One of my neighbors, a retired judge, seems overly impressed that I have a Lexus. To him it's clearly a status symbol, despite my protestations that it's simply a rebadged Land Cruiser. So yeah, I'm not wild about that public perception. OTOH, I prefer all the small differences distinguishing a LX 450 from the LC 80, so no complaints there. On newer models, it seems like there's much more luxury associated with the Lexus variation. Besides the price, the gaudy grille alone would prevent me from owning the current offering.
BTW, Toyota will have a new CEO in April when Mr. Toyoda steps down. This could shake things up a bit at the company.
There was a point in time when Lexus really was Toyota+ in design. That era is unfortunately looooong gone. In terms of LX it stopped at the 470. It had updated lights and interior vs the LC. Thats it.
That gap is now consistently growing. I really miss that era. Afterall Lexus is the old man i give up brand. And that’s exactly where I like it lol. Give me an LS 430 any day of the week. Lexus used to know they are not Merc / BMW. Now they kind of look desperate as a brand since everyone knows its a Toyota underneath.
I hope this young new CEO guy isnt trying to push the brand ever upmarket. Let people think you paid rebranded Toyota prices. Thats where the brands true core audience used to be. They are desperate to market L to younger crowd now, but old crowd has all the money…