A quarter of a century after Lexus made its debut as Toyota’s luxury division, the premium Japanese brand still lags way behind its European rivals in sales, with around 500,000 deliveries worldwide.
That’s less than a third compared to BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, who rule the segment. Adding insult to injury, Lexus is virtually non-existent in Europe, where in 2013 it shifted a mere 40,000 units.
Lexus’ European vice president Alain Uytterhoven is adamant that this will change soon enough thanks to bold styling and sportier driving dynamics added to the luxury and refinement that are the company’s hallmarks so far.
“The next generation of products will be sharper in terms of precision and sportiness”, Uyttenhoven told CAR. He added that this change in direction was ordered by Toyota boss Akio Toyoda: “He is keen that the future products will be fun to drive. The LFA announced that Lexus could go from comfort, refinement and silence to being fun to drive too. From now on, we mean it. The RC F costs a sixth of the LFA price but will deliver 80 percent of the fun.”
Toyoda, a car guy who directed the globally praised for its dynamics RWD Toyota GT86 coupe (Scion FR-S in the US) and competed in the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race – in an LFA, naturally – now wants to change customers’ perception of Lexus and drastically increase sales.
The target set for European sales is 100,000 units until the end of the decade, or double that of what it will deliver this year. This will be accomplished not just by bolder design but also by the addition of new models to Lexus’ range, including more F variants.
“You will have more F models, not just F Sport versions, in the future”, Lexus’ exec said. “You will see a move towards more emotion, more passion in our cars.”
That’s nice to hear as, if things pan out as Toyoda-san wants, more customers may be tempted to look beyond the German establishment. Even so, though, Lexus’ sales projections won’t worry them any time soon…
By Andrew Tsaousis
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