Lexus celebrates 30th anniversary with comprehensive new ‘Encore Platinum’ customer care program.
Just over three decades since the original S-Class-bashing LS400 limousine – and its ground-breaking ‘Encore’ after-sales program – was revealed to the press at Sydney’s Circular Quay, Lexus Australia is marking the occasion with the introduction of ‘Lexus Encore Platinum’.
Included as standard on Lexus LX, LC and LS models, as well as the high-performance RCF coupe and GSF sedan, this modern-day customer-care package may not go to the extremes of the ‘Encore’ original – booking international holidays and accessing priority parking at the Sydney Opera House, for example – but ‘Encore Platinum’ maintains its flavour.
Lexus says this “industry-leading” new ownership program focuses on the real-world luxury of saving time.
Beyond the ease-of-servicing benefits of the regular ‘Encore’ customer support (car pick-up and drop-off, free service loan car, complimentary wash and vac), ‘Encore Platinum’ brings sweeteners such as complimentary valet parking.
Available at chaotic shopping centres like Chadstone in Melbourne and select Westfields in other capital cities, you can valet park your up-spec Lexus up to eight times across the program’s three-year membership period. You won’t need to pre-book and you can park for up to three hours each time.
More beneficial, however, is the ‘Lexus On Demand’ part of Encore Platinum, which provides owners with the opportunity to swap into a different vehicle than their own when travelling for work or on holidays.
Sourcing from a fleet that mainly includes five- and seven-seat RX, RCF coupe, GSF sedan, LX 4WD, LC coupe and LS sedan, owners can book one of these vehicles four times across the three-year membership period, for a period of up to eight days at a stretch.
If you own, say, an LC coupe but need the seven-seat off-road capability of an LX when exploring outback Queensland, you simply reserve an LX via the Lexus App. The app will then tell you where the vehicle can be collected from – either select interstate airports or participating dealerships – and gives you the opportunity to cancel or switch bookings if you change your mind.
Last but not least, you can save 5c/litre when buying premium fuel or diesel at participating Caltex servos, and access exclusive dinners and lifestyle experiences with Lexus ambassadors such as chef Neil Perry and golfing pro Dimitrios Papadatos.
Lexus Australia plans to back-date the ‘Encore Platinum’ ownership program for all relevant models to 1 January, 2020. And there’s talk of expanding some of the privileges of Encore Platinum, along with introducing some of its benefits to more affordable Lexus models supported by the regular Encore program.
That will all happen in time. And if we’re to believe the hype, Lexus says it knows just how valuable that commodity is in 2020 better than anyone.
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