Can someone explain to me the warranty period on a Lexus?  For
example, BMW has a 6 year warranty, or 100K miles, which ever comes
first. So, if the car went into service in November 07, the car is
covered bumpber to bumpber until November 2012. I hear Lexus only
gives 3 years?  Now on the pre owned, you pick up the remaining
warranty on the BMW. If the car has another 3 years to go, or 4 years
to go, or 2 years to go, that's waht you get. They don't extend it or
shorten it.

Yes. Great finish but still poor engineering. What most ordinary people look for.
 Here's a strange article on Lexus... someone who likes the brand!

 Why Lexus Can't Be Beat

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 Everyone knows that this industry is about Product. That is the focus of everything. There are, of course, a few other words beginning with P that are exceedingly relevant. Like Profit. And-to a lesser extent, and to the degree that it is lesser, to the woe of companies who are looking to achieve good things related to Product and Profit-Process.

 That is, if you don't design them well and build them right (i.e., Process them), then your Product is highly unlikely to provide you with Profit.

 Another P word that is key is People. As in having People working with you who share your approach in accomplishing the Process of creating great Products that will bring you Profits.

 Let me stop there before this becomes exceedingly corny and simply recap: Product. Profit. Process. People. And not necessarily in that order.

 It seems to me that there is one other word that characterizes one aspect of many people in America: More. This is the Land of the Big Gulp. This is the place where we expect the Dow Jones Average to go ever higher. This is where when a movie grosses $11-million on its opening weekend it is determined to be soft, if not a flop-which may have something to do with the fact that in the producer's pursuit of More, the film cost $150-million to make. This is the land where people want bigger SUVs and regardless of the product, more horsepower under the hood. And speaking of vehicles: have you driven by a new subdivision lately and noticed that the two-car garage is passé-that it's all about three?

 One of the metrics that is often cited is new car sales. Every auto manufacturer wants to sell more cars. More cars, of course, means more money. Maybe. The certainty is predicated on whether the Ps are in order. Otherwise, it can mean nothing but a fundamentally meaningless number.

 The first model year for Lexus was 1990. The brand started with two cars. The LS 400 and the ES 250. Now it has a range of models. And it is achieving tremendous things in the market. For one thing, the LS 430, which is the progeny of the LS 400, is outselling the Mercedes S-Class and the BMW 7-Series; it accounts for almost a third of the prestige luxury segment. The SC 430 hardtop convertible is sold out until April 2002. According to Denny Clements, group vice president and general manager of Lexus, speaking in late July of this year, "Our sales have never been better. Though June, they are tracking 17% ahead of last year."

 Lexus, of course, is a division of Toyota. And when you're talking People and Process as applied to Product, there is no better methodology than the Toyota Production System, a system that allows Toyota to make Profit.

 But here's the thing. Clements said something, the likes of which I have never heard an executive say before, which convinces me that Lexus will be preeminent in the market. When asked about sales growth and the importance of being number one in terms of sales volume in the market, he responded, "Our goal is to be number one in customer satisfaction." He added, "If we bring the right product to the market and take care of the customer and then are number one as a result, then we've achieved something."

 Clements explained that at Lexus they are looking very carefully at how many cars each of its dealers sells: "We want to make sure that our dealers have the ability to take care of our customers."

 He isn't hell-bent for sales numbers. He's concerned with getting and keeping customers. Sure, it's fine to sell a whole lot of Whatevermobiles, but what about when the customers have to take them in for even routine service and discover that (a) they can't get an appointment for quite a while or (b) the dealer doesn't take appointments and so the customer has to wait in a long line on a Monday morning? How will the customers feel about the company that brought them the Whatevermobile?

 And let's face it: There are a whole lot of brands not named "Lexus" that are having recalls the way Elizabeth Taylor used to have weddings: How do the customers feel about that-and the lines or the wait?

 Some might argue that Lexus is different. Which is exactly the point. The company is different. It cares about putting out great Product. But it also cares about the People who buy it. This isn't about having cappuccino in the service department waiting rooms. It's about building vehicles that are outstanding Products, built with a good Process so that there are Profits-and about caring about the People who build those vehicles and the people who actually spend the money that allows those profits to exist.

 That's why Lexus will be unbeatable --by Gary Vasilash, Editor-in-Chief

 GIga