Lexus dealership shares safe driving tips using Tesla Model 3 photo

By Simon Alvarez

Posted on September 17, 2022

It seems that a Lexus dealership in New Zealand thinks that Teslas are pretty safe vehicles — so much so that the luxury carmaker used a photo of a Model 3 in its own social media campaign. The whole thing is likely an accident, but it is pretty amusing nonetheless.

Lexus of Tauranga, which dubs itself a “state of the art dealership” in Tauranga, New Zealand, has been running a marketing campaign on its official Facebook page. The campaign is actually a pretty good one as it highlights how drivers and passengers should use their cars’ components properly. One such post, for example, discussed the right way to wear a seatbelt.

And for drivers, the Lexus dealership focused on how the steering wheel should be positioned properly.

“Driving Safe with Lexus

“What’s the correct position for my Steering Wheel?

“Adjust your steering wheel so it points to your chest, not your head or your neck. Move your seat back as far as you can while still comfortably reaching the pedals. You should be at least 10 inches from the steering wheel, from your breastbone to the center of the wheel.”

To illustrate how a driver should use a steering wheel properly, the Lexus dealership utilized a photo of a woman driving a Tesla Model 3. To be fair, the steering wheel use of the person in the image was pretty good. It’s just quite strange and amusing to see Lexus, a brand that’s typically compared favorably to Tesla when it comes to interiors and quality, use a Model 3’s interior to demonstrate a positive point.

Now, I’m no Lexusologist, so I could be wrong, but that doesn’t appear to be the interior of a Lexus. pic.twitter.com/OmY7VORivL

— Gavin Shoebridge (@KiwiEV) September 17, 2022

With such a gaffe committed, some members of the EV community promptly called out the Lexus dealership on social media. What’s quite interesting, however, was that the image used by the Lexus dealership actually seemed to be a zoomed-in photo of a Model 3 interior. If the image was zoomed out a bit more, it becomes very evident that the vehicle in the photo was not a Lexus.

Wide screen mode: ‘ON’ pic.twitter.com/76jed0vJR8

— Evers (@cosmopassenger) September 17, 2022

While some EV advocates noted that the post remained online for some time, the Lexus dealership did seem to realize its gaffe. As of writing, the post is no longer online. It’s a shame though, since it did provide Tesla some much-appreciated advertisement — no matter how accidental it was.

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Lexus dealership shares safe driving tips using Tesla Model 3 photo