What is the best way to draw attention to yourself as an automobile brand? Mainly about the design. Lexus is such a case. For a little over a year, the Toyota subsidiary has been trying to reinvent itself and provoked with a powerful double trapezoid grill. "Our products should stand out from the ordinary," says Lexus Europe boss Alain Uyttenhoven. The bill seems to be working, sales are increasing - at least worldwide. Lexus is larger than Volvo globally and sold more than 652.000 vehicles last year. In the United States, Lexus' main market, the Japanese are immediately behind Mercedes and ahead of BMW. Porsche and Audi together sell fewer cars than Lexus in America.
Things look less rosy in Germany. Here Lexus leads a niche existence, is an exotic. In 1.682 there were just 2015 units, a third of what Jaguar sells in Germany. That should change. Lexus has shown how, with various studies at international trade fairs. Now it's time to get down to business, the series implementation. The LC is already in the starting blocks, a sports coupé that is positioned against the Mercedes SL or the 6-series from BMW. A convertible version is also planned. The coupé will roll out to dealers in spring 2017, and the open variant is expected to start in late 2018.
In addition to a five-liter V8 and ten-speed gearbox, a completely new hybrid drive is used in the LC. “In addition, for the first time we are using an electricity storage with lithium-ion cells instead of the previous nickel-metal hydride battery. It is lighter and does more, ”says Lexus chief engineer Koji Sato, and promises a combination of strength and smoothness never seen before for the hybrid coupe.
The LC is based on a newly developed rear-wheel drive architecture. It is logical that other models also benefit from this. For example, the next LS, the brand's flagship, the Japanese S-Class, so to speak. Its renewal is scheduled for 2017. Lexus has already given a rough outline of the design. A glance at the beautiful study LF-FC - it was presented for the first time last autumn in Tokyo - is enough, and one says: All attention! Maserati or Jaguar couldn't have done that better. Lexus does not want to compete against Mercedes and BMW in a conservative style, but rather addresses the more sporty-oriented customers with a compact coupé rear. Therefore, the designers also gave the front a similarly aggressive grill as the LC and the SUV models NX and RX.
In addition to the conventional eight-cylinder and high-tech V6 hybrid drive, the LS will also run on fuel cells, i.e. as an electric car, from 2020. The mother Toyota has decades of experience with this clean drive. The Toyota Mirai has been on the road since late 2015. The 8th generation of the fuel cell is already in it. However, the series LS will get significantly more power and larger hydrogen tanks. The range should then be at least 600 kilometers. The LS-FC is powered by three electric motors. Two sit in the front wheels, the larger one on the rear axle.
Until further notice, Lexus will not offer any models with a plug-in hybrid. The Toyota Prius example clearly shows that the expensive and heavy technology is not accepted by the customer. The purchase share is modest. "We see no real customer benefit here," says Lexus boss Uyttenhoven, but emphasizes that you can react quickly as soon as demand develops. On the other hand, there is a definitive no from Lexus on the topic of diesel. The brand said goodbye to the compression-ignition engine in 2011 and committed itself to clearly clean hybrid technology. Almost every second Lexus sold in Europe is already on the road today.
Author: Michael Specht / SP-X