Tuesday 27th July 2010
Lexus Has A Dig At The Germans
South African Lexus ad rips into option prices of premium rivals
It's not often one has cause to pity German car makers - especially the ones at the upper end of the car market - but the premium Germans have been coming in for a fair bit of flak from their rivals recently.
Hot on the heels of Nissan GB's advertising attack on Porsche, Audi and BMW, Lexus is using the South African market to tear into is prestige German rivals.
In an online campaign that highlights the steep prices of the optional-extra gadgets and gizmos on Audi, BMW and Mercedes cars, Lexus uses a combination of pie charts and Venn diagrams to explain its points. Look closely (or not so closely) and you might see a certain familiarity to the shapes of the graphs...
It might be a little childish, but it was enough to elicit a small titter in this office.
And we might forgive Lexus a little cheekiness - it's having a hard time in the US at the moment, where the 'runaway throttle' debacle means it is on the verge of losing its number one slot in the luxury segment to Mercedes-Benz.
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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I like that, very clever :-) I am sure the Germans wont be to worried, but still a very good peice of advertising, and who knows with all this advert pressure the Germans may drop a few quid as well on their prices
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Escort Si-130
1,278 posts
49 months
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I remember about a year or Peugeot or Citroen had ads targetted at the german manufactures. Who's next? Hyundai, Kia lol
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BBS-LM
3,486 posts
93 months
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Nice play on the logo design, I say Lexus just about got away with that one.
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Devil2575
4,382 posts
57 months
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This is good news for the big german car makers. It shows that their rivals see them as the market leaders. If Lexus didn't think it had ground to make up on BMW, Merc and Audi it wouldn't be running adverts like this.
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pSyCoSiS
1,583 posts
74 months
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Good effort, Lexus. But, you ain't going to be taking many sales away from the German manufacturers. People who are into German cars, will continue to buy them, despite them over-charging on the optional extras.
And, I doubt they will lower prices, either. They don't need to. Their cars will sell either way.....
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glazbagun
4,153 posts
66 months
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Devil2575 said: This is good news for the big german car makers. It shows that their rivals see them as the market leaders. If Lexus didn't think it had ground to make up on BMW, Merc and Audi it wouldn't be running adverts like this.  It will, of course, help Lexus too. But, like Rolex, being able to afford the thing in the first place is part of the allure for many buyers. The people who buy poverty spec BMW's over Fords havent all done so out of a love of RWD.
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TheRoadWarrior
1,087 posts
47 months
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Escort Si-130 said: I remember about a year or Peugeot or Citroen had ads targetted at the german manufactures. Who's next? Hyundai, Kia lol You mean this ridiculous hunk-o-junk?  Those adverts where they pretended to be german, and at the end.. shock! Its a french car!!! Yay I've got a C5.. now I can pretend to be a cock and not use my indicators too.
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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Devil2575 said: This is good news for the big german car makers. It shows that their rivals see them as the market leaders. If Lexus didn't think it had ground to make up on BMW, Merc and Audi it wouldn't be running adverts like this. Ummmm in no way is this true only Volkswagon compete with the automotive Giants on a global scale, the figures below are from 2009 numbers of vehicles sold world wide: Top: Toyota 7,234,439 G.M. 6,459,053 Volkswagen 6,067,208 Ford 4,685,394 Hyundai 4,645,776 PSA 3,042,311 Honda 3,012,637 Nissan 2,744,562 Fiat 2,460,222 Suzuki 2,387,537 Renault 2,296,009 Daimler AG 1,447,953 Chana Automobile 1,425,777 B.M.W. 1,258,417 Mazda 984,520 Chrysler 959,070 Mitsubishi 802,463 Beijing Automotive 684,534 Tata 672,045 Dongfeng Motor 663,262 FAW 650,275 Chery 508,567 Fuji 491,352 BYD 427,732 SAIC 347,598 Anhui Jianghuai 336,979 Geely 330,275 Isuzu 316,335 Brilliance 314,189 AvtoVAZ 294,737 Great Wall 226,560 Mahindra 223,065 Shangdong Kaima 169,023 Proton 152,965 China National 120,930 Volvo 105,873 Chongqing Lifan 104,434 Fujian 103,171 Kuozui 93,303 Shannxi Auto 79,026 Porsche 75,637 Ziyang Nanjun 72,470 GAZ 69,591 Navistar 65,364 Guangzhou Auto 62,990 Paccar 58,918 Chenzhou Ji'ao 51,008 Qingling Motor 50,120 Hebei Zhongxing 48,173 Ashok Leyland 47,694
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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Ummm anyone know why all my numbers have shifted as they were neatly lined up
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t84
6,941 posts
63 months
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sootyrumble said: Ummm anyone know why all my numbers have shifted as they were neatly lined up Because the post editor uses a font which has the same width for each letter regardless, whereas your actual posts are formatted in a font which has a width dependant on the letter used. For example... "l" doesn't have the same width as "m" whereas it does when you are composing your post.
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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t84 said: sootyrumble said: Ummm anyone know why all my numbers have shifted as they were neatly lined up Because the post editor uses a font which has the same width for each letter regardless, whereas your actual posts are formatted in a font which has a width dependant on the letter used. For example... "l" doesn't have the same width as "m" whereas it does when you are composing your post.  Thanks for that
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300bhp/ton
26,483 posts
59 months
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t84
6,941 posts
63 months
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Top:
Toyota 7,234,439
G.M. 6,459,053
Volkswagen 6,067,208
Ford 4,685,394
Hyundai 4,645,776
PSA 3,042,311
Honda 3,012,637
Nissan 2,744,562
Fiat 2,460,222
Suzuki 2,387,537
Renault 2,296,009
Daimler AG 1,447,953
Chana Automobile 1,425,777
B.M.W. 1,258,417
Mazda 984,520
Chrysler 959,070
Mitsubishi 802,463
Beijing Auto. 684,534
Tata 672,045
Dongfeng Motor 663,262
FAW 650,275
Chery 508,567
Fuji 491,352
BYD 427,732
SAIC 347,598
Anhui Jianghuai 336,979
Geely 330,275
Isuzu 316,335
Brilliance 314,189
AvtoVAZ 294,737
Great Wall 226,560
Mahindra 223,065
Shangdong Kaima 169,023
Proton 152,965
China National 120,930
Volvo 105,873
Chongqing Lifan 104,434
Fujian 103,171
Kuozui 93,303
Shannxi Auto 79,026
Porsche 75,637
Ziyang Nanjun 72,470
GAZ 69,591
Navistar 65,364
Guangzhou Auto 62,990
Paccar 58,918
Chenzhou Ji'ao 51,008
Qingling Motor 50,120
Hebei Zhongxing 48,173
Ashok Leyland 47,694
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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Atomic Gibbon
4,363 posts
55 months
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Personally, I don't think these adverts are compelling at all. "look, they're more expensive" yell Lexus and Mazda. "True, but you have given us no reason to want you" think the buying public.
It doesn't matter how expensive the rivals picked on are, Lexus just don't make as desirable a car as they think. The badge snobs are less attracted to Lexus over Audi and whatnot, and drivers would prefer the 3 series over Lexus' utterly gutless IS220/250 offerings.
Equally, an RX8 is a lovely thing, but is not nearly as desirable as a Merc, Boxster or whatever - despite being faster in a straight line. Pointing out that they are slower does not make me want an RX8 more, it just makes Mazda seem slightly desperate.
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Frimley111R
4,204 posts
103 months
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sootyrumble said: Devil2575 said: This is good news for the big german car makers. It shows that their rivals see them as the market leaders. If Lexus didn't think it had ground to make up on BMW, Merc and Audi it wouldn't be running adverts like this. Ummmm in no way is this true only Volkswagon compete with the automotive Giants on a global scale, the figures below are from 2009 numbers of vehicles sold world wide: Err, yes. BMW/Merc/Audi ARE the market leaders in the premium segment. Any competitor would have to be living on the moon not to know this. These adverts don't suddenly show they've only just noticed. And VW ARE an automotive giant, almost the largest one.
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MadmanO/T People
508 posts
74 months
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Lexus must be pretty insecure about themselves to feel they have to take cheap pot-shots at the Germans. Then again, if all they have to offer is rebadged Toyotas then I guess they shoule be feeling pretty insecure.
Still, this ad campaign does smack of desperation.
Cheers,
Madman of the People
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t84
6,941 posts
63 months
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MadmanO/T People said: Lexus must be pretty insecure about themselves to feel they have to take cheap pot-shots at the Germans. Then again, if all they have to offer is rebadges Toyotas then I guess they shoule be feeling pretty insecure.
Still, this ad campaign does smack of desperation. They rebadge Toyotas? You're a fool if you think that.
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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Atomic Gibbon said: Personally, I don't think these adverts are compelling at all. "look, they're more expensive" yell Lexus and Mazda. "True, but you have given us no reason to want you" think the buying public.
It doesn't matter how expensive the rivals picked on are, Lexus just don't make as desirable a car as they think. The badge snobs are less attracted to Lexus over Audi and whatnot, and drivers would prefer the 3 series over Lexus' utterly gutless IS220/250 offerings.
Equally, an RX8 is a lovely thing, but is not nearly as desirable as a Merc, Boxster or whatever - despite being faster in a straight line. Pointing out that they are slower does not make me want an RX8 more, it just makes Mazda seem slightly desperate. I note that you have chosen to ignore the Lexus IS-F which is extremely fast and a good alternative to the C63 AMG or M3, as reported by many test drivers. http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/05/review-2009-lex...England is about the largest importer of German cars we love them here but in the grand scheme of things the German companies do far worse in other markets, we tend to have terrible badge snobbery and so refuse to look at other cars for instance Skoda is currently the world car company of the year but how many want a Skoda. I remember a test (I think it was run by What Car) where they got ten saloons and debadged them all and then got 12 members of the public to drive them and choose their favourites, i think it was 11 of 12 panelists chose the then new Skoda VRS over BMW's, Mercs and Audi's not one person said then would buy it once they knew it was a Skoda even though they thought it was the best.
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sootyrumble
Original Poster
295 posts
55 months
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Frimley111R said: sootyrumble said: Devil2575 said: This is good news for the big german car makers. It shows that their rivals see them as the market leaders. If Lexus didn't think it had ground to make up on BMW, Merc and Audi it wouldn't be running adverts like this. Ummmm in no way is this true only Volkswagon compete with the automotive Giants on a global scale, the figures below are from 2009 numbers of vehicles sold world wide: Err, yes. BMW/Merc/Audi ARE the market leaders in the premium segment. Any competitor would have to be living on the moon not to know this. These adverts don't suddenly show they've only just noticed. And VW ARE an automotive giant, almost the largest one. In europe this is true, but take their sales outside of Europe and they are much more comparable to other brands. In England as i previously stated they dominate the market but i have been talking on a Global scale here, i would be interested to see how many BMW's, Audi's, Merc's and Lexus were sold in North America for instance
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