Lexus buffs up Chinese showrooms
Even after a series of embarrassing recalls last year, Toyota Motor Corp's Lexus managed to remain the No 1 luxury vehicle maker in the United States - a spot it's held for 11 years running. In China, however, it's an also-ran. Lexus sold just a fifth of luxury leader Audi AG's tally last year in the world's biggest car market. It also trails BMW Group and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz.
To bolster the standing of Lexus in China, Toyota is turning to the feature that cemented its early success in the US: extreme customer service. Showroom amenities such as cappuccino machines, WiFi, Lego tables for the kids, and airport shuttles for busy executives dropping off their cars for servicing - standard touches among "luxe" brands in the US - took root in Lexus' dealerships in the US during the 1990s.
To learn the latest in consumer coddling, Toyota is embedding two Chinese managers at Lexus' US headquarters in Torrance, California. They'll stay a year to learn all aspects of the luxury brand's operations, rotating through sales, marketing, and customer service. Then they'll return to instruct colleagues back home. "The US is the most sophisticated auto market in the world, in terms of our capabilities," said Mark Templin, head of US Lexus sales.
The same cannot be said for Lexus in China. "Nothing stands out from Lexus' service," said Maggie Lin, the owner of a decorative stones business in Foshan, Guangdong province, who owns an imported Lexus RX sport-utility vehicle (SUV) and an Audi A6 sedan. "I don't feel there's anything special compared with what Audi has been doing. They are more or less the same."
Although Lexus sales in China grew 61 percent to 49,000 cars last year, Audi sold 236,000, said the marketing information provider, J.D. Power and Associates.
Lexus is adapting its models to fit local tastes. "Consumer needs are not all the same in each market," explained Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota's executive vice-president for research and product development. "In China, within the Lexus lineup we're introducing smaller-engine cars favored by Chinese customers."
