such as mercedes,audi,bmw,cadillac and lincoln

Because they are built to be more reliable.

Lexus brand sits at the top of the reliability ranking, this has benefited their reputation, hence there is a demand for used ones, keeping their resale value high.

Better than Cadillac and Lincoln because they're cheap cars that fall apart after five years. l do not know if l agree with the fact that it is better than the German brands however. Depends on the model, condition, miles etc. Lexus is synonymous with reliability, MB/BMW are clearly the better built cars for the long haul, but admitingly they are not cheap to maintain. That likely plays a big role.

Because they have the best reliability/customer satisfaction record among luxury cars. A good reputation will almost always put a car in high demand, thus making their resale value excellent.

Lexus always ranks #1 in independent surveys for reliability & owner satisfaction.Consumer Reports which test for non profit un bias reporting also recommends every car they make.According to Consumer Reports BMW,AUDI,Mercedes,Cadillac & Lincoln r terrible for reliability.If u have ever driven or rode in a Lexus u would also understand.They truly ride & feel superior to the other mentioned vehicles.Between my wife & l we have owned each make u mentioned except for a Lincoln.The best overall was the Lexus.We now have an Infinity M35 & a Honda S2000.These both r fine automobiles but from an owners standpoint our Lexus was truly the best car we owned by far.You need to drive or ride in one & experience the craftsmanship.There is one BMW product which is number three overall for holding its value & that is the Mini Cooper.

Two factors affect resale value, reliability & market desire. Right now, with fuel prices still high, ur smaller vehicles that r more fuel efficient, will retain more value. This is not the case with Lexus', because they r not that fuel efficient, but they r very reliable. If u had to go to the use car market, u would want to buy something with a better reliability history, & thus, u would have to pay for that better history.

The other makes r good initial owner, & lease vehicles, but not long term keepers. l would not keep a MB or BMW (forget even considering Audi) over 100K miles, that is for sure.

That is easy... BMW offers their 3 year service free program or whatever its called... after that everybody gets rid of them because they are useless unless you have dough up teh ass and dont care to spend it on useless repairs. Lexus actually lasts..Thats why. Same thing goes for mercedes and audi(whose turbos go bad and you are stuck with thousands of dollars in repairs).

For one they are highly over rated, and people believe they never break or have problems. Yeah right! Also, their resale is high as a percentage of sticker but cost to drive is still pretty high. For example on the high side, trade in on a 2005 LS 430 is about 25,000. Brand new the car was about 70K, so that is 45K to drive it 3 yrs, or $15,000 per year. Not so great is it! And all that to drive a wannabe MB.