For the primary time ever, SUVs represented greater than 50 % of all automobiles bought in Europe in the course of the first half of 2023, in response to market researcher Dataforce. Prospects proceed to be enamored with sport utility automobiles of all styles and sizes to the detriment of once-traditional physique kinds. The great ol’ sedan must be one in all them, however Lexus thinks it is nonetheless related in some markets regardless of the obsession many individuals have with SUVs.
Talking with Australian journal Drive, Lexus’ world model chief Takashi Watanabe admitted that demand for sedans is dwindling. Nonetheless, he believes there are nonetheless sufficient individuals who purchase them to warrant the event of latest three-box automobiles: “We proceed to see a market (for sedans)… and proceed to position significance and give attention to sedans.”
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Sedans stay significantly in style in China the place the ES accounts for half of Lexus’ whole deliveries. Nonetheless, the corporate’s high brass identified that preferences on the planet’s most populous nation (or is that India?) change quickly, and what’s in style as we speak may fall out of favor in a couple of quick years. With that in thoughts, the boss of Toyota’s luxurious division says world product planning could possibly be complemented by China-focused automobiles and even fashions developed particularly for that market.
When Lexus teased a bunch of fashions on the finish of 2021, this Electrified Sedan was one in all them, presumably previewing a purely electrical IS-like mannequin. There was additionally a Toyota Camry-sized automotive with combustion engines, together with a pair of wagons and even a four-seat convertible. It goes to point out the long run lineup will not be dominated by SUVs, assuming all these ideas will make it to manufacturing in the future.
Lexus has additionally mentioned {that a} totally electrical pickup truck just isn’t fully out of the query because it might occur if there’s sufficient demand. Its portfolio shall be topped by a non secular successor to the LFA as an electrical supercar with a guide gearbox, steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire, and all-wheel drive.
