A quick video discussing the failure of the Lexus LS line. I don’t believe that the Lexus LS is a failure as a car, but as a business product, the LS is not doing so well. A new 2021 Lexus LS 500 got released, and I will talk about that here. See Kirk’s Video:
Well welcome back to exhaust sports auto my name is kevin and i’m filming this video because a few of you have actually wanted me to cover the new 2021 lexus ls 500 the new one that just got refreshed basically well i got a chance to drive this car probably but as of right now since i haven’t been presented with the opportunity yet i thought i would i should just
Talk about the ls lineup as a whole and what’s kind of happened to it and actually before we talk about that i want to quickly give a shout out to i can never say this guy’s last name but it’s kirk krefl’s quick i can never say i’m very i apologize but i think you guys know who i’m talking about there’s a lot of lexus freaks on my channel so i’m definitely i’m
Positive that many of you watch kirk’s videos so i’m actually doing this because i should watch one of his videos talking about uh the ls the lineup the failure that happened with it and kind of the sales he did a way more intricate and better job than i can so definitely check out his video i’m going to link it down below and in the in the pinned comments as well
And i’ll kind of address the entire ls lineup but also talk about this 2021 as well so i guess i’ll talk about that first so i have actually driven every single iteration of the 2020 ls500 the hybrid the regular twin turbo v6 and the f sport honestly i personally do like the ls500 particularly in the twin turbo f-sport trim i actually genuinely did enjoy driving
In that trim but that is kind of weird though like that i have to go up to an f-sport to light this vehicle um that’s kind of counter-intuitive to what an ls should be the regular ls 500 was fine too the h was a complete disaster a total failure very unrefined watch that review i mean it just wasn’t right it was not tuned properly but the regular ls 500 was pretty
Decent and i’m not gonna lie the main reason why i like the new ls is because it is simply the most stunning interior in the class really ever made obviously if you watch my channel at all i mean you probably know i have the lc 500 personally which i kind of claim to be one of the best new cars ever made and i still stand by that after six months of owning it but
The lc and the ls definitely have the best interior ever amongst the roses even the new s-classes everything it’s my most favorite the intricacies of different materials the design it’s stunning and the solidness second to none um actually i think the ls interior is actually even a little bit more superior to the lc interior actually it’s very good so i appreciate
That but talking about this new 2021 a lot of people don’t like it actually even myself included i’m not the biggest fan of it i mainly hate that they have the new headlights out of the new is don’t get me wrong it looks good on the new is but usually a car company like the other cars in the lineup follow the flagship like lexus did the opposite here like i don’t
Know why the ls is trying to copy the entry level is it doesn’t really make much sense to me um that face was fitting for the is part of the ls it was just kind of weird i like the uh little peacock kind of like three stripe thing going on with the 2020 headlights and all that like the 2018 to 2020 headlights i really like that a lot so i think many of you did as
Well so there is that but as a whole it still looks pretty much the same it’s still a good looking car i can get over that they did actually update the interior a little bit too which is nice but also they’ve given it the new 12.3 inch screen basically and it’s a touch screen so what they did was they actually kind of ruined that little design in that way because
The previous like the 18 to 20 models it was not a touch screen so it was actually nice and flush with the uh with the dash and i that was a nice clean look it looked amazing that way but this new one because because it’s a touch screen you can actually interact with it they actually moved it up and now it just kind of looks like a generic like kind of stuck on
Screen so that kind of also not my favorite look so two things that i really did not like with the exterior interior design but that’s not really a big deal one of the reasons why i didn’t like the regular ls and the ls500h was the suspension architecture was kind of all off it’s a high quality system don’t get me wrong it’s it’s a multi-link double joint system
For the front and the rear it’s a very excellent suspension architecture the chassis of course the gal is also amazing it’s shared with the lc500 as well it’s supposed to be the most rigid and one of the best handling ls’s and i do agree with that especially the f sport trim but there’s like this disconnect especially with the air suspension and i did not like
That at all it kind of detracted from the driver confidence that you have because you don’t quite know what the car is doing so i did not like that and it wasn’t exactly the most comfortable at the harshest bump so i didn’t like that either they are saying for 2021 that they actually improved the ride quality here so that’s great it’s going to give it a lot more
Of a plush feel according to lexus that’s what this car needs so i’m glad that they’ve implemented the changes that the vehicle needs because the new 2021 lc 500 i did drive that i did do a review on the new lc500 convertible check out that video i’ll leave a link to that as well but that vehicle wrote incredible so if the lc sports coupe can ride like that i’m
Sure the changes that they made to the new ls 500 is going to be amazing as well and that can easily put in the realms of a a new s-class like the w-222 s-class not the absolute newest one that just came out i’m not really a huge fan of that one either but i’d be curious to try out this particular model there are some things i mean this car it’s a failing thing
You know lex’s is this is not their money maker basically stuff like the allies and the lc that’s not what moves uh the brand forward basically it’s those es the rx and the nx you know those three cars those are the jewel of lexis and what basically puts money in their pocket essentially because i’m sure they’re probably even losing money on stuff like with the lc
But i remember in kirk’s video i remember in 07 and i actually used to own this model of the ls the ls460 that’s kind of when they changed the model and they actually got pretty good sales that year and obviously in 08 the recession hit and all the luxury cars kind of took a tank in the sales but uh with bmw with their seven series and their s-class they kind of
Actually came back up a little bit you know with the sales the ls never did that it never came back to its previous numbers that it was kind of doing which is unfortunate and that’s partly because well in the luxury car segment people are affluent they have money and alexis is not the pinnacle of prestige or anything like that it’s pretty prestigious but nowhere
Near the likes of an s class and it’s like buying a grand seiko versus a rolex basically 99 of us are gonna go buy the rolex the grand seiko is going to be appreciated by very few people for what it is and that’s kind of what the lexus is it’s like the grand seiko of the luxury car world it kind of revolutionized and kind of uh shook up the luxury car market when
It first came out with the ls400 but then it quickly kind of died off because the germans do a great job of selling you on a first impression when they started coming out with those twin turbo v8 things i mean there were complete rockets off the line fantastic performance and first impression so obviously everybody went with that and not to mention let’s be honest
The w222s class that is literally the best luxury car ever made i mean yeah i love the interior of the ls but as a whole dude nothing’s touching that w-222 not even a rules not even a bentley nothing like that at least the older ones i drove obviously the new roles isn’t bentleys i haven’t tried those but like you know what i’m saying for what it is that s-class is
Truly a marvel for sure so what are new car buyers going to do who are affluent have money do they care that you can save 20 to 50 grand on a on a lexus as opposed to an s class absolutely the hell not it’s only the people in the youtube comment section the people who watch scotty kilmer the people who are interested in purchasing these cars used that even remotely
Care about that r word reliability reliability is not attractive it’s not a selling point for a new flagship luxury car so it’s kind of a pointless thing that they’re kind of clinging on to but uh for the used car market it’s pretty important and because of that you got a pretty good resale value but to me the things that make lexus amazing is that interior and
Honestly i don’t mind that twin turbo v6 but i do think that has also hurt the ls lineup when they went to that it’s definitely not helping their cause i mean they should have kept some type of v8 as an option kind of like how genesis is doing and oh that’s another thing actually the genesis g90 dude if you’ve never driven that thing the g80 and the g90 absolutely
Takes a all over the lexus lineup and nobody knows about it nobody cares hell even i don’t care the g90 is one of the best cars on the planet it is the closest thing to an s-class that you can get to but nobody wants it hell i don’t even want it i would rather have an ls 500f sport than a new g90 i swear to you because it’s such a big baller card that ls it
Just looks amazing inside and out but also we got this new like you know suv trend and uh actually kirk mentioned a pretty interesting statement like they should have transformed the ls into like that kind of lexus suv concept that would have been cool but like honestly they need to keep the ls though they need to keep it as a sedan because that is one of the
Classic lexus cars the ls is what put lexus on the map so with the ls400 so the lexus ls needs to remain a flagship sedan for sure i feel like that’s you can’t really mess with that because that is one of their classic cars i mean what can they do to improve this i mean you’re asking the wrong guy i mean or else i would have worked for the lexus marketing team
Uh what can they do honestly it’s it’s prestige man it’s really that’s what it comes down to man people want the beamers and the benzes people don’t work hard in life amass huge sums of wealth to go by alexis with the commoners you know what i’m saying because that’s kind of what it’s seen as people are going to go with those european cars they want the pinnacle
Of what they claim or perceive to be perfection driving dynamics technology all that crap you know that’s what they want they want gimmicks they want toys they want the nightclub lights you know flashing and giving you seizures you know that’s what they want in their luxury sedans that’s people you keep commenting that in my videos as well oh i wish alexis had
The nightclub lights that the s-class does so people want gimmicks they want toys they want gadgets lexus is staying true to that japanese kind of you know understated elegance and all that stuff and that’s great and there’s a market for that it’s a very small one but you know even people like me it’s captivated me i appreciate it it’s something i go back and
Forth with you know ls 500 f sport or new s-class i don’t know i’ll probably most likely go the certified pre-owned s-class route honestly if you would ask me i mean can a v8 help their cause perhaps could they go crazy and make a twin turbo v8 probably but that would probably cost him about 150 000 and again nobody wants to spend 150 000 on a lexus so and with
Emissions i’m sure a another v8 ls is probably going to be impossible the next ls is most likely going to be all electric so that’s another thing to keep in mind and besides genesis with the g90 they have a 5 liter naturally aspirated v8 but nobody’s clambering to them you see what i’m saying that’s not what is going to help them sell units because if we wanted a
V8 we would all have a g90 in our driveway but that’s clearly not what’s most important here but i’m sure most people would re retaliate with oh lexus needs a v8 but clearly they don’t because that’s not the thing that’s helping themselves because that’s not what’s helping genesis self genesis can sell because they have a pretty decent price point maybe not with the
G90 but with the rest of their lineup so it’s interesting people want luxury if and they’ll accept luxury from a strange brand like genesis if it’s at the right price so that’s something to keep in mind it’s kind of messed up man i don’t know what they can do with this ls i mean they could drive drop the price significantly even more to like make it be like a 60
Grand car but i don’t think it’s possible man that’s a high quality car so 60 grand would help that thing sell a lot more but i think in this continuing age of brand and gucci bags and you know brand names i mean it’s hard for lexus to continue to exist i mean the reason why the es and the rx continue to do great is because their price great 40 grand 40 something
Thousand dollars will get you a high quality automobile that’s the other thing the es the new one you know i talked about this with why the gs failed i mean the es is cheaper and the new one the 2019s and up they ride a lot like the ls it just doesn’t have the capability or the rear wheel drive dynamics or the absolute speed but as a plush luxury car experience for
40 something thousand dollars that es is amazing and honestly if all you want is pure comfort it actually doesn’t make a lot of sense to jump up to the ls actually so other than the size and the prestige of what the ls represents it actually doesn’t make a whole lot of sense they do lease out pretty amazing they lease out far cheaper than the german rivals so i do
Appreciate that and i do like that that’s gonna help their cause too so it’s like if you can get that thing for seven to eight hundred dollars a month that’s pretty spectacular for an ls 500 especially if you get an f support for those prices but that could be hard you know especially on an f sport but i don’t know the reason why it’s failing though is definitely
Because nobody cares about reliability especially not rich people and uh they’re just gonna go get themselves a new s-class or a seven series or an audi prestige and brand horrorism is huge here so for lexus to get their name up like those european countries same thing with watches i mean seiko is just not going to have the same prestige as those swatch companies
Basically you know i’m saying those swiss made watches so it’s kind of the same thing with lexus i mean they need to bring the prestige up but that’s easier said than done i mean i feel like they already have they’ve done a great job it’s genus’s that’s kind of really struggling with that whole thing they’re really worthless i mean hell even i just said it i don’t
Want a g90 and it’s one of the best cars i’ve ever driven so that’s pretty crazy to say that right you let me know in the comment section since you’re the lexus freaks you’re the lexus fans you decide you let me know in the comments section what you would do if you were in charge of lexus i’d be very curious to hear it i mean i’m sure most of you just say uh bring
Up the reliability and bring back the v8 i’m sure that’s going to be the majority of the comments but i’ll be happy to hear it anyway let me know thank you again for watching take care and goodbye
Transcribed from video
Why The Lexus LS Line is Failing By Exhaust Sports Auto