BusinessWeek has a story in this week’s magazine about the issues Lexus is having establishing the brand in Japan:

Although Lexus hit American showrooms 19 years ago and has been the top-selling luxury nameplate in the U.S. since 2000, it didn’t arrive in Japan until 2005. By that time German brands dominated the high end, and Lexus has had a tough time getting a toehold, reaching only 60% of Toyota’s initial sales projections. In 2007, Lexus moved 34,800 cars—about what it sold in December alone in the U.S.—and sales so far this year are down.

Worse, the buzz Toyota created for Lexus may have benefited the Germans…”The introduction of Lexus is energizing the luxury car market,” says Ashvin Chotai, an independent auto consultant. But few customers have steered away from the German makes. Chotai says 80% of early Lexus buyers were former Toyota drivers; only 5% came from Mercedes or BMW.

Considering Lexus has only been in Japan since 2005, it doesn’t seem all that surprising that it would struggle to establish a foothold, but I think the center of the issue is the fact that it’s a Japanese company, and would be expected to do better in its home country.

The truth of the matter is, up until 2005, Lexus cars were sold in Japan under the Toyota nameplate, the GS was the Toyota Aristo, the SC was the Toyota Soarer, and so on. Then, after the switch, the same car saw a price increase of 20%, which had to be confusing for the Japanese customer, even a little off-putting. This will take a few years to fade, until Lexus stands on its own.

Another month, another porn star cease-and-desist notice sent out by Lexus. This time around, European model Lea Lexus was served papers (NSW link) to change her name, which she did almost immediately.

This is the third legal action sent to a porn star in less than a year. It started with Detroit-based Lexus Cash, then it was a Swiss gay porn actor who tried to justify his name by saying Lexus was the name of a Greek god. Both of these cases are still ongoing.

This is all well-and-good when it’s an assumed stage name, but what happens when all the Lexus babies grow up? According to Baby Names World, 5,671 girls were named Lexus in the USA since 1997, and the yearly rate has only been increasing. It still holds that Lexus is a Federal Trademark, but it seems like a bit of a grey area.

(Thanks to AlieN for both the news tip and the image used above!)

Normally, a car raffle wouldn’t be anything to post about, but they do it differently in Dubai. The Lexus Mega Raffle, which will be held during Dubai’s annual Shopping Festival, will see an ES 350 and a RX 350 given to one winner every day for 32 days, though they can opt instead for a cash prize of $100,000 in a number of different currencies.

This press release explains it more succinctly:

Ibrahim Saleh, Chief Operating Officer of DSF explained that the 2008 Lexus Mega Raffle would be a special edition in terms of the excitement and the value of prizes. “While two brand new Lexus ES 350 and RX 350 models would be given daily to one winner, the same winner would have the chance to take home 100,000 in cash but in a currency he or she would pick through another draw.”

“There will be 32 currencies to pick from - ranging between the Pound Sterling, US Dollar, and the Euro, to the Turkish Lira, Argentinean Pesos and the Iranian Tomman, among other international currencies. The winner might thus take home a cash prize of the equivalent of AED 400 or even AED 750,000,” added Saleh.

Now that’s some raffle, but considering the location, it’s not really all that hard to believe.

[Source: Dubai City Guide]

For the second time this year, Lexus finds itself in a trademark battle with a porn star. Earlier this year, it was the Detroit-based Lexus Cash, and now it’s a Swiss gay porn actor that simply goes by Lexus.

Seems like an open-and-closed case, except the actor is claiming his moniker comes from a Greek God:

Grangier, who says his SpunkLand star selected his stage name in reference to the Greek god Lexus and not the Toyota-produced luxury vehicle…”If Eboys Studio and Toyota Motors cannot reach an agreement,” he added, “Eboys Studio will have no other choice but to go to legal action. We will defend our case and our rights. A judge would have to decide if such [a] trademark can prohibit us [from using] the name of a Greek god in our movies.”

Considering Lexus was a made-up word, I’m not sure where the Greek god angle is coming from. Nothing from Google suggests otherwise, unless you count an entry in the Uncyclopedia, and somehow I don’t think that’s going to hold much weight in court.

[Source: Gaywired]

Lexus has announced a recall of the 2006 editions of the GS 300, IS 250 and the IS 350, in regards to a problem with the fuel pipe design.

Over time, a crack may form in fuel pipes located in the engine compartment, the company said today in a statement.

The problem is blamed on high-stress areas that may have been created during the manufacturing process that when combined with corrosive agents, such as fuel, can form a crack, leading to fuel leakage.

There’s only been one case reported, and no accidents have occurred. Affected owners should get get a notice in the mail early next month.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]

The news today is that the AWD versions of the Lexus GS, along with two Toyotas, have been dropped from Consumer Reports’ 2007 Recommended list. The net result, Toyota as a whole (including Lexus and Scion) has dropped from first overall to third, behind Honda and Subaru.

What were the problems with the AWD GS, which now ranks Below-Average? Consumer Reports asserts that the drop is due to the “accessories and audio system in the all-wheel-drive Lexus GS sedan”, which makes very little sense, as the AWD and RWD both share the same components. For some background, the prevailing complaint among Club Lexus GS owners is of creaks and rattles, as well as overall interior material quality, but nothing to add any weight to CR’s reasoning.

What I found startling is that Consumer Reports was essentially giving all Toyota models a free-pass to their Recommended list until now:

Still, because of these findings, CR will no longer recommend any new or redesigned Toyota-built models without reliability data on a specific design. Previously, new and redesigned Toyota models were recommended because of the automaker’s excellent track record, even if CR didn’t have sufficient reliability data on the new model. If Toyota returns to its previous record of outstanding overall reliability, CR may resume this practice. Typically, CR will only recommend a vehicle if the magazine has at least one year of reliability data for that specific model.

Seems like a bad practice to me, recommending any car on reputation alone, and I’m glad to see them discontinue this behavior.

[Source: Consumer Reports]