Perhaps not surprisingly to some of you, I see this interview as fairly troubling. Lexus executives have been talking about "cadence" and "product" issues for 3+ years now in various interviews... now we are in 2020 saying the same things again? I know that Toyota is extremely conservative when discussing future product plans with the media, but much like the Tundra comments, they tend to let out an, "it's coming, and it will be great" comment that at least shows there is a pending resolution.
Having observed Toyota's corporate culture for a long time, I was surprised by the candor of these two lines: "So for this year, the LC convertible is new. Profitwise, it may be OK, but in this sense, the Lexus dealer body wants to see more product sooner." For one of the most senior Toyota executives in the world to publicly state that Lexus/Lexus dealers "may be OK profitwise" is rather shocking. Then the follow up comment about dealers wanting to see more product sooner is about as direct as we will ever get with contextual acknowledgement of profitability issues.
He defines "cadence" as planning, and calls it the #1 problem, followed by product and powertrains.
There is a lack of planning at Lexus - there you have it plain and simple. 10 years for 4LS, 7+ years and an IS refresh coming, 12+ years for LX, 10+ years for GX... we have spent a lot of time here speculating about what's going on inside of Lexus, and there is our best clue and fairly direct acknowledgement: there are major planning problems. Many of us assumed, but there it is.
It's interesting to me that he was so forthcoming about Scion's demise being product-driven, but later talks about Lexus and says, "Yes, it's the #1/#2 problem," without much of a follow up. This worries me, because I feel like there should have been some sort of talk or hint about next gen NX and RX being the company's bread and butter, and coming to get them back on track, or something similar. Even some acknowledge about the upcoming LS refresh as a flagship model? Nothing. Later where he talks about the 4Runner, Tacoma, Tundra and Sequoia... a GX hint would have been nice. Not even LF-1? Nothing about Lexus seems noteworthy or top-of-mind for Ogawa.
The point about the Germans is interesting, and I feel like
@spwolf is right on the money. Another nail in the coffin for the GS was that it's an expensive vehicle to make, while you can lease a 5 Series or E300 for $400/mo. Lexus can't compete with that, and requires the price competitiveness of TNGA/ES to remain in that segment. I also think it's interesting to consider these comments in the context of a 7 year old IS, upcoming refresh, and the 3 Series and C Class. Make your own conclusions.
"Customers want quality, but dealers want more product, sooner. I can control product and cadence, but I [don't have the answer for how we fix the problems for Lexus in the market]." is how I read that follow up line. Again, I wish we were getting more of a strategy/solution read vs. just an acknowledgment of what is wrong. These problems have been way too pervasive for way too long (a decade now) for Lexus to still be trying to determine how to even attack them.
As many of us have noted, things for Toyota have probably never been better. Almost all-new TNGA unibody lineup over 2.5 years and he says that 4Runner, Tacoma, Tundra and Sequoia are coming back soon, and touches on the Land Cruiser. Just a shame there seems to be no excitement or fire around Lexus or Lexus product.
