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On September 12, Lexus announced price increases for its models, including ES, NX and UX, which rose between 6,000 yuan and 15000 yuan, among which the best-selling ES price adjustment ranges were 11000 yuan and 15000 yuan.

Lexus said the price increase mainly involved configuration adjustments, upgrading multimedia systems and security systems.

In August this year, domestic car market sales fell 6.9% year-on-year, many luxury car brands are in preferential promotion to strive for stable sales, while Lexus is doing the opposite, its brands will raise prices.

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

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

One of the most representative is Lexus ES. Lexus ES starting price increased from 279,000 yuan to 290,000 yuan, from the pricing range from B-class cars and C-class cars are distributed, not only with Mercedes-Benz C class, BMW 3 series, Audi A4L connection, but also with Mercedes-Benz E class, BMW 5 series and Audi A6L connection.

Lexus said the price increase upgraded the LSS and security systems and multimedia systems including G-Book, which some owners thought were valuable, but most owners protested.

The price hike triggered protests from car owners, with a letter circulating online saying "sorry for the delivery time and price change", apologizing for the price increase and promising to provide equivalent goods and services. The implication is that consumers only need to make up the difference. The authenticity of the apology letter is still unknown, but comments on the official microblog of Lexus China are a curse. Because of this 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 owners refused to pay for the car.

Lexus has always been different from other luxury brands with the concept of "customer first, dealer second, manufacturer third". However, this price increase has taken profits from dealers and made profits from customers. Lexus 'business philosophy has changed from "manufacturer first, dealer second, customer third" to long-term "price increase for sale", which is completely different from the concept of "customer first".

Lexus sales reached 127,000 units as of August, up 24.9 percent year-on-year, far exceeding BMW's 15.7 percent, Mercedes '4.1 percent and Audi's 2.4 percent, according to Toyota's official figures.

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

The automobile market is going down, and each automobile enterprise has cut prices to stabilize, while Lexus is doing the opposite. In the case of safety failure recall and sales decline, Lexus still raises prices in order to increase its brand. The protest of owners is getting stronger and stronger. Whether Lexus sales can stop falling becomes an urgent consideration.

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