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Lexus, Toyota's high-end brand, announced the price increase on Sept. 12, with three of its top-selling models, the ES, NX and UX, rising between 6000 and 15000 yuan, with the best-selling ES adjusting by 11000 yuan and 15000 yuan.

According to the official statement, the price increase involves configuration adjustments, upgrading multimedia systems and security systems.

Sales in the domestic car market fell 6.9% in August compared with the same period last year, and many luxury car brands are striving for stable sales in preferential promotions, while Lexus has gone in the opposite direction and raised prices for its brands.

Some analysts pointed out that although Lexus is a luxury brand, it is not willing to live in the German luxury camp as a "second-tier luxury car" for a long time. The price increase is intended to raise the brand, increase the premium ability of products, or turn the luxury car market "BBA" into "BBAL".

Lexus's price increase is highly targeted. The price increase involves a total of three models, of which ES is divided into two levels and the starting price is increased by 11000 yuan and 15000 yuan respectively; in addition, the price of all models of the small SUV model UX260h is increased by 15000 yuan; and the starting price of the compact SUV model NX is increased by 6000 yuan and 100 million yuan respectively.

One of the most representative is Lexus ES. The starting price of the Lexus ES has increased from 279000 to 290000 yuan. From the pricing range, there are both B-class and C-class cars, which can connect with Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3-Series and Audi A4L, as well as Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5-Series and Audi A6L.

Lexus said the price increase upgraded multimedia systems such as LSS and security-only systems as well as G-Book. Some car owners thought these configurations were valuable, but the vast majority of car owners protested.

The price increase triggered protests from car owners, with a letter of apology about the change in delivery time and price circulated online, apologizing for the rising price of product upgrades and promising to provide services of equivalent value. The implication is that consumers only need to make up the price difference. The authenticity of the apology letter is unknown, but comments are abusive on the official Weibo account of "LEXUS Lexus China". Because of the sudden price increase, some dealers even asked customers who had already paid for the car before the price increase to pay for the car, while most car owners said they refused to pay for the car.

For a long time, Lexus has always been different from other luxury brands with the concept of "customer first, dealer second, manufacturer third". However, this price increase, competing with dealers and profiting from customers, Lexus's business philosophy has changed from "manufacturer first". Dealer second, customer third ", the long-term" price increase to sell cars "is contrary to the concept of" customer first ".

According to official Toyota figures, Lexus's cumulative sales reached 127000 in the year to August, up 24.9% from a year earlier, far surpassing BMW's 15.7%, Mercedes-Benz's 4.1% and Audi's 2.4%.

It is worth noting that although it achieved a year-on-year growth of 24.9% in the first eight months, it fell by 4.3% year-on-year in a single month. In addition, in August, Lexus recalled 4715 Lexus ES models because of brake safety concerns, and Lexus was also involved in Toyota's recall announcement in September.

As the car market is declining, various car companies have cut prices in order to stabilize, but Lexus is doing the opposite. In the case of safety recall and declining sales, prices are still rising in order to rise the brand, and car owners are increasingly protesting. Whether Lexus sales can stop falling has become an urgent issue to consider.

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