A host of carmakers are taking the soft-sell approach to advertising on the Web, and some are actually seeing their campaigns convert prospects to buyers.

Lexus chose this tack when it launched a co-branded site with MSN last spring dubbed “Luxury for Living.” The site offers links to information on Lexus’s line of luxury cars deftly placed among other non-Lexus content chosen to lure potential buyers. The tone is considerably upscale and definitely “soft sell” in approach.

Visit Lexus.MSN.com, and you can listen to a jazz recording, read up on the latest in Mediterranean rock climbing, learn how to build up an expensive wine collection (without letting your spouse in on the investment required) and get tips on choosing perfume to “make you smell like a million bucks.” Oh yes, and you can read up on the latest models of Lexus’s luxury SUVs and sedans.

Once you click on the Lexus button , the Web experience begins to resemble what most of the major automakers now offer via the Web. Potential customers can view the models/options available (in many cases in 360-degree views), build and customize their own cars with those options, get a price, find a dealer and even calculate finance and leasing costs -- all without having to enter a brick-and-mortar showroom and fend off salespeople working on commission.

Once you get that far, the Internet works to convert the sale as well. Click on the link to find a dealership on the Volvo design-and-build site, and you get three options, all with e-mail contacts. Send off an e-mail to the dealer of your choice, and the dealer receives the specifications from your design-and-build stage, complete with the finance options you prefer.