First of all let me say i hope so as im currently on my third car which is a UX300E.

It worries me that with the British Market being flooded by Chinese Brands will the current mainstream brands fail to attract buyers.

Servicing costs are getting ridiculous with a full service on an IS300H costing £650 and even a UX 300E is around £420 to service what?

Now with road tax on electric cars over £40K from April 2025 costing £650 for the first 5 years a lot of people will be put off especially with current high levels of depreciation.

I feel that since Lexus introduced the 10year warranty if regularly serviced at main dealers, it  has doubled the service cost. I suppose most people that buy the Lexus brand see these costs as pocket change but i for one dont . 

Ironically, it was the luxury car tax that meant I considered a Lexus. 

I had an Audi, registered in 2017 one month before the luxury car tax rules, and nearing 100k miles was time to replace it. I originally ordered a Kia Sportage, but it shot up in price by about £1500 between order and before delivery, taking it over £40k. I decided if I was going to pay luxury car tax, I may as well have a luxury car... hence the NX!

The luxury car tax limit is now so low, that any decent car requires you to pay it, so I don't see it as a barrier or something that would put people off. 

Toyota has been very slow to adopt battery EVs, but it's got two more on the way (small SUV and CHR EV) that Lexus could in theory use to replace the UX for instance. The RZ isn't competitive currently, but the new 350 and 500 models will hopefully resolve the current range issue. The new EV ES saloon is also on the way. 

With the volume of Toyota and VW respectively, I think Lexus and Audi are safe. I'd question more the viability of Mercedes and BMW when they don't have the volume behind them yet have ever increasing R&D and emissions linked costs, and inevitably with Chinese companies growing, all existing brands should expect lower volumes as they lose market share. 

I will stick with self charging hybrid tech until I pop my clogs.  Unless you are of a certain age, why worry about getting an EV?  An EV’s ‘green credentials’ are questionable to say the least….personally, I think hydrogen power is the way ahead, but I do wonder if that will ever properly take off🤔

34 minutes ago, Pauly C said:

I will stick with self charging hybrid tech until I pop my clogs.  Unless you are of a certain age, why worry about getting an EV?  An EV’s ‘green credentials’ are questionable to say the least….personally, I think hydrogen power is the way ahead, but I do wonder if that will ever properly take off🤔

Like you Paul i think that Hydrogen would be the way forward but i think that car manufacturers have invested so much in battery technology that is a dead duck for now and will probably not be available as a viable option in my lifetime. 😔

10 minutes ago, Technoman said:

Like you Paul i think that Hydrogen would be the way forward but i think that car manufacturers have invested so much in battery technology that is a dead duck for now and will probably not be available as a viable option in my lifetime. 😔

the speed at which EV has been driven .......  and it's possible early to come ....  demise ............  and Toyota have already the Hydrogen cars in trials .........  I'm thinking maybe another 5 years or so ( or even less ) might see these Hydrogen cars sort of become a mainstream option 

Vehicle propulsion changes can be very rapid and at the whim of global Govts ............ that also change on a whim 

Anyway, I thought I was reading that Hydrogen power for cars is so much " cleaner " than all other modes 😇

Malc

So Malcolm do you reckon that Electric will become the Betamax of the car industry?

The main reason i moved to electric is that my IS300H was nine years old with only 15k miles on the clock and had two aircon failures in the last 12 months that would have cost £2K to repair if i had not had it serviced at the main dealer. I liked the UX but the hybrids are holding their value , the takumi i bought was half price after 15 months 5k miles. I only do 2-3k miles a year and mainly local so decided to take a punt and go for a car that i like to drive and i got a good PX on mine . Also if i went for a 2025 model there is the crazy £650 road tax for 5 years. 

Betamax is a fair correlation I’m thinking 🤫

Only doing 2/3k miles a year and with modern day catastrophic prices to fix all these new technology issues ……. why buy summat comparatively ordinary …… even a Lexus  ? 

A nice well looked after aged Bentley can be bought for a fraction the price of anything bland, brand new today 🤷

Just a thought 🤔

Malc 

1 hour ago, Malc1 said:

A nice well looked after aged Bentley

Malc you are so brave to consider a second hand Bentley, or are you having a laugh with us? Years ago I was tempted and nearly bought one of the last Turbo R models 45K miles one regal owner chauffeur driven etc ( was it 96 or thereabouts? ). They went from about £15K upwards at the time. Some dodgy examples at £7K +-. Now the prices are all over the place -  £15 to 35K ish.

What put me off - Biggest issue was cylinder head gasket failure approx £5 to 10K depending on garage and whatever else you find while stripping it down with the engine out!   Rust and suspension issues are common.

Conclusion - I prefer to sleep a night without the worry. That's why the ISF is my solution, rightly or wrongly🫡

I have considered a 1965 Bentley S3 before my present “fall-back”. 91 Ls400 but so warned against buying one as a main car by my Indy who forecast it being on a trailer to him for regular fixes ……… SO I KEPT MY  REGULAR  95 N reg Ls400 now on 254k brilliant smiles 

 

A Bentley would be good to have if I had room for it and as a main daily driver ONLY doing 2/3k miles a year …… but a much later model these days 

There's often some great auction offerings on Bentleys I see 🤔 and once up and running mechanically ok I feel the running maintenance costs might be minimal 

Just my aged thoughts 🤷

Malc 

 

6 hours ago, Technoman said:

Like you Paul i think that Hydrogen would be the way forward but i think that car manufacturers have invested so much in battery technology that is a dead duck for now and will probably not be available as a viable option in my lifetime. 😔

Yep, hydrogen power….the Betamax of the automotive world☹️ You can keep your 100% EV….I might be interested if they’re ever able to invent a system where I can pour electric into my car at the same speed as petrol….and make it available to the masses….but won’t happen in my lifetime😉

If it wasnt for the fact that i do low milage and most of it local i would probably feel the same Paul. Im not even bothering having a 7kw charger fitted, just banging on the grannie (grandad) charger  or if i need a faster top up i will consider the Tesco 50kw (62p per kw) most are now charging 89p per KW and im wondering if likes of Pod and Instavolt are trying to claw back their investment as we get closer to solid state batteries and 700mile  ranges on one charge. The real world range on mine is around 230miles on a full charge on the larger battery. The remote charging is still a learning curve for me at the moment eg you see two charging cables at a charging point one CCS type the  other Chademo but only one can be at that charging point at any one time.

Well if they did truly provide an EV with a 700 mile range you’d only be charging her some 3 or 4 times a year 😀

vide my Ls400 V8 4 ltr with an average tank full of @ 400 miles I’d be refuelling some 7 x a year  

Malc

Does this help explain some of the conundrum !

https://stocks.apple.com/Ag10kMb-aR0aE0yj5P7b-0Q

26 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

Does this help explain some of the conundrum !

https://stocks.apple.com/Ag10kMb-aR0aE0yj5P7b-0Q

Thats an interesting article Malcolm thanks.

I just trawl  thru lots of the daily financial stuff on line each day …… some of it has an impact on my SME business and believe me business life at the moment is extremely challenging 😰 

Then I pick up on gems  like this for Toyota Lexus  ✔️

On a side note …… JLR and its UK suppliers and their staff are having a torrid time with this disgraceful IT hacking ……. possibly 000’s of layoffs up coming in the uk alone 

 Nope, I should really say 00’s of 000’s in those SMEs and others suppliers to JLR in the UK alone  🥵

Malc 

17 hours ago, Technoman said:

Tesco 50kw (62p per kw) most are now charging 89p per KW and im wondering if likes of Pod and Instavolt are trying to claw back their investment

They are ripping people off.

Tesla 250 kW chargers in Bristol as an example of what pricing should be:

Thanks for that info Colin they are good prices. I wonder if they incorporate Chademo chargers on their charge points for other vehicles or if they are only CCS.  The best deal i can find locally for a 50kw charger is with instavolt between the hours of 8pm and 7am but that is at a Banatynes gym which opens at 6am and closes at 10pm so only a 3 hour window for the cheaper rate of 52p/kw.

One of the positive things that lexus do is offer a 42 day loan of a hybrid vehicle for journeys where you may have range anxiety.

https://mag.lexus.co.uk/electric-vehicle-range-anxiety-lexus-explains/

https://www.lexus.co.uk/lexus-reserve#:~:text=ENJOY EVERY JOURNEY,%2C with no mileage limitations*.

Yes, i do think Toyota has a long term future moving towards electric. Long term seems key here as they are very slow in developing and introducing models. And if they do they are just not on par with the competition. They felt the BEV market would only be profitable around 2030 and i guess developed their strategy towards that. They were right in predicting a slower adaption of electric cars in Europe, just look at the German manufacturers delaying new models and restarting development of fossil engines. But they for sure did not see the explosive growth of the Chinese market where almost 1 million of electric cars are sold. Per Month. So Toyota is on the back foot and even for a massive conglomerate as they are it will be difficult to keep up. I think electric is here to stay but next to petrol and even diesel. 

………. and even perhaps Hydrogen ……… 🤞

Malc 

4 hours ago, Technoman said:

I wonder if they incorporate Chademo chargers on their charge points for other vehicles or if they are only CCS.

No Chademo.