Why Did Lexus Outsell Mercedes-Benz Last Year? Look to the LC 500 for Answers
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past couple of weeks, you know two things. One, you know that last year was the best year for automotive sales ever in the United States. You also know that Lexus showed off a brand-new sports coupe at the North American International Auto Show.
Both of these news stories are important, and they are linked. Why? Because cars like the LC 500 are the exact reason why Lexus sold more cars last year than Mercedes-Benz.
Over at Club Lexus I go into detail on why this is, but it all comes down to guts. When you think of Lexus, you generally think of boring sedans for dentists and tax accountants to drive. They aren’t cars that are exciting. They don’t get your blood boiling.
Look at the last C63 AMG. It was bonkers. It was a silly car with a nuclear missile under the hood. It had charm. It had character. It had style.
The line of Mercs aren’t bad cars, but the styling is understated and the performance clinical. They’ve engineered out a lot of what made pervious kickass Mercs kickass.
Lexus, on the other hand, has been going the other direction. They’ve already mastered luxury and reliability, and now they’re focusing on style and passion. The LC 500 is a prime example.
Akio Toyoda had no interest in making the LF-LC concept. It was simply to show the direction in which Lexus was going. But the people demanded it. So Lexus was tasked with doing something that no automaker typically does; build a production car that hardly changes from the concept.
And they’ve done it. They’ve built the LC 500 to be an enthusiast car. It’s bold. It’s striking. It’s a car that you’d talk about if you saw it driving down the road. Love it or hate it, people are going to talk about it. Other than maybe the AMG GTS, can you think of any Mercedes-Benz that generates the same response? I can’t.
Cars have always been an emotional purchase, especially luxury cars. I’ve driven some awesome, non-luxury branded cars that have more than you’d ever need. There’s absolutely no reason for someone to need a S Class. It’s something you want.
Again, you might not like the design of the Lexus grille. You might not like the track performance of a RC F compared to a C63 AMG. But you have to admit that Lexus is doing something right. They are building cars with styling. They are building cars that pull the right emotional strings. They are designing cars that people want.
Not only should this make Mercedes-Benz worried, but BMW also needs to watch out. Based on the raw emotion that Mr. Toyoda demonstrated when talking about where he wants Lexus to be, both those manufacturers need to be very, very concerned.
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