprise. "Opels [made by General Motors of the US] are half the price of Mercedes and the quality is now the same," says Anis Ahmad, a Frankfurt taxi driver with an Opel Zafira. And finally: However, secondhand sales of older, more reliable Mercedes models are booming in the German taxi market, says BZP - with the result that 70 per cent of all taxis still bear the famous star logo.
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Replying to: jvcn (Feb 18, 2005 11:44 am) |
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Replying to: brightness04 (Feb 18, 2005 6:20 am) Brightness: Thanks for this. You make my point better than I could make it myself, and backed up with some conservative estimates. Merc1's post is far more general and non-specific - more variants does not necessarily translate to more sales. It will appear that Lexus truly is the numero uno luxury car seller than MB or BMW ! Lexus sells more lux cars/trucks than their competition (they are #1 in sales in the US 3 years running), despite the higher macque/cache/brand recognition of MB or BMW over Lexus. What MB has are niche cars (S600/SL/CLS/AMGs) not necessarily luxury cars, since these sell in so low numbers. The mainstream luxury car seller, at least in the US, is Lexus. The numbers bear it out, and numbers don't lie, or do they ? Touche.
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Replying to: designman (Feb 18, 2005 10:19 am) Hybrids will revolutionalize the auto industry within the next 5 years ! You know that already, right ? Just read an article where someone mentioned that the days of cheap gasoline are long over. Why ? Because of the HUGE demand from China and other fast growing markets due to their phenomenal growths. And Toyota has always been on the forefront of clairvoyance in the auto industry. They started the hybrids almost a decade ago, while the likes of Ford, GM, MB laughed and scoffed at hybrids. We'll see who'll be laughing in 5 years from now !!! Diesels in the US as an alternative ? Get real ! |
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Yes, Toyota is methodical, deliberate, pragmatic and patient. By comparison all of the others seem to live for today… instant profits. Toyota is also into researching and developing the other alternate-energy vehicles and will be ready to pounce on hydrogen when it’s ready years down the road. But this will require a monolithic effort among government and many industries. That said, they still gave us Quasimoto. I am going to try to get a test drive tomorrow.
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Replying to: denaliinpa (Feb 17, 2005 6:45 pm) More wannabes?
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Replying to: designman (Feb 18, 2005 12:54 pm) Quasimoto ? Would that not be the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" ? Are you refering to the GS ? (hehehehe...  ) I will LOVE to hear/read of your test drive of the GS, if you can get one. So what am I doing wrong that my dealer hasn't called me yet ? I gotta find out and do my own test drive soon. |
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