Linas.P

And that is precisely the reason why I don't think it will happen. For us to hit the target there has to be massive build-up starting now, probably should have started few years ago. There should be sweeping new laws giving new rights to tenants where landlord must install or must allow installation of charging point at home, and obviously planning for public points as well. Basically infrastructure should be organised on national level to make sense, but nothing of sorts is happening and therefore I don't believe infrastructure will be ready for 2030. As well charging points are pretty much the easiest part, but we simply do not generate enough capacity (there is risk of blackouts even now, before we have to charge what may be 30 million BEVs), and distribution network is as well an issue. So yes - in summary we have 7 years to do that and based on what I am seeing it won't happen unless approach changes fundamentally... and I can't see that happening as well.

My worry is that what we end-up getting as solution will be owners of ICEVs will be taxed to discount and promoted BEVs (which what was the case basically for last 5 years or so). What I want to see is BEVs competing on their own merits, by offering real benefits, by being really competitive. Not only being competitive when government gives £4000 grant, allows to drive without road tax and just covers the cost from other users. In short they not competing in the free market, so market can't determine the outcome.

This is how the future will look like once ICEVs are banned: https://forecourttrader.co.uk/latest-news/tesla-owners-report-long-queues-for-chargers-over-the-christmas-period/674874.article We only have ~5% BEVs nationally and there are already queues, so imagine what will happen when everyone will have BEV. And I mean sure - more charging points will be installed... but are we really believing government will install something like 40 times more charging points to avoid queues? I kind of doubt it... I think the solution will be 1... what they said for long time, taxing certain hours for road use - so if one chooses to drive at wrong time they just going to pay a lot for the roads and 2... there will be rationing... so when one gets to the queue or even when they start charging at home there will be only certain amount of charge one can get in one day or at one go. I don't know who is looking forward for this future, because for me that sounds like dystrophia... We will have "private" cars, but it will be government deciding where, for how long and when we can drive them. I mean sure there are already limited places where that is true even today, like tolls during peak hours, bus lanes during peak hours, congestion charging, but in comparison it is very specific cases and limited areas. In future EVERYONE will be controlled with BEVs because simply said infrastructure will not cope with demand... unless we double generating capacity by 2030 and quadruple transmission capacity and install 40 times the number of chargers - which I simply can't see happening within 7 years.

This is spot on! Global pollution from transportation is ~10-11%, but private cars and vans are just 24% from all forms of transportation, so we really looking at ~2.4% at best (the spit was something like 2.1% diesel and 0.3% petrol, hybrid and other). AVERAGE BEVs are estimated to be 30% cleaner than ICEV, so if we replace EVERY ICEV with BEV WORLDWIDE, we will reduce pollution by 0.8% WOW! I want to as well focus on definition for "AVERAGE", because the most comprehensive multi-year study which was done to the date (by European Council) collected the data between 2008 and 2014, that is before Tesla Model X, before S Plaid, before Audi eTron, before all long range and large batteries BEVs which are the ones in fashion now. So yes! If one replaces their old "gas guzzler" ICEV with small and compact car like Leaf or Honda E, which has small battery and low range (say under 100miles), then they are 30% cleaner, but that does not apply to what we generally regard as mainstream BEVs nowadays.... nothing about their LONG RANGE batteries is AVERAGE. So when people come with they Model X and tries to lecture me and pretend to have moral high-ground is just disgusting. And indeed you right again - BEVs do benefit city air quality and as localised measure to improve city air they are viable, but as complete solution for everyone in the city and in the country they just don't work and they are not even beneficial. So again - I can get behind policies limiting polluting cars in the city - like old diesels, HGVs and similar. But to have national ban on all ICEVs is just retarded thing to do and will only cause harm. ... and I live in flats, so I know exactly how impossible is to get the BEV anyway, even if my driving in the city would generally benefit from BEV and I would be in position to own one... I just can't I have nowhere to charge it and I am certainly not alone in this situation. In fact most of Londoners don't even have where to park... nevermind charge the cars.

Comfortably... probably not, but they definitely fit. I had 4 adults in my RC and it was definitely not comfortable but it is possible to have adults in the back for shorter journeys. So I reckon for kids it should be fine. Basically the only problem for me is that I am 6'1 and there is definitely no space to sit behind me. If somebody has to sit behind me then I have to move seat forward which isn't comfortable. But my girlfriend is ~5'5 and in her normal sitting position there is sufficient space for adult in the back. As such we often had 3rd person in the back and it was completely fine as long as they sit behind the passenger. Again on that basis I think kids should be fine, adults not so much. In the end of day - best thing would be to have test drive and see for yourself.

30% extra tax is A LOT... and suddenly makes cheap £24k RC350... into not so cheap £40k RC350... so I agree - sounds unfeasible.

It would be interesting to know the cost of importing from Australia. As I said - as this is not common thing to do, there is simply no knowledge/established logistics for that... in other hand maybe with current government direction buying from "commonwealth" would have some tax benefits. As for car itself in Australia - that would be certainly preferably over Japan, because clearly no issue dealing with Japanese menus etc. As for price - well it isn't that great, about the same as British RC-F again, which is just expected really.

I think that has to do more with price than anything else. V8 is often the premium option and sort of diminishing returns, so often sensible option is to take V6 and get as I mentioned 80-90% of performance for half price. But this logic doesn't work when cars costs the same. Apart of that I have never heard anyone why said "I prefer V6 over V8"... maybe I am not in the right circles 😄 I think you are underestimating how long it will take - simply because RC-F will be over 10 years old in 2-3 years as well, so their prices will follow the similar trend - it will take 5-6 years before RC-F price inevitably deviates from RC350 simply because of the numbers built and rarity. But I generally agree - there will be a time where one can import inexpensive RC350... eventually. And let's not forget one can as well get RC-F from Japan and usually the more expensive is the car the bigger is the saving... so in the end of the day after all taxation it may be the case that economics of bringing RC350 vs. RC-F into UK just doesn't work. But that said - grey imports won't make Lexus mainstream in UK anytime soon and mere fact that we have to go such length to get a car in UK from the brand that sells same model in UK is kind of stupid from Lexus GB perspective.

That makes absolutely no sense mate... why import Japanese RC350, when one can buy British RC-F for similar price? RC350 only makes sense in specifically being much cheaper than RC-F, because it provides 80% (or maybe 90%) of the car and if in US it costs half the price then it is a winner. When I can pick-up RC-F for £28k, then RC350 for £24k isn't really good buy... I personally believe that will continue to be the case until like 15 years later. Something that happened to IS-F and IS350, there was time where people were asking about IS350 from Japan and my answer was "are you stupid - you can get IS-F for £10k", now that time long ended IS-F went up in price and now costs £16k+ and IS350s are lingering on facebook market place for £6-7k and they do make sense in comparison, but we are talking 16 years old cars. So I due expect similar trend for RC - RC-F will go down all the way to £15k and maybe even rebound back to £20k, whereas RC350 will go down all the way to maybe £10k... but that is not before like 2030! My guess is that there is established JDM logistics... people were importing unique Japanese domestic models for nearly 30 years now, so they know exactly where to buy cars, exactly what paperwork is needed and that is why they are more readily available than AU/NZ cars. Further is Japanese culture and taxation - Japanese don't really buy used (not as much at least) and taxation quickly kills older cars. In short they don't keep old things, so the values of used cars and demand for them is very low, therefore price is low. Whereas AU/NZ are different - they keep the cars for long time, domestic used market is strong and prices are very high.

That is true to some extent, just having people into dealership is not enough, but 24h or even over weekend would definitely help people to actually experience the car... One good idea seems to get some deal with major rental companies to sell volume to them at discounted rates (the way I have experienced the car first time). I can't see why rental companies would not want to run Lexus and benefit from more reliable fleet. That said - sadly nothing could get me to buy Lexus in UK/Europe today... they have literally 1 model which I consider a car (that is LC500) and from all the rest of their offers there 0 that would interest me. So whereas "getting people to experience Lexus" could have worked 2006~2013 (in my particular case RC-F/GS-F were still available until ~2021), then since 2013 they simply don't have anything to offer for "experience" anymore. I think it goes back to point you made before - NOBODY complains about the quality of Lexus cars, but the choice was increasingly a problem in UK/Europe and few years ago it became showstopper. I would like to comeback to the brand some day, but apart of waiting for LC500 to drop to affordable price I can't see how else it could happen... literally no cars Lexus sells will ever interest me, even as used 10 years later.

Kind of weird reason... I didn't know what Lexus was and what they were about, but I travelled often and always rented luxury cars. Once I was renting MB C-Class and as usual they say "or equivalent" and when I turned-up they gave me the keys of IS250... I was devastated, I felt cheated and it wasn't the first time... once before another company gave me Alfa Romeo 159 in Portugal instead of MB C-Class and I am thinking "damn, not again... I paid for Luxury car and they giving me some sort of badge engineered Toyota"... anyhow I was in rush or whatever so I didn't make a huge scene, just took the keys... and I loved the car, it was way better then C-Class, way better than BMW 3-Series. It felt more solid, it sounded better, it was better on fuel, the sound system was great, the leather was soft... honestly surprised me. So this is how I find out about the brand. My first Lexus came later - that year as I had to get company car, it was family business, but it did a lot of government consulting... so having BMW or MB was not an option because it would attack wrong attention (suspicion of corruption). Note: money was not the problem the image was the problem. I guess Audi would have been ok, but I just hated Audis for long time, never liked that brand... but I knew this little Lexus secret. So I got the Lexus, because nobody knows what it is... those who knows just thinks is weird Toyota and it attacks no "expensive" brand image so it was fine. It was 2012 and mk2 was basically on the way out, so I got best deal ever on brand new IS250 F-Sport, apparently it was some sort of unofficial "final-edition" with every single option, so that was my first Lexus. Well the market would clearly disagree with you - look at the numbers of M3/M4s sold and IS-F/RC-Fs. As well don't forget that many many people hates how RC-F looks (and generally the new Lexus designs), there is running joke on US Lexus forum - "what is the best part of owning RC-F - if you crash it nobody will notice, because it came crashed from the factory". I personally, love how RC-F looks and like you I would choose it over M4... and not only because of the looks, but because I much prefer NA V8 over any turbo engines. The rest is really subjective - many people buy performance cars because they actually care about performance and BMW is just better car in that regard. RC-F is really confused GT car, it is great and I would gladly own one, but it is confused - it is kind of size of the sports car with small boot and small rear seats, sports car built quality and overall sports car looks, but it drives more like GT car, more cruiser than it is handler. And if people are after sports car then M4 is just better... and if people after more of a GT car just to cruise on the motorway then RC-F isn't great either... RC350 is way more suitable for that. I think other thing which needs to be appreciated - Lexus global line-up only works when it is whole, Lexus 100% makes sense in US... where RC200t (so called 300) is genuinely cheap in US, then they have 300 AWD which actually comes with 3L V6, then there is 350 both AWD and RWD and RC-F.... and when you have this whole range suddenly everyone has something to choose. And let's not forget the price of RC-F in US is equivalent to BMW 440i M-Sport, the M4 costs ~$10k more than RC-F. So then it is suddenly clear why Lexus is successful there and not here. In UK when we get just crumbs and Lexus is suddenly more expensive rather than cheaper, then of course they can't compete and become mainstream.

For me reliability is important, because I am not buying new and not even planning to buy new, but for new cars - yes it is not a major priority as long as it is "sufficient". Let's me clarify what sufficient actually means and it quickly becomes apparent why Alfa, Fiat or Rangerover is missing clients and why Hyundai/Kia gained them. For Alfa, Fiat or Rangerover the quality was or still is SO HORRIBLE that cars don't last even the first 3 years without major repair and that is an issue (so that is insufficient), however if car can survive first 3-5 years, then this argument becomes moot And BMW, Audi and MB can easily last that long (so it is sufficient). To illustrate it better - imagine Lexus offers 100 years warranty and costs £100k to buy, or it offers 10 years warranty and costs normal £40k to buy... which one would you take? Same here - for somebody buying MB now with clear intention to trade-it for new car in 3-5 years, 5 years warranty is all they need! Then we need to separate luxury and non-luxury brands - generally speaking median luxury car buyer is way more interested in performance, features and "luxury" than reliability, likewise median buyer of such cars is either rich enough to replace brand new car every few years or leases cars every few years, so again if car last 3-5 years... luxury car owners won't be impacted. Another important factor to understand - car manufacturers DO NOT care about used car market and what people buying used cars thinks about them. Honestly, if you not buying brand new, then you practically do not exist from their perspective... even nearly new cars sales are just "charity" for them, because profit margins are extremely thin... the only reason they are bothered at all is because PX helps them to shift new cars... that is all. For economy cars like Kia/Hyundai and Toyota... the argument is completely different, reliability and running costs is much higher on the criteria list than it is for luxury brands, cars are more affordable so more people can buy them outright and less people need to finance them, likewise more people keep them for longer. So that becomes serious choice. Example of longer warranty really explains this very well - did Kia/Hyundai became more reliable due to increased warranty? NO. So really the only thing people care about is not if the car will break-down, but rather how much it will cost them out of pocket to fix it, this circles back to my previous point - most of luxury car buyers buys cars for 3-5 years and they are covered by warranty, as long as car does not break down excessively and does not leave owner stranded in the middle of nowhere (like Rangerovers), it really does not matter that car will turn itself in steaming pile of **** after 5 years / 60k miles. I understand your perspective, but reality is that people like you are absolute minority... just look at statistics and you will see that 60% of cars are leased and this proportion is even higher for luxury brands. Even the ones that are not leased are generally on some other form of financing. Very few people buy cars in cash and even fewer keep them for over 5 years. Now sure - retired people usually represents the demographics that has savings, has paid out mortgages, does not have child support costs and more likely just to buy cash and keep the cars for longer, however people buying new cars in such situation is still minority and paying outright likewise minority within minority. Finally, I am not taking anything away from Lexus - it is most reliable brand out there, 10 years warranty is unheard in luxury segment and can't be beaten... but as a matter of fact is does not really add much value to most of the buyers Lexus cares about. For Lexus is more of PR exercise to offer it, because their cars are build so well that they can actually last those 10 years without major warranted issues. The big problem that again - most of new luxury car buyers will not look for 10 years horizon and thus all this adds very little value. I honestly cannot care less that ES300h will last me 10 years and it will be warranted, because I will NEVER buys such cars as it simply does not interest me... yet I would gladly buy RC350 with 5 years warranty for the same price... Lexus would capture larger market if they would offer wider range of models, more engine and transmission options and just generally better price... even if that would make their cars as fragile as competition and would virtually turn them in pile of crap after 5 years. It would be wasteful and it would be immoral compared to what they doing now, but that is what consumerism is about and that is what it would make them mainstream. Their current strategy as commendable, but as it is makes them niche players...

I actually don't think motoring press is "crooked", however I think they have different consumers in mind than majority of people on this forum (not all but majority). This needs to be understood before watching nay review - they don't care what will happen to car after 5 years, they don't care about maintenance costs (as these simply cannot be objectively judged) and they don't care that some cars will get more faults than others.. First of all, that motoring press does not care about reliability and that is fine, they are not some sort of long terms maintenance reviews... their reviews are "as is today, brand new car for x amount of money". And yes indeed BMW, MB and Audi simply makes more competitive, more appealing product. More faster, more efficient, better equipped and cheaper, so on the face of it they are just better cars when considering brand new car. Secondly, they don't need to deal with any bad customer service (unless it is Ferrari) and to be fair they do mention this e.g. I have seen several reviews where reviewers pointed out that Lexus ES300h is "total mehh, but you get Lexus dealership experience and reliability" and that is more than fair. In the end of the day reliability and dealership experience is just 2 of 100 criteria and there is good chance you never have to bother about either of them. ... and why this is? Because for majority of new car buyers that is simply not relevant and on top of that, even if they wanted to review certain aspects there is no way to objectively judge them. Even if say they take car on long review (they do that and sometimes drive a car for a 6-12 months) and even if in that period they had a fault... there is no way for them to extrapolate it and tell whenever they are the only ones or if it is the only car with issue. They have sample size of 1! So I think reviews are fine as they are and with right perspective I was never mislead or misunderstood them. Take example of BMW E92 M3 vs. Lexus IS-F... or BMW F82 M4 vs. RC-F... were M3/M4s overall better cars? Yes... they were better suited for what they were designed to do, they handled better, they were faster, they were more pleasant to drive etc. etc. And for somebody with £80k burning the pocket brand new BMW M3/M4 was better buy. Not only they got more for their money, not only they enjoyed the cars more, but as well they kept more value and thus worked out cheaper. Yes that is true for 3-5 years old cars. However, if we do the same review now comparing 15 years old BMW M3 and 15 years old IS-F, then even same reviewers would make totally different conclusions, because M3 is just disaster waiting to happen, whereas IS-F despite not being on the edge in every aspect it is reliable car which can be enjoyed to this day. The thing is - people simply do not buy brand new cars in cash and do not keep them for 10 years... this is simply not how majority of cars are sold and therefore not relevant for the motoring press and I would argue for average buyer either. It is only relevant for car enthusiast who buy used cars and keep them for long time which is minority of buyers and importantly, they are NOT important for car companies as they directly do no contribute anything to their companies.

Brand new... within 6 months 5 were already down, after 2 years there was breaking point where 17 cars were down and dealership had only 10 courtesy cars available and obviously had other clients so could only provide 2-3. There was as well court case and my father only paid small part of the costs for breaking the lease early, because there was clearly a big issues with dealership as they just couldn't fulfil their end of bargain to provide courtesy cars, but he lost 10 times as much just paying overtime and due to lost business. I do not deny they are less reliable... this is fact and that is exactly what your data shows. However, that is still IRRELEVANT for brand new cars! Note as well - one fault is =/= another fault, for example that folding mirrors doesn't fold is a warranted fault, but it is not big tragedy stopping you from driving the car, the engine failure like what Rangerovers like to do is big tragedy... so really the data should be interpreted before used. Warranty Wise data is the best in this regard as it shows both number of faults and cost, which at least somewhat balances between huge faults and tiny ones, but... "Warranty Wise" data is used cars - outside of manufacturers warranty, so that will be cars over 5 years/60k miles. "What car" is more relevant, but again look to the numbers - score = 100% - % of cars which suffered the fault within first 5 years. So only 7% of BMW had a fault and ~11% of MB. Sure that is much worse than Lexus ~2%, but it isn't as doom and gloom as people like to think. And not as bad as in my example above where 50%+ of Golfs had faults within 5 years. KBB does not actually say how exactly they figured it out and consumer reports should be taken with the pinch of salt (they are more of opinion polls rather than qualitive data). They as well list BMW as third best which is quite unlikely. The Fleet Europe - I am sorry but I just can't take source which states that Peugeot is most reliable car seriously. As well they note that MB C-Class is second most reliable in it's class... so who knows. I still stick to my previous statement that Lexus reliability only really starts making difference after 5-10 years and 60-100k+ miles. For example I definitely wouldn't want to deal with 10 years old 120k miles BMW 3 or 5-series, yet I would quiet confidently buy 10 years old GS450h with 100k miles or 15 years old Lexus IS250 with 150k miles. Lexus has plenty of that as well... I received the call from Lexus GB saying "we have event... blah blah.. would you be interested in any car?"... and I am like "Ok I want to upgrade my RC to LC". Great - "what exactly you looking for". I said I want black/red interior under 60k (note this is 2020 January and LC is trading at 40k). Great - "I will check the dealerships that have something like that and arrange the viewing". Called me back like 30 min later and booked-in for Saturday to the particular dealer etc. etc. specific time everything sounded very nice and formal. I drove like 1.5h to that dealer came to the reception and told them I have appointment to discuss LC... they asked me to sit down made coffee.. all good so far... Then I just spend 1.5h sitting there until sales manager came without any clue what I am there for and basically asked me why I am there... So I have explained to him I was contacted by Lexus GB, they booked the appointment and I want to discuss LC they have and potential upgrade. Ok... another 45 minutes later another sales manager came back to me and said that basically they don't have any LC, so total waste of time, but they can look into database of the network and see if they have any in the network... fine, had one red, one yellow and one brand new 500h for 82k, which none of them interested me, but somehow in meantime they figured out that dealership principal had nearly new LC500, so they at least arranged test drive in that one not to make it absolute disaster of a trip for me. The conclusion - they promised to call me back if any black, blue or white V8 with red interior comes to the network under £60k... 3 years later and I have never received the call. So these "once off" experiences are just anecdotal evidence of certain dealership or even specific sales manager failing to pay attention to customers... it is not possible to decide from single encounter about whole network or brand.

I trust you had bad experience, but largely this is NOT an issue for new car buyer. Even MB and BMW last the first 3-5 years and that is as long as it needs to last, again yes MB and BMW are not as reliable and they may have some slight issue which is warranted anyway and just additional opportunity to get coffee and third of the fuel tank on the dealership whilst driving their car for a week. The Lexus reliability only really kicks in past 100k miles and 5-10 years. I cannot see any reason to buy brand new Lexus ever as buying 2-3 years old one at 50% discount is basically as good as new. Nor I would want to have Lexus out of warranty as the prices for repairs really get's ridiculous (my 3 years old RC needed seat repair and it was £4200... lucky me it was warranted). Again if what you saying would be true then MB, BMW and Audi would not have as many fleet buyers as they have, reliability for large fleets is important and maintenance costs are key for the car choice. If large number of the fleet cars needs to go back for warranty work at once it could be disaster for a fleet - and I know because long time ago my father company had fleet of 30 brand new golfs mk5 and at one point 17 were back with WV for warranty works... at which point he just terminated contact at huge cost to himself and replaced them with Corollas, but that was better option for the company then having only 13 cars available. In short - German reliability woes is a MYTH for most part as long as we talking about cars under 5 years and under 60k miles. Yes there are occasional "lemons", yes they are not as reliable as Lexus, Toyota or Honda, but as long as you replace them before 5 years and 60k miles... they are sufficiency reliable. And generally speaking new car buyers (the people that matter for car companies) replace their cars when lease runs out - that is 2, 3, 4, or 5 years leases and cars rarely get's past 30k miles, nevermind 60k. Even if they do - don't forget that all leased cars have mileage cap after which one has to pay per mile... so this cost well covers any additional warranty work needed. The horror stories really starts only when they get past 5 years and 60k miles and somebody buys them "nearly new" and suddenly 6 years old car with 80k miles needs entire engine and gearbox replaced because all the idiotic plastic cars in the engine have fallen to pieces.

I mean Toyotas are great cars so nothing to be offended about, but they are not Lexus.

If this would be the case of 2021/2022... sure I would agree. But this is not a new thing... from the beginning Lexus decided not to offer half of their cars in UK. For example even before IS existed, they decided not to sell ES. Later they didn't offer LX and GX. Then they didn't offer AWD or 350... so it isn't last 2 years, it is like decades long strategy. @Derant and @KentColin - correct for both, one is copy paste of Toyota Avalon another of CH-R. No attempt was made to even use better materials or somehow make them standout or feel substantially different.

I would actually say that the way Lexus arbitrary limited their model and engine choice fit this description. BMW and MB are just not Lexus competitors anymore. Ok RX and NX competes with X5 and X3, but that is pretty much the only real competition Lexus puts out. ES does not compete with neither 3, nor 5-series. LS sells so few cars that they simply not in the same universe as S-Class/7-Series... LC does not sell any volume either. I guess UX sells, but it is hardly worth Lexus badge, not much different from Toyota CH-R to justify spending money just on the badge. Then further restrict what I mentioned with one engine and only very specific type of people buys these cars... I must say Lexus has loyal customers but they are very specific ones... nobody walks into the dealership from the street and chooses to buy Lexus over BMW or MB... as such BMW and MB in UK does not need to consider Lexus when pricing their cars, or marketing, or servicing or whatever... As such if that is no niche brand then I don't know what it is. I guess we can simply say it is so uncompetitive (I just disagree it successfully competes when it comes to new cars), that it is simply not a concern for competitors, but if Lexus would bring their entire model line-up and price their cars 10% cheaper then this wouldn't be the case... as such I am arguing it is by choice. I guess maybe my choice is skewed a bit, because I am in the market for something like BMW 3-series or 4-series, maybe 5-series... what exactly does Lexus have to offer to me... FWD Lexus with single engine option, when I want something ~6s to 60? I guess for somebody looking to get crossover this isn't an issue.

I am not sure I would want another such battery considering brand new battery was already faulty.

To be honest the types of people who buy brand new luxury cars won't be impacted much. It is only working class which bares the brunt of cost of living crisis.

That is as well same point I am making... it is exactly "Chicken and Egg scenario". To bring more models they need to spend more money for homologation etc. but to sell more cars they need more choice. When they sell more cars, the cost per car homologation etc. will get reduced and operating costs overall will become lower per car. Now they have to support entire dealer network which sells handful cars a year. But isn't LC really the halo car? In either case they don't really fulfil the purpose, because the only reason for halo car is to create an interest in the brand to sell other cheaper cars... but Lexus has nothing a like to sell. It is not like somebody get's interested in LC and then comes and buys UX... LC/LS works fine in US when they have every single model on choice and somebody can come an find something that works for them... in UK it is basically ES300h or NX300h in 2024...

Lexus did no become and will never become mainstream with their pricing and sales strategy in UK. They have (it seems deliberately) limited themselves with only few models and only few engines to never break out of niche... and Lexus price is generally horrible in Europe and even more horrible in UK. There are only few markets where Lexus is mainstream - US is the main one, followed by Middle East... apart of that they have limited success in ruzzia (which obviously now ended), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. If we look for the reasons why they are successful in US (their main market), then we need to recognise that Lexus are specifically made with americans and their needs in mind, Lexus offers ALL their models there and generally all the engine and transmission (like AWD) options and they offer full customisation, and finally they are really really competitive on price and competes in every single niche with BMW/MB like for like. So as result for any given BMW/MB you have equivalent Lexus, with equivalent options, you can specify it anyway you like without being locked strictly into the trim options (they have trims, but most things can be specified individually) and Lexus generally costs like 10-15% less like for like than BMW/MB. In US getting Lexus is really no-brainer, it is cheaper, it is way more reliable and they have all needs and options covered. So it is no surprise they are successful in US - they simply offer better cars for less money. Likewise all the other markets I mentioned - they have full range of models, hence they are real market players, not leaders by they are genuinely mainstream where one could choose Lexus if they wanted. In Europe Lexus just doesn't make sense - it offers basically a single engine option (300h), it is on average 10-15% more expensive than BMW/MB, it has strict trim limits which can only hurt, it doesn't have some of best selling models and finally European CO2 and other related taxation just doesn't work for 300h. In short what Lexus has to offer in Europe and UK is genuinely uncompetitive, targeting niche and only exist to be "the other option", basically it is in niche with Alfa Romeo and Jaguar offering funky option to standard Audi/BMW/MB triopoly. Now sure Lexus has NX and RX which are their best selling models worldwide and which are genuinely competitive offerings, but one cannot expect to become mainstream with single model and mostly single engine. So in Europe even if there would be buyers there is simply nothing they can choose from, I know that very well myself - I would be in the market for Lexus but they simply have nothing to offer. The only care they have for sale in the segment where I would be looking is ES300h which is wrong wheel drive, wrong engine and genuinely too big for me. They have no entry level saloon, they have no coupe, they have no engines. IS/GS/RC discontinued, they haven't brought IS mk3.5 here, 350 never offered, AWD (in case of ES) not offered... so what I suppose to buy. I guess the only car remaining is LC500, but that is flagship model and out of most buyers range.. myself included. Lexus generally relies on reliability, but truth to be told it DOES NOT MATTER for new car buyers. Most cars (except Tesla and Landrover) could easily last 3-5 years without major issues and all the issues are covered by warranty anyway, as such new car buyers who makes the market share honestly could not care less that Lexus are really reliable. It is only used car buyers who care, but they generally do not matter, because they are not the ones bringing in the money for the brand. So the logic is simply - bring the product people want and market it well, Lexus does neither of those things in Europe/UK. I assume they are not dumb and they have right people to know how to manage their markets, so it must be some decision made somewhere at the top not to put much effort into European/UK markets. As for BEVs - I don't think that would have any impact in their standing. BEVs are still niche themselves - some 1% cars and maybe 10% of sales worldwide. So what is important here is that 99% of the cars and 90% of sales are NOT BEVs.

Apart of roof, there are no issues to speak off in IS250. Basically all the things it shares with normal IS250 are reliable, the roof is an issue on all old convertibles, but it is fair to say even Lexus roofs are better than BMW/MB and certainly better than VW Eos or any horrible cars French makes. All in all solid car, but convertible is convertible - one more thing to fail and they do fail, just maybe not as often as other makes.

Generally normal polish can get headlights back to shine, I have done that several times and I think I even have topic somewhere what I have used, but it only lasts ~1 year if lucky (last little bit longer for me as car is garaged). If you want long lasting results then the only option is to wet-sand the headlights, something like 600>800>1000>1500>2000 and then clear-coat them (generally automotive clearcoat has UV protection). This would give good 3 years. The lens replacement is difficult, they basically bonded, but not with soft sealant like windows, but rather hard epoxy. The only way I can see it happening is taking Dremel or multi-tool oscillating saw and cutting the off, but it will be unbelievably messy and you will need to figure out how to fit the new lenses again. I assume using some sort of epoxy as well. The big problem is that original Halogens are not great on IS250 and there isn't much you can do, even with clear lenses they are kind of weak. Vlands and similar aftermarket lights only look different, they do not shine any better, so kind of waste of money and time.

Yes halfrauds own and Yuasa are unreliable batteries, both sold by halfrauds and they always refuse to replace them under warranty. I remember bringing the car to halfrauds and they diagnosed faulty battery... I said "great it is your battery under warranty, so you can replace it"... suddenly there is no fault for the battery...