Toyota has announced that new Lexus vehicles will start being delivered later this year with a system that includes capability for voice messages sent directly from the automaker to its drivers. The “service” called Lexus Insider, will let Lexus send audio messages to owners on whatever subject it chooses, from tips on making the best use of the vehicles’ features to suggestions for a scenic drive. Jon Bucci, vice president of Toyota’s U.S. advanced technology unit says the Lexus messages can be highly targeted, such as tailored for those who have a specific vehicle type or who live in a particular ZIP code, which seems like verbal spam to me.
William Matthies of Coyote Insight and a longtime consumer electronics executive opined in USA Today, “You’ve got the same thing coming to your home now. It strikes me as the same thing” as junk mail. Assertions that the messages will be targeted and useful enough to appeal to particular drivers don’t impress Matthies. “They’re not claiming anything different than all direct marketers claim,” he says.
Perhaps, Toyota will drop the price of a Lexus, now that its customers are a captive audience to their marketing machine.
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