A day in Mumbai and you would start to wonder where is the need for a feasibility study when every Tom, cliche2, cliche3 owns a Lexus. Anyway, Toyota is convinced now.
Autocar India reports that Toyota has officially confirmed that it will introduce the Lexus brand in India by 2013. The Japanese carmaker has been evaluating the feasibility of Lexus in India and has finally decided to go ahead with the launch.
Though several Toyota dealers are likely to take up the Lexus dealership, Toyota has said it will take a very cautious and diligent approach to appointing dealerships.
“We would rather have a few, quality dealerships than a large number of mediocre outlets” said Funo who also emphasised that he wanted to differentiate Lexus from its German rivals. Last month Kazuo Ohara, who oversees the Lexus brand globally, made a visit to India and gave the green light after intense market research, which included studying the dealer and service outlets of other brands.
Toyota will follow a top-down strategy and to introduce the LS saloon and RX SUV first. This is to be followed by the GS executive luxury saloon which competes directly with the E-class and 5-series.
The company will initially bring the Lexus range as CBUs.