Infiniti Q45 vs. Lexus LS430

[Morpheus XIII]

Heh, that would be the day. It would make MY day. Bond went from Astons to Bimmers--no telling what is next. Nissan? Would be an excellent sight, although unfortunately unlikely.

[Adam]

since there is a new Aston, i think bond should switch to Astons again.


maybe Zondas!!!!! that'd be THE day.

[Morpheus XIII]

Seriously, Bond is ONLY genuine with british hardware... Then again, EVERYTHING is controlled by $$$ these days. I wonder how much BMW payed whichever studio it was to use their autos. Revive the 'Q' Astons!!!

[Chris]

Adam, you wouldnt want the Zonda to be the next bond car, cuz' at least one would be destroyed, and that is not acceptable.

[Morpheus XIII]

Heh, that's a good point, but to see a Zonda with concealed artillery and other neat gadgetry should be worth the sacrifice. Of course, it's not Bond's style to drive a car from such a new company, especially one built for all out racing. Then again, rumor has it that Pierce Brosnan's replacement is coming soon to a theatre near you.

[Adam]

But the Zonda isn't build for all-out racing. It is an exotic, but still has a/c, radio.. the works.

Actually, I would love to see the Zonda in the next Bond film. It'd make every guy with 350k want one. That might even make Horacio Pagani build more, which would increase my chances of seeing one.

But this topic is about the Q45 and the Lexus anyways.

[Morpheus XIII]

Well, all around racing as opposed to the Astons and BMWs; you all know what I mean. If you don't then never mind. I see 007 driving cars like Bentleys and other luxo-sports with that executive appeal.

[Morpheus XIII]

What the... I didn't realize that this thread was about the Q vs. LS. We've rambled a little far off topic.

In any case, most of you can see by now that the Q is STILL being shut out by the LS430. I thought it would. I even know of a guy who was really intrigued by the new Infiniti, loved every aspect of it, but still went ahead and bought the Lexus. THAT, my friends, is the imperative strength of the name of Lexus.

In order for Infiniti to counter such dominance, they would need to hurt their own business by sacrificing profits, and greatly set their car apart from the competitor's product using price drops, and better luxury components. Yes, Lexus would probably meet the changes with their own advancements, but at least Infiniti would have made themselves slightly more well known. This is all hypothetical, of course, and in reality, I still believe that the Q will trail the LS for some time.

Speaking of the letters 'L' and 'S', I find it quite annoying that Lincoln has named their upscale luxury sedan LS. Prior to its release, it was actually supposed to be called LS4, LS6, LS8 or something along those lines. Of course, Toyota retaliated and had Ford fix that detail. Is the new name 'LS' very different now? Still sounds like the Lexus name, if you ask me. On the other hand, the Tundra was supposed to be called the T150 (a step up from the T100). Ford didn't like that, with their F150 hot item already on the market, and Toyota made the necessary changes. Interestingly enough, the Tundra is still selling admirably.

[Chris]

All the mags are rating the Lex highter than the infiniti. Bribery does wonderful things.
The lex is faster, but slower top speed wise.
The lexus' rear end it 1 ratio lower than the infinitis, adn the gear ratios are similiar, so the Lex has to rev higher to maintain speed, by about 2-3 hundred revs at 60 mph.
Fit the Lexus rear end on the infiniti, and we are looking at perhaps 5.2 on a bad day, into the fours on a good day, maybe??

[gang$tarr]

morpheus i don't think selling the Q for cheaper would really change anything except make them seem like a worse company, it's already cheaper than the LS and at that end of the market, high prices make people think it's a better car

[Morpheus XIII]

Originally posted by gang$tarr
morpheus i don't think selling the Q for cheaper would really change anything except make them seem like a worse company...

Sorry for being so obscure, but that's not what I meant.

Originally posted by morpheusxiii
In order for Infiniti to counter such dominance, they would need to hurt their own business by sacrificing profits, and greatly set their car apart from the competitor's product using price drops, and better luxury components.

What I was trying to say was that Infiniti needed to develop and use more features (which generally increases the cost of a car) but bring it down to the usual Q45's price level. That would would probably hurt profit gains for the company, but it make a buyer feel like they are getting much more for their money. This trade off would allow for buyers to think, "Oh, this Infiniti car.. hmm, never thought about buying one before, but it has better stuff than the Lexus, and still costs less!" As opposed to, "Oh, this Infiniti car.. has pretty much the same stuff as the Lexus, but costs only a few grand less. I'll take the Lexus because it's a better name". Infiniti will have stood out of Lexus's shadow, and down the road, even if prices gradually increased, those buyers would come back and remain loyal, now that they KNOW what Infiniti is capable of.

As you can see, what I'm trying to figure out is an alternative plan that Infiniti could use to get around the famed Lexus nameplate. But you ARE right about the fact that people base assumptions on price alone. People are sheep, what can I say?

[Jay!]

Originally posted by morpheusxiii
People are sheep, what can I say?

"Baaaaaaa...."

[gang$tarr]

aright yeah, i understand what you're sayin now..... that's a good point, and a good idea for infiniti to use

[Chris]

The Infinity has an $8000 Premium package, hard to swallow, but I think at this price, it is worth it. If it was standard, and they jacked up the price $6500 (they would save some because they need certain machines, just one assemble line, not seperating them apart according to options), then the car would sell better.

And rember, Lexus is, what, 12 years old.

[gang$tarr]

it doesn't really matter that lexus is 12 years old though.... cause all the cars that where made as lexus' were also made as Toyotas so all they really did was put a different badge on the cars.... and how old is toyota?