Toyota has announced that new Lexus vehicles will start being delivered later this year. The luxury car comes equipped with a system that can send 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.
Reports say the tips could range from 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. The messages can be 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 Mr. 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.
Related articles
- Lexus: Made in America? (features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Now that everyone is an expert on Detroit. They are focused on what is happening in Motown. Here is an infographic from BizBrain that traces the fate of the Motor City‘s namesake car industry.