Lexus 2009 GS 450h exudes luxury and attitude | detnews.com | The Detroit News
So must be the creed of the drivers of America's No. 1 selling luxury brand. While I have no statistical data to support my theory that Lexus drivers collectively exhibit the worst roadside manners in the U.S., I have plenty of anecdotal evidence: The Lexus driver on her cell phone in California who nearly ran me off the road in Westwood. The South Florida Lexus driver on his cell phone using the emergency lane to bypass traffic. Other Lexus drivers cutting me off, tailgating me or the never even seeing...

Updated Lexus RX crossovers quietly reset standard for luxury and comfort | detnews.com | The Detroit News
ST. SIMONS, Georgia -- The 2010 RX 350 is scary quiet. Frightening because you can hit 80 mph and still think you're doing 50. And that's not a good thing to do in southern Georgia, where the sweet tea is ever flowing and the police wear mirrored sunglasses and carry big radar guns. Again and again, journalists testing the vehicle were warned the surrounding estuaries were thick with state, county and local authorities, waiting for a chance to pull over and write up anyone breaking the rules of the...

Lexus leads J.D. Power dependability for 14th straight year
Click above for results 2008 J.D. Power Dependability StudyJ.D. Power and Associates has just released its 2008 Vehicle Dependability Study that attempts to measure vehicle quality throughout the first three years of owning a vehicle, and for the 14th year in a row Lexus leads all manufacturers with a rating of just 120 problems per 100 vehicles PP100. This year's runner up, surprisingly, is Mercury, though it's a distant second at 151 PP100. Cadillac 155 PP100, Toyota 159 PP100 and Acura 160 PP100...

Toyota Sales Spiral In November Down 33.9%: Lexus Basement Bound Down 34.7%
Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc today reported November sales of 130,307 vehicles, a decrease of 33.9 percent from last November, on a daily selling rate basis. The Toyota Division posted November sales of 114,084 units, a decrease of 33.8 percent from last November. The Lexus Division reported November sales of 16,223 units, a decrease of 34.7 percent from the year-ago month. Toyota Division Toyota Division passenger cars recorded November sales of 68,013 units, down 31.1 percent from the same period last...

Lexus LS fails Auto Motor und Sport braking test - AGAIN
Lexus LS fails Auto Motor und Sport braking test - AGAINThe German magazine Auto Motor und Sport is reporting that a revised Lexus LS has failed the braking test a second time. A few weeks ago the new Toyota Landcruiser V8 Diesel also performed disastrously in this area. Poor braking and stability issues have long affected Lexus and Toyota models in various European roadtests.Toyota recently sent Auto Motor und Sport a heavily revised Lexus LS and Toyota Landcruiser V8. The Landcruiser showed improved...

What In The World Is Wrong At Lexus?
Listen to the news and watch the figures, and there is little doubt the economy is in turmoil.  This is often echoed by manufacturers who lead us to believe  the ground had shifted below them and they were caught with too many gas guzzling SUV’s on the lots. While I have no doubt to a degree this is true, it isn’t the main reason all of the manufactures are slumping.The simple fact remains some brands appeal to different demographics, and those groups in general may be more...

Lexus Says If Approved, LF-A May Never See More Than 500 Units Ever
Almost two years after the concept version's unveiling in Detroit, Toyota is still not saying when or if the LF-A will make it to production. Sources believe, however, that the production LF-A is now signed off, and this long awaited 480-horsepower, 200-mph supercoupe will appear at some strategic point in 2009, with a limited run of sales to start later, perhaps in 2010 or 2011. The recent buzz in Tokyo has been that Toyota is thinking of a 500-unit run with an asking price that would be the equivalent...

Lexus Leaps Forward In JD Power and Associates VDS Dependability Study
Deterioration in vehicle quality during the first three years of ownership—determined by comparing long-term dependability rates to initial quality problem rates—strongly affects overall customer satisfaction as well as customer willingness to recommend their vehicle model, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Vehicle Dependability StudySM VDS released today.The study, which measures problems experienced by original owners of 3-year-old 2005 model year vehicles, finds that, on...

AutoSpies.com Officially Puts You In Charge: If You Ran Lexus, What Would YOU Do Differently?
We started this article theme with Audi and Acura as our first CEO test and I was impressed with how much insight was shared and the REAL street impressions of these makes.  Then we made you the president of the UAW, and again we were impressed by the feedback.So here we go again, only this time we're making you CEO of Lexus.After to leading the luxury industry for so long they recently have fallen on hard times losing customers at a faster rate than the competition. WHAT will you do to bring them...

Lexus brand isn't flying in Toyota's home market
In trying to establish a Japanese-market foothold for Lexus, Toyota has seemingly fallen prey to the same tactic that made the Cadillac Cimmaron such a maroon. When trying to launch a brand, especially an upscale brand, it's not advisable to rebadge existing models and crank up the price. It doesn't seem to matter how good the car is, or how swanky the new $10-million-a-pop showroom is, once an Altezza, always an Altezza, and paying 20 percent more for the same car with a different logo is rightfully...