Some commentary:
You can call then dull tarted up Toyotas, you can insist that Lexus isn't a "real" luxury automaker with a real history and heritage, you can say what you want: Lexus brand cars are nearly flawless luxury automobiles offered at very reasonable prices. The market has spoken, and I can't say I disagree.
Toyota redefined the luxury market with Lexus, forcing brands like Mercedes-Benz--once out of reach to most people--to dumb down their offerings so that any average college kid could buy one.
Was that a good thing? I don't think so, but once it established itself by appealing to the masses while simultaneously offering its remarkable LS400, Lexus went on to follow its "passionate pursuit of perfection". Maybe it's just me, but every Lexus I've ever driven (after '99 or 2000 or so) deeply impressed me in terms of luxurious appointments, comfort, quiet, engine strength, and in some cases, performance. In each case, the price of the car turned out to be thousands less than what I would expect to pay.
Lexus got to where they got because they were relentless, IMO. Good for them.
Now, I prefer my Cadillacs--don't get me wrong. In fact, the article alludes to the fact that Cadillac is resurging, and implies that its resurgence is modeled after Toyota's success with Lexus. Cadillac has come back relentlessly, with one blow after another since model year '02--revamped Escalade, EXT, ESV, CTS, SRX, XLR, and soon, CTS-V, revamped STS, and soon after, V12 Escalade-V, STS-V, and so-on.
Cadillac is on the kind of product tear that Lexus built its success on.
And since we know that Lexus isn't about to allow its momentum to slow, I think we can arrive at the same conclusion Bob Lutz arrived at: the future battleground of luxury cars will be Cadillac vs. Lexus.
I think BMW will go off into its own luxury niche, focusing on "performance luxury", Mercedes-Benz is losing its way much like Cadillac did in the 80's, Lincoln seems to have given up, brands like Jaguar don't seem to be interested in being top players.
At the same time, Infiniti also seems to be on a tear of its own, and I believe Acura will wake up one of these days and realize it can be a real player, so I consider these wildcards; but I don't believe either one is as committed or as able to pursue ultimacy to the extent that GM and Toyota can with their respective luxury brands.
So again, I think Lutz pegged it: it's Cadillac vs. Lexus.
You can call then dull tarted up Toyotas, you can insist that Lexus isn't a "real" luxury automaker with a real history and heritage, you can say what you want: Lexus brand cars are nearly flawless luxury automobiles offered at very reasonable prices. The market has spoken, and I can't say I disagree.
Toyota redefined the luxury market with Lexus, forcing brands like Mercedes-Benz--once out of reach to most people--to dumb down their offerings so that any average college kid could buy one.
Was that a good thing? I don't think so, but once it established itself by appealing to the masses while simultaneously offering its remarkable LS400, Lexus went on to follow its "passionate pursuit of perfection". Maybe it's just me, but every Lexus I've ever driven (after '99 or 2000 or so) deeply impressed me in terms of luxurious appointments, comfort, quiet, engine strength, and in some cases, performance. In each case, the price of the car turned out to be thousands less than what I would expect to pay.
Lexus got to where they got because they were relentless, IMO. Good for them.
Now, I prefer my Cadillacs--don't get me wrong. In fact, the article alludes to the fact that Cadillac is resurging, and implies that its resurgence is modeled after Toyota's success with Lexus. Cadillac has come back relentlessly, with one blow after another since model year '02--revamped Escalade, EXT, ESV, CTS, SRX, XLR, and soon, CTS-V, revamped STS, and soon after, V12 Escalade-V, STS-V, and so-on.
Cadillac is on the kind of product tear that Lexus built its success on.
And since we know that Lexus isn't about to allow its momentum to slow, I think we can arrive at the same conclusion Bob Lutz arrived at: the future battleground of luxury cars will be Cadillac vs. Lexus.
I think BMW will go off into its own luxury niche, focusing on "performance luxury", Mercedes-Benz is losing its way much like Cadillac did in the 80's, Lincoln seems to have given up, brands like Jaguar don't seem to be interested in being top players.
At the same time, Infiniti also seems to be on a tear of its own, and I believe Acura will wake up one of these days and realize it can be a real player, so I consider these wildcards; but I don't believe either one is as committed or as able to pursue ultimacy to the extent that GM and Toyota can with their respective luxury brands.
So again, I think Lutz pegged it: it's Cadillac vs. Lexus.