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> A Rolex and a Timex will both tell you the time. An iPhone and a $129 Android will do mostly similar things. A Toyota Camry and a Porsche will both get you to
by PopeDotNinja 7y ago
> A Rolex and a Timex will both tell you the time. An iPhone and a $129 Android will do mostly similar things. A Toyota Camry and a Porsche will both get you to work.
If your priorities are telling time, having a smartphone, and commuting to work, I agree with you. But I think the more expensive products you mention offer things the cheaper products don't.
For example, I'd rather have a Camry if I needed a family car with a reasonable total cost of ownership. I'd want a Porsche if I wanted a fast & sporty car.
I think stronger examples would be comparing cheap & quality products that both cater to the same market segment. For example, making a cheap car that cuts corners on expensive parts like emissions controls, safety equipment, and stitching in the seats, but making it look & feel like a Camry. Eventually that a line of cheap cars will develop a reputation for being an overpriced junky deathtraps, and no amount of marketing will hide that.
- LeifCarrotson 7y agoAlternatively, you can make a Camry with the same quality and cover it with glitzy trim, market it as a luxury car, and sell it at a premium...which we call a Lexus.
- seem_2211 7y agoWell in fairness, Toyota tends to have a very good reputation, so this is hardly a scam.
- PopeDotNinja 7y agoI googled "is a Lexus just a fancy toyota" and found this... https://www.quora.com/Arent-Lexus-cars-just-Toyotas-with-fancy-seats https://www.quora.com/Arent-Lexus-cars-just-Toyotas-with-fan... My takeaway is that between two similar products, once people discover what is really going on, will they feel misled? And can people become informed in the first place? In the case of Lexus vs Gotta, I'd guess informed consumers won't feel mislead. In the case of quality Camry vs a junky FauxCamry, it's more about being marketing in the FauxCamry that deceptively over promises is on a car that under delivers. I think I've stretched this analysis about as much as I can.
- smolder 7y agoThe Lexus LS400 debuted in 1989 with a very high tech v8, with the highest r&d budget of any car engine to date. The 1uz-fe was an outstanding engine however you look at it, and so were its derivatives made well into the 00s. Other auto makers including euro brands like BMW had to play catch up. Lexii weren't just glitzed up cheap cars, nor necessarily high margin. There were some models like that, though. The Lexus GS300 was a Camry, if I remember right. And Scion TCs are Toyota Corollas.
- perl4ever 7y agoThe ES is/was the FWD platform that is said to be related to the Camry. Although I seem to remember that these days the ES is more related to the Avalon, a larger, but also FWD car. The GS is a different, RWD platform. Also, in many cases, Japanese luxury models under their own nameplate were sold under the parent company name overseas, like in Japan. For instance, the original Acura NSX was the Honda NSX elsewhere.
- smolder 7y agoThanks for the correction, it was the ES line of front wheel drive cars I was thinking of.