An automotive version of beer goggles.

 

i will assume i've already lost this $1.....but in fairness to collect Jags you must appear on a drive or for coffee or for lunch. we just have to see the car....I will have your $1. You might have to change a $100 though

GTR never would confirm their time either. Who knows what engine they ran or shocks or tires. They claimed to beat Porsche and Porsche said lets go. Anytime. So who knows what engine what tires and what suspension this 7:24 time was set in that Lexus.

 

[quote=H20SKIER;2698898]i will assume i've already lost this $1.....but in fairness to collect Jags you must appear on a drive or for coffee or for lunch. we just have to see the car....I will have your $1. You might have to change a $100 though


HAHAHAH - Ill be out my friend. I actually made it to 3 or 4 cars and coffee.

 

so an official announcement like they did when they sold out all the cars in japan won't work? if you still won't believe them after that, i withdraw my bet, cause in that case you ignorance would exceed any notion of common sense

 

oh my..............

 

Official Announcements don't work because a dealer doesn't actually have to sell a car in order to call it "sold." They can declare the vehicle to be sold and maintain it among the cars on their lot. Warranty goes into effect, but the car just sits.

As the cars are going to be leases, checking state titles doesn't work either. Lexus will hold the title.

If I am wrong on either of those someone let me know. Just asked a buddy of mine in the car game about it.

 

I have to agree with Tommy here. He is also one of the few, if only, people in this thread who actually has the means to be a customer.

 

Dude, you need to get over yourself. Tommy is one of the most business savvy guys on this board. How do you think he got to where he is today?

 

Oh come on Mark, You mean you don't want to run out and sell your custom Scud and CS for one of these? (runs and hides)

Oh wait, they'd still have to choose to let you buy one.

 

Yawn... I've been called worse.

There is a term for supposedly "sold out" cars, it's called "punching cars" where cars go through a title transfer "sale" in order to hit a quota when no sale truly took place. The car is still sitting in the showroom, however the warranty is now ticking away. It happens a lot. We don't really know Lexus definition of "sold" either. Is that to dealers? True end customers, Lexus employees, what? There are lots of games played in the automotive industry regarding "sold" cars, and phony demand.

I'll still stand behind my bet, but there must be an actual source of data other than hyped announcements from some marketing group.

I'm just curious, since I don't know you, and you claim to have superior experience and knowledge, and don't believe we've ever met, what cars do you own?

 

That's the process that my buddy was telling me about. It's a way for sales numbers to be inflated, and to work up factory to dealer incentives. As he put it, it happens ALL the time, and the more expensive the car, the more you can expect to see the practice.

 

Ring times are not "approximates."

A lot of people put a LOT of stock in that number. It's a lap time that quantifies overall performance just as well as 0-60 and slalom speed. In a car like the LF-A it's even more important because the 0-60 and even 0-100 numbers are dependant upon launch conditions. The 'Ring Time tells one how quickly the car can go round a known course, a time that can be compared in order to give an estimate of handling and capability far better than slalom speed.

 

Tommy knows alot more about what inspires someone to buy an exotic car than most of us. The same things that he is talking about is not far off from what anyone considering an exotic car would consider.

 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...57C0A9619C8B63


Obit. Jim Moran—
This is the man most responsible for inspiring Toyota to create a "Mercedes" knock off, which later became a brand known as Lexus. Toyota created this brand to compete and move it's marketing further away from the humble Toyota brand image. —And we all know that many other Japanese brands followed suit for the same reasons. It's took nearly 10 years of hard work for Toyota's Lexus brand to really show it was a world class product. But now, Lexus wants to stretch it's brand to entirely to a new level. Well folks, I just don't think it's going to be that easy, and the sales numbers are waaay smaller for this model than rest of Lexus line-up. From a strictly business view point it's a boondoggle, this purely a very expensive marketing ploy. Mechanically, the car probably a great car, but...
Good luck and I hope it works out for them.

—Vic

 

Once again I'll bottom line the argument. As the title of the tread says, Lexus is going to "choose" who buys the car as if thousands have their hands in the air. I'm looking around and I don't see a single hand in the air. I talk to a lot of EXISTING exotic owners and not one of them is holding out for the car. I don't believe there are 500 buyers out there NEW TO EXOTICS that are completely outside of EXISTING exotic ownership circles. This means there has to be significant overlap. Just as believe it or not, there IS overlap between Rolls Royce and Lamborghini. There are lots of buyers who can only afford one toy and have to make a choice of one over the other. That being said, the buzz of who can't wait to get their hands on one would be floating around car circles.

Will it be a technological marvel? ABSOLUTELY! I still think it's ugly, it's still a LEXUS and at the end of the day, in the $375k arena badge does matter. People still want to ask the valet to pull up the Ferrari, Lamborghini, RR, Bentley, Porsche, Etc., long before they want to use the term "Lexus. That point was made on Top Gear. They too think it's a technology marvel and they too think it's worth something, and they too think it's way overpriced. I don't care if ten guys die to make every one, it's still a crappy value compared to what's already out there. I still think it looks like a ricer. If it was the new Supra I'd be thumbs up all the way, but as a competitor of the brands with true exotic status, I laugh at the notion that Lexus thinks they can choose customers.

I'm also saying flat out that nobody I know in exotic circles plans to buy one. Notice that nobody has yet posted something saying they plan to try and buy one. We're five pages in and nobody has stepped up yet. If there is someone who reads this thread who is stepping up, and is verifiable as the real deal, please post it here or PM me if you prefer and I'll start keeping a count.