Hyundai Equus/Lexus LS Photocopy

Lets see them stack some wine glasses on the hood and rev the engine or suspend an Accent, Coupe, Genesis and a Sante Fe from the chassis.

iCyCo wrote:Lets see them stack some wine glasses on the hood and rev the engine or suspend an Accent, Coupe, Genesis and a Sante Fe from the chassis.

YEAH! aha But in all seriousness... Can Hyundai think of anything original in place of something as simple yet wonderful as this?!

You know what they say - Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

The Equus may look like and be cheaper than an LS, but it will never be as well made. The only good that can come from this is that maybe it will push Lexus to take the next generation LS to the next level, much like Mercedes did with the 1991 S-class.

No surprise there, Hyundai/Kia has made a name for themselves by ripping off designs by Lexus/Toyota and Honda

I laugh at Hyundai... Nothing they build or do is original thats why I dont take a second look at their products. Anyone who think this car is better then a LS is a fool. Simple. Its a BLUNT copy of the LS... I rather the real thing.

@iCyCo: @iCyCo: So Tru...lol I hate fakes!!!!!!!

James wrote:The Equus may look like and be cheaper than an LS, but it will never be as well made. The only good that can come from this is that maybe it will push Lexus to take the next generation LS to the next level, much like Mercedes did with the 1991 S-class.

For that very reason, I'm thankful for Hyundai's pressure! Lexus vehicles have really lost their momentum (They're still wonderful cars; don't get me wrong). The current LS just doesn't "wow" as much as the original LS.

@WorldofLuxury: Perhaps I'm wrong, but I think that's because we've all learned what to expect out of a Lexus LS. I mean, back in 1989 nobody was expecting it to be that good. But now, I think most people just assume that it's going to be a perfectly made, silent, and comfortable car. In other words, I don't think any LS is going to shock the world the way the original LS400 did. Although, I think the LS600hL did 'wow' people to a certain extent, just because of the fact that at the time a high performance V8 hybrid was simply unheard of.

@James: lol You're right. Now I think I'm wrong in my previous comment. I guess I was just being a little too optimistic. Still... it'd be nice to see what more Lexus can do with a competitor coming from behind this time! - a competitor with lots of support form its country and many proud and faithful Koreans.

I don't give a damn if the stupid Hyundai had 600hp, etc, can these Koreans NOT think of anything original? This is not the first vehicle they copied, I don't even want to start a list.

iCyCo wrote:Lets see them stack some wine glasses on the hood and rev the engine or suspend an Accent, Coupe, Genesis and a Sante Fe from the chassis.

That maybe a joke, but honestly I would love to see that. Not only to see if Hyundai can successfully replicate those stunts, but also to see how far they are willing to go in copying Lexus and the LS.

I think most people just assume that it’s going to be a perfectly made, silent, and comfortable car like LS400 ....

Also, I'm just playing devil's advocate when I say this, Toyota pretty much copied what the European marques where doing (specifically Mercedes-Benz and their S-Class) back in the late '80s. The LS eventually became just as good, if not better than the competition, but the key that made the LS a success not just a solid product, but one that was delivered at a price point that undercut everybody else by tens of thousands of dollars. The end result was a great car that was cheap in relation. Fast forward 20 years and the newest iteration of the LS now costs as much as competition that it originally set out to beat. There is no more price difference, so Lexus can't throw down the "bang-for-buck" ideology like they used to. And now that Lexus has moved further up-market with the other premium brands, they left an opening for Hyundai. First was the Genesis and now they follow-up with Equus.

@LarqueFausse: Exactly. What Hyundai is doing is not that different from what Lexus did 20 years ago. Don't get me wrong, I like Lexus, but I have a hard time understanding all the Equus bashing. This kind of reminds of all the brand snobbery over at BMW or Mercedes. The Equus certainly is no LS in terms of quality, comfort, innovation, or anything. But it's a good start for the Koreans, not very unlike the LS when it first came out. Let's see how the Equus develops. In a couple of generations it might turn out to be a genuine competitor to the LS, S, and 7.

Koreans here in Los Angeles do not drive Hyundai/Kia. Most of them drive Lexus. LOL

You think the Equus is a rip-off? It´s nothing compared to how countless guitar manufacturers have been copying the ingenious and innovative designs from Fender. Pushes my buttons beyond description. If Lexus is to take notice of the Hyundai at all,I wouldn´t mind if they made the next LS a bit more daring,design-wise.

@pj: The way I see it is that the original LS was as good or better than the competition in terms of quality, comfort, innovation. Can the Equus claim the same? I doubt it. Something that would also hurt Hyundai is not having a separate Luxury brand like Toyota did back in the late 80s.

.. Fake or not. It looks good. Thats what matters. Remember LEXUS LS 400/430 was direct copy of MERCEDES S-SERIES at that time. 8-) .

@combo: True, but at least the LS was a lot better :)

combo wrote:.. Fake or not. It looks good. Thats what matters. Remember LEXUS LS 400/430 was direct copy of MERCEDES S-SERIES at that time. .

Direct copy of the S-series? Surely not. Influenced by? Certainly. Direct copy? No,I´m sorry.I can´t agree with that.

Eljay wrote:Direct copy of the S-series? Surely not. Influenced by? Certainly. Direct copy? No,I´m sorry.I can´t agree with that.

Me neither. Direct copy, Absolutely not.

If it weren't for LEXUS raising the standard of excellence in quality and reliability, the other manufacturers would not be up to near LEXUS quality as they are now----as Mr.TOYODA has mentioned: Toyota/Lexus will need to reinvent the automobile to raise the bar futher as they did in 1989 far ahead in the future-----aLL others are just now catching up. They need unthought of new technology and innovation with aggressive new design and they can win again.

combo wrote:.. Remember LEXUS LS 400/430 was direct copy of MERCEDES S-SERIES at that time. .

How do you figure that? If you compare the LS400 to 1990 S-class, they really don't look all that similar. Obviously Lexus may have been influenced by it's design, but they did not attempt to "rip them off". Besides, the LS400 was a better car. It was more comfortable, rode smoother, handled better, etc. And I think that just about everybody (meaning auto reviewers) at that time agreed with that. And remember, it wasn't Lexus who even stole M-B's naming scheme. When the LS400 come out in 1989, Mercedes was still calling their S-class the 420 SEL. Which sounds nothing like LS400. It wasn't until several years later that they began calling it the S500.

@James JAMES-----very well said. Your facts are dead on----when you start bringing up the copycat idea----much more comes out about the others who stumbled to achieve what Lexus was importing to the US. The LS was so well equipped with so much wizardry that was standard the competiton froze in their tracks. Who bacame the copy cats then???

James wrote: If you compare the LS400 to 1990 S-class, they really don’t look all that similar.

Looks-wise, I would say that they share similar styling of the exterior body. You could chalk it up to the styling trend of time, but both the LS and the S-Class had the same squared-off look to them. I'm not saying that it would be easy mistaking the two if they were driving one behind the other, just that their styling are from the same school of thought.

@LarqueFausse: The 1990 versions of the Mercedes S-class, BMW 7-series, and the Audi V8 (as it was known before becoming the A8) all had that "squared off look to them". I think the fact the LS400 had a boxy design was simply because that style was popular at the time.

hey krew... http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/29/cec-announces-lexus-lfa-customization-program/

DuDE wrote:hey krew…http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/29/cec-announces-lexus-lfa-customization-program/

I went to that! In fact, you can see me in a couple pics!!! :-D

James wrote:@LarqueFausse: The 1990 versions of the Mercedes S-class, BMW 7-series, and the Audi V8 (as it was known before becoming the A8) all had that “squared off look to them”. I think the fact the LS400 had a boxy design was simply because that style was popular at the time.

That's pretty much what I was getting at. The LS' looks were not far off from the competition.