Could the LC 500 and 500h Be the Answer in Europe?

By adpock - February 23, 2016

Lexus LC 500h - Geneva Motor Show 1

There’s no doubt that Lexus has been steadily gobbling up some of Western Europe’s luxury automobile market, but they still have a long road ahead if they want to beat out the Germans. The LC 500 and LC 500h should help make up some ground.

Lexus already crushes Western Europe in the premium hybrid market, with 45% of total sales. Of the 64,000 Lexus cars sold in the region, 95% were hybrids. And many of the marque’s 70,000 projected sales for 2016 will also likely be hybrids — a viable alternative to the uber-popular diesel.

With the LC 500h, which is set to debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March, that hybrid market share should get even better. Partly because Lexus will be able to offer a hybrid that feels just at home on the autobahn as in stop-and-go traffic.

Still, Alain Uyttenhoven, head of Lexus Europe, tells WardsAuto that the new LC cars won’t necessarily be competing with other sports cars in the region. “We see this car as a GT rather than an extreme sports car. It’s not an LFA (2-seat Lexus supercar) with carbon fiber and so on, but a car you can use every day and enjoy on the long trip… With the more extreme sports cars, it’s a bit of a challenge to spend 10 to 15 hours in these cars. We want to deliver performance with a high level of comfort.”

The LC models certainly look like sports cars though, and they’re designed to act like them as well. So it seems like a best of both worlds scenario. Hopefully, Europe will agree when the halo cars go on sale next year.