Ride-hailing company Lyft, has launched a luxury black car service in five American cities. Luxury models in “excellent” condition from model years 2011 and newer are qualified to shuttle around Lyft Lux passengers, assuming the seats are either leather or “leather-like.” Lincoln Town Cars did not make the cut, and newer flagships from other brands remain absent from the accepted vehicle roster as well.
Lyft intends its new black car service to satisfy the travel whims of those “looking to impress” in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago and New York City. While last year’s introduction of Lyft Premier paired app users in a longer list of cities with higher-end vehicles, Lyft Lux is all about cars and SUVs of the white glove variety.
Perusing the accepted vehicle list, it seems a few candidates have been denied entry due to their pedestrian badging. Notably, Lyft Lux will only accept Genesis models from 2017 onwards — meaning a G80 is fine, but your one-year-older Hyundai Genesis is not. Same car, different badging. The defunct Equus is the only Hyundai-badged vehicle on the list. It seems the slightly less premium Premier service does accept 2010 and newer Genesis models.
While Hyundai gets short thrift from Lyft’s tony ride-hailing app, Toyota fares even worse. The Avalon, a large, roomy and capable sedan, is nowhere to be seen on the Lyft Lux list. What’s more, it’s also absent from the list of Lyft Premier vehicles.
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