A Lexus Enthusiast Update

Gecko

Administrator
Messages
4,888
Reactions
11,777
Hi everyone,

I want to share an update with you: I purchased Lexus Enthusiast from Kevin and will own the business going forward.

This is an exciting moment for me and as an active member of the forums here, I wanted to share the news with you first.

I remember getting a call from @mikeavelli many years ago telling me about a friend who was going to start a Lexus blog for real Lexus fans, and asking if I wanted to be a founding member in the site. I didn't hesitate. I only recently wore out the black LFA t-shirt that was given to that group of members and remember it fondly. Before Lexus Enthusiast, I was very active on Club Lexus but after it was sold to Internet Brands, I felt like the community changed, and I ultimately wanted to start something new here with Mike and Kevin.

Some of you might know that I've been a part of the Lexus' community for most of my life, worked at local Lexus dealerships through college, and worked for Lexus corporate for a summer as well. We've had our ups and downs, but Lexus is and always has been near and dear to my heart, and I loved working with Lexus Enthusiast as a partner. From news updates and reviews, to HQ Confidential coverage and the podcast, I've enjoyed the opportunity to engage both with Lexus and you, the Lexus community. The tides change, life happens, and Kevin had less time for Lexus Enthusiast in recent years.

I thought about the community we have here in the forum and didn't want to see anything happen to it. We don't always agree, but I enjoy the discourse and banter that we have and think it's something unique. I also looked at the media landscape for Lexus enthusiasts and realized that Lexusenthusiast.com does serve a specific segment of the Lexus audience, and there's still not anything else like it. So I came up with a plan and approached Kevin about the purchase... and here we are.

You won't notice much change, honestly. Right now I'm working on rebuilding the news coverage on the front page of the website but forum life will remain what you've always known. For Lexus Enthusiast as a whole, I have ideas about new types of stories, different content experiences, and more ownership updates/profiles that you might hear about soon. One update you might have seen is that our Facebook account was removed about a year ago. Meta support has been a black hole and TL;DR: the old facebook is gone, so I started a new one. The unfortunate part of this is that most people get their news in their social media feeds, and what was previously the largest FB Lexus audience now has to be rebooted. It's a big loss for website traffic as well, so if anyone has ideas or would be willing to follow/share the new page, that would be great.

If you've got ideas for the website, forums, or content, I'd love to hear them. This is a moment to think about how things can be improved and make suggestions if you have them. I'm actively thinking through what Lexus Enthusiast 2.0 looks like so it's a great time to talk about evolution and improvements.

I want to specifically thank Kevin for making Lexus Enthusiast what it is today. This website has been a passion project and labor of love for Kevin, and none of it would exist without him. Lexus might not be as front-of-mind anymore, but come back and check in on us when you think about it.

To all of you, thanks for being such a great community over the years -- I look forward to working with all of you on making it even better. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them, though I think most of you know me decently well.

Michael
 
Messages
2,278
Reactions
3,686
Thank you Kevin for facilitating this amazing website for all these years. We appreciate the sheer work you put in.

In other words... well well well... the one and only Gecko is now the Chief Gecko Officer of LE (you should totally change from Administrator to that :^P). I'm grateful that you're taking the reins and are in charge now.

I thought about the community we have here in the forum and didn't want to see anything happen to it. We don't always agree, but I enjoy the discourse and banter that we have and think it's something unique.
Gracias.
(I hope people get the reference).

If you've got ideas for the website, forums, or content, I'd love to hear them. This is a moment to think about how things can be improved and make suggestions if you have them. I'm actively thinking through what Lexus Enthusiast 2.0 looks like so it's a great time to talk about evolution and improvements.
Since I want this website to grow, and for the voices of true Toyota and Lexus enthusiasts to be amplified (and start a movement to bring back the GS... ah juuussst kidding... that's probably not going to happen), I think a great avenue that we can take is to expand to different websites under the username Lexus Enthusiast. The best avenue IMHO is via Reddit, where we can spread news of future Lexus (and Toyota) products and give insights that regular people don't have on different subreddits. Someone like you or @mikeavelli could be responsible for that. Reddit still has a lot of traffic and could be incredibly helpful in bringing in more people. There is no need to do any explicit advertising either, just by posting links to videos/news sites/articles and then adding your own information on top that regular journalists don't have access to adds a level of insight (that isn't blatant misinformation of course) that will make people pay attention to you. With just your username, people will know who you are and you'll have some traffic trickling in.

I also think expanding via YouTube and Instagram is a good idea as well (and I know there's active accounts on behalf of LE). I think also given how some of us on here have connections to different people at Lexus (and Toyota), it will attract certain people and can even help with retention rate. Heck, I do notice some newer people sticking around as it is, so that's great.

Lexus might not be as front-of-mind anymore, but come back and check in on us when you think about it.
This website genuinely has a chance to make a significant impact, especially through this point you said. Sometimes when one has a thought about something, or someone even... they will casually search it up and see what's new.

This can happen with LE.

Someone can think, "I wonder what's new with Lexus?" and the first thing they'll do is search up this website. I feel like this is something that should be established within the minds of car enthusiasts from now on whenever they think of Lexus or LE.

Aside from your regulars that are on this website, by expanding the LE name a little you'll have people coming around every once in a while, and perhaps you'll have people getting involved, asking questions, and coming into the community after all.

To all of you, thanks for being such a great community over the years -- I look forward to working with all of you on making it even better. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have them, though I think most of you know me decently well.
<3

EDIT: LOL I'm actually hollering, I go to r/cars and this is the top post. Thankfully this forum is decently active, but I do think my suggestion can alleviate this issue, even for us that is seeing a decline in users to a degree.

 
Last edited:

mikeavelli

Moderator
Messages
7,014
Reactions
15,564
First off I want to publicly thank Kevin for his creation of the Lexus Enthusiast and his early dedication to the site as well as allowing me to be a part. LE for awhile was the go to site for Lexus news and has created meaningful relationships and been positively impactful to peoples lives. Kevin and I have hung out quite a bit in the USA and internationally and he was so passionate about the brand. As @Gecko stated the biggest and obvious standout is this community was by Lexus owners and enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Life is life and people change and brands change and without saying to much; I understand.
Again thank you Kevin!!

I’ve known Gecko for close to 20 years now and when we spoke about this move I was 100% behind it. Michael has the proven history, enthusiasm and vision for a new way. Change is good and I’m beyond happy Kevin and Michael worked it out instead of it being sold to a soulless company or non Lexus enthusiast. So thank you @Gecko!!

Cheers to you all!

-m-
 

Flagship1

Follower
Messages
422
Reactions
234
Congratulations! I hope to see the community grow and evolve in the years to come.

Hope to see more quality content, such as interviews from the Toyota/veterans insiders that browse and participate on the internet and their tales of the production and development process. Stuff that most folks can share without the fear of retribution or trade secret release etc. LE has always catered to that tight close lipped niche unknowingly or knowingly.
 
Last edited:
Messages
2,959
Reactions
3,574
Congrats!
5dc6576c-9f3a-4e7d-bf09-8f7c90b9eba7_text.gif