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View Poll Results: If Lexus were sold in India like BMW or Merc, how much premium would you pay for it?
None 181 80.80%
0-10% 18 8.04%
10-20% 15 6.70%
20-30% 5 2.23%
30-40% 5 2.23%
above 40% 0 0%
Voters: 224. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 22nd September 2010, 23:12   #16
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I voted none because GERMANS are No.1

I would compare Lexus to Jaguar brand and car wise but as said by vinaydas the LFA is a great looker and specs are also quite nice now the closed Jaguar has to it is the X150 with the 5.0 V8 but still LFA seems so much better in styling.
 
Old 22nd September 2010, 23:23   #17
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Other than the IS-F and LFA, Lexus has absolutely nothing interesting. Voted for "None".
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Old 22nd September 2010, 23:37   #18
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All foreign manufacturer cars including Toyotas and Hondas are crazy expensive in India and already charged a premium due to overcharging by car companies as well as import duties imposed by GOI on parts or CBUs.

I own a Lexus ES350 as my handle suggests and just about a year ago I paid flat $38K USD for fully loaded bran new car here in US. Comparable BMW (which I know is not comparable in terms of driver’s car but for the sake of discussion 3 series and C series is used as both are entry level cars from German manufacturers whereas ES is from Lexus) or Merc would have coasted me about $43K USD.


Now, If you convert that to Indian Rupees with $1 = 45 Rps, it comes out to be about 1.7 million in INR for ES whereas about 2 millions for BMW (330i) or Merc (C300).



All of the three cars discussed here are imported into US as CBU and not assembled in US. Mine was manufactured in Japan whereas other two are obviously in Germany.



Now for a comparison I pulled a price list for top variant of Camry sold in India (W2 Petrol Automatic)for Pune and it costs about 2.8 millions on the road. Whereas BMW 325i petrol coasts 3.6 million. I’m using Infibeam as a source and not sure how accurate their data is.



So based on this fact I’m voting NO because Lexus should cost less than the Germans as it does in several markets discussed in this thread including US. However, I would go on to say that almost all premium cars sold in India should cost less than what it does at the moment though market dynamics are different.



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Old 23rd September 2010, 05:22   #19
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The only advantage that Lexus has is the fact that they are reliable (which of course is a good trait) other than that there is no other advantage. Also when it comes to dynamics and diesels, Lexus still struggles against the Germans.

Even their take at an exciting product is sheer engineering lunacy, the LFA. An over priced and over hyped product. The 599GTB (or even the 458 Italia), ZR1, LP560 are faster cars than the Lexus and costs less. Why would any sane person by a supercar with lexus plastered all over it when he can have a Ferrari or a Lambo. Why the Godzilla GTR will keep up with a lfa in real world conditions and costs more than 80% less.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 10:15   #20
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I guess you would pick a Lexus against the German trio when what you are looking for is a plush quiet comfortable ride and relatively lower cost of ownership. Also for similar spec cars, the Lexus engines generally manage to eek out a little more fuel efficiency, perhaps because the cars are lighter. So there are people who consciously pick Lexus because of the fact that they are much more comfortable.
LFA is crazy priced, no doubt!
PS: Imported cars cost more in India because of the import duties, which are kept high to promote local manufacturing.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 10:57   #21
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I remember doing a Business Case study on Lexus years ago in Business school. When Toyota first launched their Lexus brand in the US - their product was 20-30% cheaper than the Europeans while giving similar features - it led to the Europeans revising their own prices too.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 12:12   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Your friend must have been smoking some pretty heavy stuff if he paid a crore for the GS300. Firstly, he's bought an old model. Second, you could get an LS460 for about a crore. The LS is the car that's a true competitor to the S Class & 7 Series. The GS, on the other hand, is a mid-size Lexus...no ways a 1 crore rupee car! Whoever the dealer was, he is the only one to have gained from this deal.
I thought the same thing - even with the Import duty, the significantly higher end GS450h would be about 65-70lacs here and the LS460 about 1cr. Magus ripped him off or his cousin pulled a Kalmadi on him.

I like Lexus - Do i like 'em enough to pay a premium? Heck no! As it is Toyota is killing the market for its luxury marquee by launching 80lac LC's and 25lac Camry's! They wouldn't know what to do with Lexus if they brought them in! Same dilemma is being faced by VW/Skoda.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 17:11   #23
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Definitely would not pay a premium fora lexus, but if priced similarly to the Germans I might pick one just for the increased reliability.
Then again one has to consider the fact that the Germans are supposedly more fun to drive.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 18:20   #24
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No leeway for Lexus

No premium from my side for comparable (same class) products of the Lexus vis-avis the Teutons. In fact I would not pay a premium for the big leaping cat either, over the terrific Teutons.

These three have pretty much sewed up the premium market thus :

For driving dynamics, refinement in handling - Bimmer
For brute power and quattro - Audi
For comfort and tank like build quality - Merc

Only that both the Audi and the Bimmer are gaining rapidly over the Merc, especially in the growth markets, with Audi touted to becoming #1 among them as soon as 2014.

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Old 23rd September 2010, 19:03   #25
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No offense, but your cousin wasted a crore on a 50 lakh car.

As someone suggested, he could have bought the s class equivalent, the ls460 for that amount.

As for the thread question;

Till such time that lexus does not officially come into india, a 5-8% premium would be acceptable, that too simply for the sake of being different.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 20:58   #26
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Rule of thumb..

The rule of thumb is:

- If you love driving - go for BMW/Merc.
- If you love comfort - go for Lexus (super soft ride).

No way I would pay premium for Lexus over BMW/Merc.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 21:12   #27
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A premium over a BMW/Merc? You got to be kidding. But at the same cost i guess most Indians would go over to the Lexus, since it would be more reliable and would be easier on the pocket.
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Old 23rd September 2010, 22:39   #28
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No chance of any premium. I would any day pick a BMW, Merc or even an Audi over a Lexus. Even in the US, Lexus is priced less than BMW and Merc and somewhat comparable to Audi. Way back when I was buying a new car in the US and both Lexus and Audi were within my budget, I did pick an Audi. So I am not just saying this for the sake of argument.

In fact, a more interesting question is this: How much less the Lexus has to be priced for anyone to pick it over a BMW or a Merc?

Thanks,
-AD

Last edited by Dr.AD : 23rd September 2010 at 22:44.
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Old 24th September 2010, 01:49   #29
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No premium. I just voted NO the minute I saw the options, without reading any further. Later on when I did read the posts, I found how similar our perceptions are.

We do feel that this brand, though classified in the luxury segment, does not deserve a better treatment. A little premium over the Germans, in one particular category - Comfort, sounds ok. But than the trio of Mercedes, BMW and Audi are in a different league altogether. Not the first time that a Japanese manufacturer tried its hands at coming up with something that rivals the Germans; we have the Acuras and Infinitis, but they are still no match for their German counter parts. Hence, no premium.
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Old 24th September 2010, 10:13   #30
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Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes Benz
&
Acura vs Infiniti vs Lexus

They have enough to worry about from their local rivals to even look at other countries
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