Whenever I drive by my several local Audi dealers, or have my car serviced at them, I notice an interesting phenomenon--an unusually large number of Lexus vehicles parked in front of the dealership.
Even on Sunday's you see the same thing--Lexus vehicles parked in front of the dealership gate, owners having climbed them, in an attempt to take a closer look at Audi's.
Now this phenomenon may be reserved to the Dallas area, given that almost every other car is a Lexus. However, it does raise some interesting questions.
In attempt to find out why this is and what could be happening here, I visited my local Lexus dealer, and spoke with a representative. I asked him why he thinks Lexus is so popular in Dallas and his immediate response was, "because Lexus consistently ranks first in reliability under Consumer Reports".
This struck me on so many levels. One of which, as we've been over many times on this forum before, is merely the inconsistency and unscientific nature in which so many of these quality reports garner their results, their vagueness, and the trivial problems they exploit. But what astounded me even more was the fact that he didn't mention the technology, luxury, or "prestige" Lexus vehicles allegedly represent. Once you strip away the quality, what's left?
I think many owners (a number of them I personally know), have just figured out that Lexus is really just an average company once you cut through all the hype and media publicity, and thus are switching to other brands--namely Audi. I've heard so many Lexus owners tell me, "driving a Lexus simply is not exclusive anymore", and I'd have to agree with that assessment.
Furthermore, Toyota proved to us all this year that they're far from perfect--more recalls than any other manufacturer, and Lexus vehicles weren't immune from this either(transmission issues with the ES350, GS350).
So even though Lexus continues to break sales records, I think their overabundance on American roads, and the questionable means (alleged quality, service experience) by which the brand rose to prominence, are finally being questioned.