Super soft sell: luxury car maker peddles lifestyle first, autos second

On a trendy Tokyo street in an exclusive neighbourhood selling high-end fashion stands a welcoming façade. The word “Intersect” hangs on a sign above the doorway.

Just beyond the automatic, sliding glass entrance you walk in and instantly feel at ease. If you didn’t know better, you could be walking into a swank bar or restaurant like the hundreds that dot this city of 12 million. The lighting is subdued. Up the right hand stairs a hostess beams welcomingly behind a bar serving beer, wine, lattes and other drinks of choice.

The lounge has a club atmosphere – with comfortable chairs and tables, bookshelves lined with hard covers on topics from literature to travel and transportation. There are displays of expensive eyewear, chic running shoes and other symbols of style. Welcome to what Lexus considers a new way to sell cars: marketing a lifestyle, not the cars themselves.

This is Lexus’s new concept of selling luxury vehicles to those who may know little or nothing about the brand. Selling cars without hawking them directly. Selling a lifestyle that might inspire a buyer to want to buy a Lexus.

Two years ago, the Japanese auto maker, part of the Toyota Motor Corporation, assembled a marketing team to figure out how to get car buyers to link up with Lexus – perceived by many consumers as a staid brand.

“You don’t offend anyone by driving one, “ says National Post auto journalist Graeme Fletcher, attending a preview event displaying the space before covering the Tokyo Motor Show.

But inoffensive isn’t inspirational: at a time when young people worldwide are getting their drivers’ licenses later in life (or not at all) car makers are in a conundrum: how to motivate the next generation to invest their earnings in what is typically the second-biggest investment in life.

Lexus has been working hard to spice up its image recently by sponsoring short film productions, supporting artists, buying TV time for quirky commercials on mainstream television. It is brand-building without talking about horsepower, acceleration, braking capability or optional equipment.

“We need to get people in our cars to get them excited about our cars,” says Mark Templin, executive vice president of Lexus International based in Japan.

The Intersect concept spaces will be launched initially in New York, Dubai and London, with other locations in major cities to follow, according to Lexus executives. No dates have been announced.

Templin talks passionately about the need to get young consumers back in the driver’s seat, addressing a global gathering of journalists in advance of the 43rd Tokyo Motor Show, regarded as one of the most important auto industry events in the industry’s calendar.

“We’re trying to create a car culture here, and teach people here about car culture,” Templin told Global News. “We’re not trying to sell people a car here,” he says, adding that if someone wants to buy a Lexus after visiting one of the spaces, they’ll be referred to a local dealership.

Toyota Akio Toyoda also talked about the challenges of getting young drivers behind the wheel, acknowledging that excellent public transit in cities like Tokyo have discouraged some young people from buying a vehicle of their own.

With the Intersect experience you can at least see a Lexus at the location: a gleaming white LF-A stands in a brightly-lit secondary area in the rear of the first floor they call The Garage. You can kick the tires, dream about how you’ll feel behind the wheel. Only thing you can’t do is haggle with a salesman about the price or angst over which options you must have. No matter how much money you have, you can’t drive home with a car. Sorry.

The soft-sell no-sell approach in a comfortable space (the intimate private washroom upstairs greets you by raising the toilet seat automatically as you open the door) is intended to make you forget you’re being sold anything at all. If the Japanese auto maker is right, luxury buyers hanging out in Intersect will want to buy one of its models because they believe Lexus is cool – reflecting the life style they’d like to enjoy.