Honestly? ... not a single thing.

Of course to us more informed members of the public, we can raise our hand and say 'err, you're not quite telling the absolute truth there Mr. Toyota' but for the vast vast vast majority of the public (and remember Toyota's target market is the average Jack or Jill) they are highly susceptible to Toyota's marketing efforts and have next-to-no reason to even doubt Toyota because the car company has built such a positive, trustworthy, reliable rapport with customers and the general public.

As much as the 'truth' behind Toyota's marketing intiatives may infuriate you, their marketing has been HIGHLY successful... just look at the sales figures and overall market share that Toyota posses in many markets.




I'm not sure what beef people have with Lexus' way of marketing their hybrid range. I completely understand that the exaggerate a lot, and make it sound like their hybrid technology was developed by the hand of god, but I mean come on, that's what marketing is all about. Now, if they had tried to use the same level of exaggeration and hype in relation to a new petrol engine they developed, then it definitely wouldn't work, and people wouldn't be so encapsulated in all the hype they were trying to create.... BUT... because hybrid engine technology is something new which Toyota brought into the car market, they are simply trying to get as much out of their advantageous position in the market. Afterall, they are a business.. and as I said, their reputation in general is held in such high regard, it's fairly easy for Toyota to preach whatever marketing hype they want to, as long as it's not blatant lying. Like I said, I agree that they're making it sound like their hybrid range is a pure miracle brought to life...but you can't blame them for that because they're out to sell cars and ultimately make money doing it.

Also, I really don't get all this slandering of the Lexus hybrids. Yeh sure they don't give the impressive gas mileage figures that the Prius is able to achieve, but you have to remember that the Prius is a fully-fledged hybrid vehicle, whereas the Lexs hybrids are more like after-thought add-ons....BUT... what cannot be discounted or slandered against is the fact that eventhough the Lexus hybrids don't return impressive mileage like the Prius, they still DO return better mileage than a comparable petrol engine. Of course in Europe, diesel technology is strong competition for Toyota's hybrid technology, but focusing on the United States, diesel tech' is nearly non-existant (slowing catching on), so all this hybrid hype is very much justified and very clever as a marketing programme to garner more sales. The sheer success of the Prius and even the Camry hybrid makes it an almost foolish decision not to offer the 'add-on' type hyrbid engines to the Lexus range. Currently the world is caught up in all this 'going green' mumbo-jumbo, so it's pure common sense for Toyota/Lexus to offer these 'add on' Lexus hybrids even if they aren't the god-given miracle engines that Lexus make them out to be in all their advertisements. All that over-exaggeration is to be expected, ..and the reason why I get so frustrated when educated members on this forum begin to criticise and go-off ranting about Toyota/Lexus and their advertising is because I hope that because we all here are educated enough about the motor industry to realise that this sort of over-exaggeration and hollow-hype is just part of the industry, and honestly, it's just part of doing business in general. I can understand if the average Joe feels cheated once they realise that their Lexus hybrid ain't the miracle that Lexus portray's it to be, but for us folk on here, we should know what the world of business can be like, especially in the motor industry.


I agree to a certain degree... but as I said, you have to remember that outside of Europe which views diesel as their saviour from high petroleum prices, in other parts of the world, hybrid technology is usually the only other feasible alternative to purchase... so it's no suprise at all that Toyota/Lexus are trying to milk out every single sales they can, and at the same time try to build a level of reputation, excitement and even a sense of misconception within the general public to make them think even MORE favourable of Toyota, especially in terms of the company's efforts to be greener. I'm very business minded so I really don't care much for all this 'green' movement going on, and you could say I'm even a little cold-hearted in terms of ethics....BUT, what I've come to learn is that VAST majority of consumers are the opposite... so Toyota is giving the vast majority of the public what they want, or creating a product (hybrid cars) which the vast majority of the public will view in a very high regard.
So in simple, why not exaggerate your hybrid engine technology to the n-th degree if the vast majority of people are going to believe every word you say? ...afterall, that's what marketing's all about.