All right, I'll bite too. There's a reason why I dropped off the face of the earth like
@Carmaker1 and haven't posted here in ~4 months as well and I back him on his stance on Lexus' current condition as a organization.
Frankly speaking, I have lost complete and total interest into this godforsaken brand, and I genuinely mean it, there is not even a tiny shred of care left in me anymore for Lexus. Also remember how enthusiastic and positive of a person I was towards this brand, and when things were going poor, I was still one of the few who kept being optimistic. Not anymore though. Those days are over. I still stand by my point that Lexus' most interesting cars are the LC, LS, GS, IS and GS F.
There comes a point that when the company is totally out of touch with what the market and what enthusiasts (or regular customers?! Did Lexus just forget about their regular buyers who expect more?) want out of the brand and they're just pissing about doing their own thing, there is no wonder that people are running away from Lexus. No amount of good customer service and positive reputation will do any help if the product lineup is straight-up average. Hell, I think I may have overstated their lineup, it's worse than average. Another glaring point is that when you have a parent company who has their act together more than their flagship luxury brand, there is something seriously wrong with the organization.
When you have Toyota, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz for example, who answer to people and actually give a damn about their customer feedback and RESPONDS with a good and interesting product, sales go up, this is literal Business 101 (is it even 101? This should be common sense.). You guys want examples? Toyota with the Camry and Avalon TRD. Those things are selling so hot right now and many dealers are demanding for more to be built. Porsche with the re-introduction of the flat-six (albeit the new ones with the particulate filter sound nowhere near as good as the older flat-sixes) to slowly replace the garbage truck Subaru-sounding turbo flat-fours. Sales are going up again for Porsche (as if they weren't selling a lot already). What about Mercedes-Benz and their new 800 horsepower 73-Series AMG's?
Look at the sheer amount of technology and engineering excellence that goes into modern Mercedes-Benz vehicles for example, and you know what? The Germans are getting more and more reliable nowadays, and while Lexus is still obviously more reliable than the Germans, is it really worth it to get a Lexus over a Mercedes-Benz or a BMW at that point? Heck, Audi who lags 4th in sales have some interesting products with their A3, A4, A5, A6, Q8, TT, and R8 lineup. Lexus vehicles used to be really big challengers to the Germans, and now Genesis, a brand that I love to regularly sh*t on, now has built a GS competitor to the Germans and has done their RX competitor (GV80)
the right way. AT LEAST they're doing way more than what Lexus is doing right now, and I'm going to give them credit for it.
When you are concerned for how a brand is doing as whole, and you see them shooting themselves in the foot by focusing on the wrong things, there comes a point where you just give the dumbasses the finger and give up on them. That's what I did, and I will stay this way until I actually see some life into this stupid brand that I foolishly fell for. Also, for the pillocks who believe this is Toyota's or Akio's fault, you're just allowing yourself to be insane and telling yourself lies that simply aren't true. Toyoda-san gave the guys at Lexus many chances and gave them so much attention only for the old fart Lexus executives to just piss on it and be petty. I would have kicked their asses to the curb, but eventually they will be gone. Also, y'all need to get outta here with those stupid "Toyoda-san being a playboy" bull like some people want to believe. When you have Lexus and their retarded dealers who whore the wrong cars to customers and are confused as all hell when there is actually an aspirational product in the showroom floor, there exists a fundamental problem at Lexus and
NOBODY has tried to fix it either.
This next part goes out to
@zeusus. People like you are what's wrong with this brand, and to a greater extent, this world. Last time around, you thought you had the balls (more like you thought you were edgy) to call me out and it fell flat on its face when I fired back. Well, you didn't have the balls to clap back because you damn well knew you were barking up the wrong tree.
@Carmaker1 and I are people who were originally so damn passionate but even myself (I'll just single myself out here), as someone who is the most optimistic person ever and hopes that a brand can be competitive on the worlds stage doesn't see the brand that they love perform up to expectations time and time again, and I'll say this again, there comes a point where you just say "f*ck it, I'm outta here". You being complacent makes you a perfect candidate for a position as one of the brain-dead employees at Lexus because you're wanting to everything remaining as status-quo. In case you have a memory of a goldfish, Lexus did not operate like this to become the bestselling luxury brand out there, but now they are complacent (just like you are), so what gives?
@Carmaker1 mentioned this before. Toyota/Lexus represents the best out of Japan, so there is a natural expectation for them to perform. We aren't doom and gloom people either, rather we look at the facts and we base off our arguments based off of that. So please, go take your snide comments and your edginess and stick it up your rear end. If you can respond, go ahead, but at this point I muzzled you real good.
Hey
@Gecko, I know I sound like a jerk right now, but despite us not commenting on here and being flat-out annoyed with this brand, we have been lurking and we have been seeing his comments. So I responded, because I have a right to defend myself.
Feel free to censor this one too.
Well written. One tries to be positive, but a time passes when some things can no longer be swallowed.
Just to let you know the person referring to some things Akio Toyoda playboy accusations might be me co-signing someone else's comments.😬
I think that the right person to lead this change and fix things is now there, but his efforts will take some time. Koji Sato has so much work to do and I hope his teams are willing to work with him to achieve the right vision.
This includes people at Toyota above him, because that right there has me puzzled, if they are the one vetoing potential possibilities or was it leaving Lexus to their own devices to do or die?
I will admit that I looked at the Infiniti situation where Nissan stifled the growth of the brand and I kind of mirrored the same concerns to Lexus presumptively.
Nissan made the decision to only invest in EV Infiniti products, however not as good as Tesla and a number of up-and-coming startups.
The Nissan brand is getting all the sole attention and I saw a serious concern in Toyota almost echoing the same thing with Lexus. I might be right or wrong, but something was definitely up.
It doesn't make sense that if some new Lexus products are online that a few people who are aware of what's coming are even dejected or not impressed. It just doesn't compute.
As for the communication situation here on this website. We are so used to the fact that when this was a blog, where we would generally comment through Disqus.
From time to time a few arguments would result, but they would be quickly sorted out.
As a forum starting in the mid-2010s, with the mystery of each new Spindle Grille fascia, advent of an incoming GSF and possibly new 6 cylinder incoming, possible IS-F and new 6 as well, resurgence of GX, possible LS-F and new lofty Next Generation LS, excitement over the latest RC coupe (& cabrio hopes) and new compact NX crossover, the LF-LC production guarantee, LF-FC signaling a segment disrupter, coming off of the high that was the LFA, and expected redesigns of RX and LX in 2015 & 2017, there was so much to hope for. And to top it off, misleading reports of a TX unibody crossover and credible reports of future modular architecture, there was again so much to be excited about.
When a lot of that dissipated and some of our aspirations and hopes for the brand not panning out, it was eventually going to come down like a stack of cards. Naturally happy-go-lucky members were going to get tired of being disappointed over and over.
And it really does not help when some of us very informed on some of these things come back with news or WTFs about what's coming.
The main core message and frustration with Lexus and a good amount of other brands is kicking things further down the pike.
Things are promised in a sense and then when the time comes, they do not arrive or leave one wanting for more. This is why I left Jaguar Land Rover when I did, because we started development of a new XJ sedan in 2010. When I noticed around 4 years ago where the program was going, I lost interest and left the company. I almost felt like I was getting Q45 vibes.
I also did not like where I knew the aspects of heavy handed cost cutting (see XE, F-Pace, etc) nor where the L663 program was going as a D90 owner at my UK estate. I have all but left Jaguar and Land Rover behind, despite my earning half of a million pounds in salary and benefits over a period of some years from that company and contributing to many products on the road.
I have never worked for Lexus themselves, but my older sister's love for the brand since youth and the greater respect for it amongst my family members and using Lexus big vehicles for chauffeuring or family hauling purposes, drew my attention from 1990s to present.
I was an Infiniti guy for a long time, until I got tired of them not delivering. Someone can see why I do take offense at anyone trying to imply I'm creating a hive mind and then tiptoeing around directly addressing my commentary, which insults my intelligence.
I am someone that has gone to school and earned three degrees, so I wasn't born yesterday and have a good grasp on this industry, even if I may not work for this company.
Lol...Interesting.
I let it go because for me its easy to not get emotionally involved in posting. I suggest we leave the past in the past but if you want me to respond, I'm capable but you probably won't like it, and would go into an emotional tailspin. Not a good look.
I will continue to speak my mind and voice competing views (often alone) to what seems like a (more than) plurality hive mind mentality here.
I wonder how much of a "Lexus Enthusiast" one really is, if the reason they refuse to participate in the forums is because their singular views are challenged. Life is challenging, cry me a river.... The diversity of opinions of people who are passionate about Lexus is what makes a forum. We don't need to be ideologically goose stepping as if some authoritarian military regime.
We have people who want more F, electric, sales, luxury, regional, etc... Everybody wants their piece of Lexus and I appreciate that. Despite being a minority opinion here on the forums, I stay on the playing field instead of taking my ball and stomping home.
That being said, I love the GS, drive the GS and very excited to see a new one, especially if it could be hydrogen powered. I question the reactionary responses and outcry because like some have mentioned, it appears to have made a lot of sense to have the GS since its technically already built. If Lexus executives can build a business case for the 5GS, great!
It would do very well for you to be directly addressing comments in response, than snidely tiptoeing around it so passive aggressively and condescendingly.
It is very discomforting (in this civil environment) and plainly insulting to be taken out of context and described as if I am a petulant teenager, with no iota of industry experience nor expertise.
What I have noticed is quite a number of times in your commentary, in which you essentially malign the composure and maturity of members on this site. That's not acceptable, I have never done that to anyone and neither should you. Such personal attacks are not really welcome here.
When other people disagree with my opinions, they do not go there the way a very, very small few have on here in such passive aggressive manners. I can only recall one other person that has described my viewpoints in the manner that you have.
I had been very shocked any of it was even coming from you in the first place considering that you have reached out to me in PM before in a polite manner.
Stuff like this is why I don't bother dealing with Club Lexus at all because of the negative atmosphere and insufferable circle jerk it has become of the same players over and over.
I already deal with enough chaos at work and working from home now, to be adding more to my plate. I hardly believe it is a hive mind here anyway, as very few people have challenged your commentary, in order to maintain a civil commenting atmosphere.
It is good to hear of your viewpoint on what you want for the GS, because I was hoping for this info to be new information that was credible. I am very disappointed over what it really is, in someone regurgitating Lexus Enthusiast's own info right back to them. This site works very hard to be very credible and I hate when anyone taints that, including myself and my own poor predictions.
