Lexus New Ad. Not to much for Tesla to worry about

[Jason71]

Has anyone seen the new Lexus Ad?

If not it's only 30 seconds so if you fancy a laugh take a look.
spoiler alert below
Is it just me or is marketing a "self charging" hybrid as if the ability to "self charge" makes it the best thing ever smack of desperation and is a little disingenuous?

Edit

turns out Norway agrees with me :
Norway tells Toyota to stop calling hybrid cars “self-charging”

 

[philgods]

Yes absolute BS.
Wouldn't be surprised if the term 'self-charging hybrid' gets banned here in the UK too.

DOI: We have the Lexus UX - does about 45mpg, not the claimed 69!

 

[j1mgg]

I have seen this on TV slot recently, self charging hybrid. They are actually shooting themselves in the foot by not being able to plug them in(maybe they can), it would better advertised as the electric car that always has a backup.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

The reason I sold my Prius Plug in when I did was driven by the ludicrous "self-charging" crap in their adverts. Despite having owned 4 Toyotas over the years, including a couple of hybrids and a plug in hybrid, nothing would induce me to buy another one. The cars are well made and reliable, Toyota service was excellent, but I just couldn't stomach that "self-charging" crap; made me feel ashamed to be seen driving around in the thing.

 

[nightowl]

I keep seeing this ad and mutter comments about it every time.

 

[Keeper]

Should be "self harming" - its still got an exhaust pumping out all kinds of horrible things. Clever cgi on the actual advert though.

 

[Jason71]

It's the smug way she says. "A small detail for those who see a bigger picture" bit that annoys me." What does that even mean? it's more at big point for those who don't know any better. which is literally the opposite.

well that and " two sources of power petrol and electric". Surely "electric" is not a source of power. Petrol is a fuel or a source of Energy. The equivalent in a BEV would be Battery or maybe Electricity but to me "electric just sounds wrong. Electric is the drive train not the source of power. I appreciate this last bit is just pedantry but she already annoyed me so.....

 

[tsh2]

I blocked lexus on twitter as a result of this stupid claim.

 

[Ironhead]

Yeah, but let's face it, they all do it - manufacturers make wildly exaggerated claims and falsehoods as much as they can get away with to promote their particular product.

Tesla are no different with their ridiculous claims of 348 mile range from the awd lr when in reality, you're not going to get even close to that and at certain times you may not even get half that. Yes, you can criticise the the ice car makers for also bumping up their mpg figures in the same vein but it matters significantly more in an ev as, due to the way they refuel, range is much more of a key factor when deciding whether to buy or not.

I test drove the model 3 from Knutsford a few weeks back and absolutely loved the car. It was exciting, fast, futuristic, crazy - in a good way, and I was so hoping that it would be a replacement for my ageing RX400h but sadly, it just isn't screwed together well enough for me to invest.

I need a car that will be a reliable replacement for the RX as a family car that my wife will probably do the majority of miles in but I can see from reading the posts on this forum that the build quality just isn't up to par. At the moment Tesla can only dream about producing a car that is as well made as a Lexus.

I realise now that I, like everybody else, is going to have to go electric at some point. Every time you switch the telly on there is another electric car announced. I do hope things change with Tesla, and I will be reassessing the situation when the model Y is fully available but until then....

 

[philgods]

ASA might investigate if anyone we're to make a complaint........
Make a complaint

 

[Jason71]

Yeah, but let's face it, they all do it - manufacturers make wildly exaggerated claims and falsehoods as much as they can get away with to promote their particular product.

Tesla are no different with their ridiculous claims of 348 mile range from the awd lr when in reality, you're not going to get even close to that and at certain times you may not even get half that. Yes, you can criticise the the ice car makers for also bumping up their mpg figures in the same vein but it matters significantly more in an ev as, due to the way they refuel, range is much more of a key factor when deciding whether to buy or not.

I test drove the model 3 from Knutsford a few weeks back and absolutely loved the car. It was exciting, fast, futuristic, crazy - in a good way, and I was so hoping that it would be a replacement for my ageing RX400h but sadly, it just isn't screwed together well enough for me to invest.

I need a car that will be a reliable replacement for the RX as a family car that my wife will probably do the majority of miles in but I can see from reading the posts on this forum that the build quality just isn't up to par. At the moment Tesla can only dream about producing a car that is as well made as a Lexus.

I realise now that I, like everybody else, is going to have to go electric at some point. Every time you switch the telly on there is another electric car announced. I do hope things change with Tesla, and I will be reassessing the situation when the model Y is fully available but until then....

I am no tesla Fan Boi / apologist but isnt the 348miles the official WLTP range? in which case its not really Tesla that is at fault its the WLTP test parameters. Yes Tesla could choose not to use that figure on their site and and just use the EPA range which is more realistic , assuming its not a legal requirement to quote it. But if everyone else is using it and you use a more pessimistic figure you are shooting yourself in the foot.
The only really value of the WLTP range is to allow 2 EV's to be compared. as a measure of real world range its pointless. Sadly most people don't know this. It's the EV equivalent of your fuel consumption at a constant 56mph in an ICE.
I am also not going to defend tesla build quality except to say that forums always show the worst case since people show up to complain or get help rarely does anyone post just to say how great their car is (though a few do and its a bit annoying sometimes tbh )
Personally speaking I am 3000 miles into M3 ownership and my only issue is that a very large puddle hit at significant speed has damaged one of the under floor aero panels ( not great but easily fixed I hope). no paint defects, no leaks. literally nothing else to report.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

Unfortunately:-

* ASA have already adjudicated on this - no problem as far as they're concerned Toyota (GB) plc
* AFAIK Norway's ban was specifically referring to the "free energy" statement Lexus/Toyota publicised in Norway wrt regen, rather than "self charging"

 

[tsh2]

I un-blocked lexus to leave a link to the ASA page, and to screenshot the offending data.

Checking the SMMT data, it looks like non-plugin hybrids (mild hybrid in particular) saw a big gain last year. Presumably these are just upgrades to the stop/start technology required for the current emissions regs (so a cheap thing to implement, and an easy trick to play on the customer). BEV growth looks strong (but hard to judge how much of that was just pent up M3 demand).

 

[Adopado]

Tesla are no different with their ridiculous claims of 348 mile range from the awd lr when in reality, you're not going to get even close to that and at certain times you may not even get half that.

This is not really a Tesla claim. Tesla a required to report the WLTP range. This is not specifically Tesla's choice ... all EV manufacturers selling cars in the UK require to have their vehicles measured by this same standard. Your beef is surely with the twits who came up with WLTP and the people who then decided that this is the standard that all manufacturers must use to represent range in this country.

 

[MrBadger]

Tesla are no different with their ridiculous claims of 348 mile range from the awd lr when in reality, you're not going to get even close to that and at certain times you may not even get half that. Yes, you can criticise the the ice car makers for also bumping up their mpg figures in the same vein but it matters significantly more in an ev as, due to the way they refuel, range is much more of a key factor when deciding whether to buy or not.

The problem with WLTP figures this time of year is that the test is performed at 23C, right in the sweet spot for many EV's, where as this time of year, we are far from that sweet spot. So its only useful for comparing one EV against another.

I actually wonder if WLTP will be adjusted at some point to cater for the different characteristics of an EV?

 

[VT_EE]

A commercial targeting idiots. This belongs in that TMC thread where somebody wanted to attach an aftermarket generator on the Tesla powertrain to pump energy back into the battery while it was sending energy to the motors. That way you would never need to charge. I guess the marketing department at Toyota failed their physics lessons in school.

 

[LukeT]

It's the smug way she says. "A small detail for those who see a bigger picture" bit that annoys me."

Me too. Utterly dishonest without telling an out-and-out lie.

Shocking I think.

 

[Jason71]

Me too. Utterly dishonest without telling an out-and-out lie.

Shocking I think.

If I was being generous I think the point is its supposed to be it's an improvement as compared to a standard ICE vehicle i.e. its aimed at people who don't know what a hybrid is and didn't know there was a picture.
I heard the year 2000 called and asked for their advert back

 

[nightowl]

I don't see any benefit to a car that can be driven on battery power but requires petrol to charge it in the first place. The phrase "self-charging hybrid" should really be "petrol-powered hybrid"!

Off the top of my head and not-thoroughly-researched thoughts:

Petrol/diesel advantages: Quick to refill, can go very far on a full tank, fuel widely available
EV advantages: Fuel better for environment, charge anywhere there's a power source, no engine noise
Plug-in hybrid advantages: Can run on either fossil fuel or electricity, might be able to do daily commute on electricity only and reserve the petrol tank for longer distances
Self-charging hybrid advantages: As petrol/diesel advantages, but with added fluffy marketing waffle

I'd considered getting a plug-in hybrid previously and I can see them being an improvement over ICE-only vehicles but in the end it seemed more efficient to just have one way of powering the car. I don't see what a petrol-only hybrid vehicle brings to the table?

 

[Adopado]

I'd considered getting a plug-in hybrid previously and I can see them being an improvement over ICE-only vehicles but in the end it seemed more efficient to just have one way of powering the car.

Indeed. It's actually quite remarkable that these companies can go to the trouble of installing 2 different engines and part of the drive train, and a battery pack, and interactive power management systems ... and very often still manage to sell them at a lower price than a full electric which, on the face of it, is a simpler build.