Oh Lexus. Oh Toyota for that matter. I feel it was only a matter of time before Toyota's hurried efforts to fill the driveways of suburbia, and corridors of urban landscape with a Toyota for every boy and girl, that quantity would begin to overshadow quality. What I hoped wouldn't be the case, although inevitable, was that a focused eye on the bottom line and a blind one to quality control, would spill over to the Lexus assembly line. It may already be happening.
Lexus has long been held to a high standard. But of late, reports of questionable fit & finish, defective fuel pipes, and of course the sticky gas pedal phenomena, have begun to mount with the Japanese luxury auto manufacturer. Recalls are not outside the norm for any auto manufacturer and you'll always have a customer at the ready to complain about the slightest squeak, whether it be a Lexus or Suzuki. However what is outside the norm, is for the brands we synonymously link to quality and reliability, to suddenly be thrown into the glaring spotlight of CNN headlines and exposed "hush-hush" interoffice memos. Sure Lexus and Toyota may just be victims of an in-your-face media culture, where nothing is swept under the rug until the media says so, but than comes regarded Consumer Reports red flag against Lexus's newly redesigned GX460 SUV.
I've seen this before, when the Isuzu Trooper and Acura SLX were slapped with a "Not Acceptable" due to roll over risk by CR. Acura/Honda quickly distanced itself from the shared Trooper/SLX, and struggling Isuzu was never really able to recover. That being said though, Lexus isn't Isuzu and I have to hand it to Toyota's aggressive, if a little premature, advertising campaigns that include "Real Customers" buying Toyota products. With their brazen Marketing/PR team I'm sure they can recover from this latest debacle.
I will say though if Toyota Motor Corp spent less time and money on the "make-nice" advertising blitzes and the noble goal of keeping Toyota number one in the United States, and a little more on engineering, design and quality control, their dark days in the media spotlight could probably be behind them sooner than they think. I guess time will tell.
The Guy Who Knows Cars
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