In what appears to be a confirmation by top honchos of Toyota, the Lexus brand will grace the Indian showrooms by 2013. Executive vice president of Toyota Motor Corporation, Yukitoshi Funo said that Toyota were studying the Indian market for a very long time and their global brand managers think that this is the right time to introduce the Lexus brand here. Toyota will ensure that the Lexus brand be treated as a separate entity from it and will also have separate show rooms. It is likely that existing Toyota dealers would make a beeline for acquiring Lexus franchisees considering the similar setup of servicing standards for both the brands.
Lexus will make a conscious effort to distinguish itself from the other German luxury brands in the country now. The Lexus cars which will be coming to India are LS (S-class, A8 and 7 series competitor) and GS (E-class, A6 and 5 series competitor) while the SUV portfolio will include the RX and LX. However, the smaller IS car wouldnt be coming to India in the near future. Toyota does understand that in order to price the cars competitively, local assembly is required and there are chances that once the initial lot of cars are brought in as CBU, depending on customer demands, Lexus cars would be assembled in India. The company will, however, be up against a tough task since most of its competitors boast of having diesel powerplants, which Lexus doesn't have at this moment. However, the trump card would be the hybrid technology which the company has in the overseas market and has been dubbed as being extremely efficient.
Lexus will make a conscious effort to distinguish itself from the other German luxury brands in the country now. The Lexus cars which will be coming to India are LS (S-class, A8 and 7 series competitor) and GS (E-class, A6 and 5 series competitor) while the SUV portfolio will include the RX and LX. However, the smaller IS car wouldnt be coming to India in the near future. Toyota does understand that in order to price the cars competitively, local assembly is required and there are chances that once the initial lot of cars are brought in as CBU, depending on customer demands, Lexus cars would be assembled in India. The company will, however, be up against a tough task since most of its competitors boast of having diesel powerplants, which Lexus doesn't have at this moment. However, the trump card would be the hybrid technology which the company has in the overseas market and has been dubbed as being extremely efficient.
