Word: lexus
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Buick Park Avenue. An old nameplate in new garb, this full-size sedan benefits from a silky four-speed electronic transmission that matches those featured in the Lexus and Infiniti. "GM always knew how to build big cars, so it's no surprise that's where the new strength lies," says auto critic Jim Dunne, Detroit editor of Popular Mechanics. The car is full-bodied, but Buick's design team has succeeded in giving it a lean, light-footed profile...
...models are foreign, but U.S. dealers are complaining all the same. "It's killed us," laments Norman Scott, a Mercedes-Benz dealer in Houston. "Those guys in Washington are crazy." Consumers seeking to avoid the levy are switching to cars whose prices fall just below $30,000. Mercedes and Lexus sales have plummeted 27% and 10%, respectively, in the first quarter, but Acura dealers report no major dent in sales...
...Japanese, the venture into luxury cars is a long-term experiment that will determine the industry's direction in the 1990s. Lexus' success is the product of a lengthy exercise in product development, even by Japanese standards. Toyota spent six years and more than $1 billion developing the auto, and built 450 prototypes -- three times the usual number -- to get the product right. The firm spent two years just deciding on the type of leather interior to use, and top management pondered for three years before approving the car's styling...
...question that Toyota management might be pondering now is whether, with prices up at the pump because of the gulf crisis and consumers about to give more thought to automobile fuel efficiency, Lexus' gas-hungry V-8 (18 m.p.g. in the city, 23 on the highway) may soon prove a sales liability. So far, that has not been a problem, and Lexus meanwhile is preparing yet another challenge to the world's luxury carmakers: a $30,000 luxury coupe that will roll into dealerships next spring to compete with the Acura Legend, Cadillac Eldorado coupe and Lincoln Mark...
BUSINESS: The Lexus laps its rivals...