Lexus aims for number one

Lexus is aiming to triple its current sales over the next seven years to make it the number one luxury brand in Australia by 2015, outselling both Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

That's the company's target according to local Lexus chief, John Roca. The marque's Divisional Manager, Roca says he expects the brand will be selling around 24,000 cars a year in Australia by 2015 -- up from last year's total of 7163 and third spot in the luxury car market.

At the launch of the new Lexus LS 460 earlier this week, Roca told the Carsales Network that the brand had already had a 25 per cent increase in sales over the past few years and that the economic indicators were such that the luxury car market in Australia would keep growing -- at least over the next five years.

He says the luxury arm of Toyota expects to sell about 8000 cars this year, up from the 5009 it sold in 2004.

Central to the planned targets is a substantial injection of new and upgraded products, the first of which is the new flagship LS 460.

Priced at $184,900, the large luxury V8 sedan, with the world's first eight-speed automatic transmission, is the most expensive car in the Japanese maker's lineup until the LS' hybrid kin arrives about October. That car, dubbed the LS 600hL is a long-wheelbase version of the LS a features a petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain to power all four wheels through a CVT transmission.

With an estimated 325kW/520Nm from its combined electric and 5.0-litre V8 petrol motors and a relatively miserly fuel consumption of around 11.5lt/100km, Lexus will be pitching the big hybrid limo at the V12 sedans from BMW and Benz. That said, you can bet it won't be priced in the same $340,000+ region of those cars.

Lexus has yet to talk pricing on the 600hL but Roca says it would command a substantial premium over the LS 460 so expect a $250K-plus pricetag.

He also says depending on demand (Lexus expects to sell about five 600hL per month), the company may look at the short-wheelbase hybrid version of the LS as well.

Prior to the arrival of the LS 600hL will be one minor addition to the LS range with the availability of the automatic parking system from August. This will add around $1300 to the price of the LS 460.

The next major new product arrives in January 2008 with the launch of the new Toyota Landcruiser-based LX 570 recently unveiled at the New York motor show. Unlike the 'Cruiser, however, which is due on sale about October this year, the Lexus gets the all-new 280kW/544Nm 5.7-litre V8 petrol engine. Toyota will make do with an upgraded version of the present 4.7-litre V8 petrol plus a twin-turbo diesel V8.

Late next year we will see the first F series Lexus performance products in the form of the small IS-F. Lexus aims to build the F series into a complete line-up similar to BMW's M division and Mercedes' AMG arm. F will produce high performance variants of the mainstream model lineup.

The four-seater IS-F is expected to be priced under the M3 with stickers likely to start around $130K. It will be powered by a 300kW/475Nm 5.0-litre V8 that drives the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Subsequent years will see a new RX arrive in 2009, along with a coupe convertible version of the small IS sedan and what Lexus has dubbed NEL or new entry-level model in 2010.

Lexus has been looking at both a smaller-than-IS model to go up against BMW's 1 Series or a smaller SUV to sit under the RX with the latter more likely in the shorter term.

To cope with the new products and help achieve the sort of volumes he expects, Roca says the company will also significantly increase its dealer presence -- a process that has already begun. He says he expects the current 22 dealers to double to between 45 and 50 nationally.

What is not on the agenda though, at least in the short term, is diesel. Although the IS is offered with a diesel in Europe, Roca sees Lexus' point of difference in Australia being its hybrid offerings and has been pleasantly surprised by the take up rate of the existing two products.

After forecasting sales of the RX400h hybrid SUV at around 50 per month, he says Lexus has been selling circa 70 per month while hybrid sales of the GS mid-sized sedan are accounting for around 40 per cent of the total.

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