In terms of sheer entertainment, this clip from Fifth Gear judging the Lexus IS-F and the BMW M3 by how high they get a woman's heartrate is pure dead brilliant:

A very enjoyable piece (and it's duly noted that Tiff has to cheat at the end to get the M3 above the IS-F).

A funny story from Singapore has surfaced on Club Lexus -- Lionel Lim won the opportunity to compete for the Mercedes Benz golf trophy only to be disqualified because he was a Lexus salesman:

He works for Lexus, but this golfer won the Singapore Country Final of the Mercedes trophy. This has led to a court case as well as an awkward situation. The golfer is suing the Mercedes-Benz distributor - his firm’s rival - for refusing to send him to represent Singapore at its Asian Final to be held in Australia next week.

Daimler’s defence is that the Mercedes Trophy is a marketing effort aimed at its high net worth customers and potential customers, and having a senior sales executive of its rival there will ’cause a great amount of awkwardness’.

"It is unfortunate that the defendant should introduce the concept of accusations of spying and awkwardness. All keen golfers participate because of the thrill of competition, not industrial espionage," he said.

Mr Lim also noted that notwithstanding his job, he is also a potential Mercedes-Benz customer. As for getting a first-hand insight into Daimler’s marketing style and management methods, Lexus has its own highly successful methods and does not need to imitate anybody else’s, he said. In addition, he has never been involved in marketing.

This was eventually resolved with some sort of compensation, but I still had to laugh at Mr. Lim's jab about Lexus not having to crib notes from Mercedes' sales events.

When the new BMW 7-series was introduced last week, there was certainly some criticism of the exterior, particularly in its likeness to the Lexus LS. When comparing the direct side profiles, I saw a passing resemblance, but couldn't understand the big fuss. Then I saw this action montage:

That's just unfortunate.

[Images assembled by chonnes04]

With the year-to-year decrease in Lexus US auto sales becoming more and more pronounced, I thought it might be a good idea to do some number comparisons as a way to get some perspective.

First thing, here's the raw facts of Lexus' first-half sales when compared to the competition:

Even with the 14.1% drop in sales, Lexus is still managing to stay ahead of BMW. Admittedly, Lexus' percentage change is the highest of the group, but it's not entirely unexpected.

Right from the start, it was clear that Lexus USA wasn't expecting 2008 to be a banner year. General manager Mark Templin even went as far to say "If I sell 1,000 more cars this year, I'd be happy." This would indicate that there was a scheduled holding pattern in effect, due to the current economic climate in the United States.

It's unfortunate, then, that the latest updates to the Lexus lineup are the most expensive. The LS 600hL, the LX 570, and the IS-F are all big-budget vehicles, and aren't the type to boost the unit numbers. Contrast this to BMW's introduction of the 1-Series, and the dropping gap between the two companies makes complete sense.

One thing's for sure, it's going to be a real competition to see who ends up on top this year.

The latest in Youtube user bajabusta's trip down the Motorweek memory lane is this comparison test between the Lexus LS 400, BMW 740i, Mercedes 400E, Infiniti Q45 & Cadillac STS, divided into two parts:

The Mercedes 400E seemed out of place in the comparison until some research showed that a 1993 S-Class started at $69,900, $13,500 over the most expensive car here (which, ironically, is the Mercedes 400E).

Considering that fifteen years have passed since these cars were brand new, it still amazes me just how timeless that first LS design really is. The rest of these cars have a very dated look.

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Bonus: One other Motorweek segment of note is this footage from the 1992 Tokyo Motor Show, which shows a brief look at the newly introduced Toyota Aristo (otherwise known as the first-gen Lexus GS 300):

The Luxury Institute has released their annual report on the top prestige auto brands in the USA, and Lexus ranked #2, just behind Porsche and in front of Mercedes. Here's some details about the survey:

The proprietary Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) survey is the only measure of the prestige of leading brands among wealthy Americans. A national sample of 1,642 wealthy American consumers, with an average income of $349K and average net-worth of $3.7 million, was surveyed online.

"We conduct our surveys with independent panels of wealthy consumers with results tabulated by external analytical firms. We have no consulting projects with the brands rated nor do we have advertising dependencies with them. As far as we are aware, this is the only consumer-based survey that can make those claims. Our surveys inform luxury CEOs on the health of their brands in no uncertain terms so they can take action to enhance relationships with prospects and customers. Today more luxury brands rely on the accuracy of the Luxury Institute's survey data than any other research."

Two years ago, Lexus ranked third behind Porsche and Mercedes, and last year tied with Mercedes for second place, indicating that the automotive brand is moving up in minds of their prospective customers.

The thing I find most interesting is that these wealthy consumers are filling out the survey, though I wonder just what percentage of the mailouts converted. Still, there's something very impressive about ranking so high, even from a sample audience of 1,642.

(I'd like to find some similar surveys for other parts of the world.)

[Source: Yahoo!] (Thanks Dan!)