adpock

Lexus will reportedly open its doors in India next year. India is the second largest country in the world based on population, and they are quickly growing into consumers of automobiles.

Read the rest on the Club Lexus homepage. >>

spwolf

With new NX as well as 300h and 200t powertrains, Lexus is expanding once again worldwide... it is not just India, they are also re-opening stores in Brazil and many other smaller countries where they had them until 2008/2011.

I wouldnt expect huge growth in sales there though, as there is a reason for those countries never to open or to close few years back, however it will definitely give them bigger presence worldwide.

Vladi

I've noticed they closed the doors in some countries. Is the reason obvious huge engine displacements or something else?

spwolf

they were all closed due to low sales... and low sales were due to old models and engines that are not competitive in those countries... for instance when our Lexus dealer closed, there were too many old and expensive models - 300h was not introduced yet so they were left with very expensive 450h or very highly taxable 2.5l engine with bad fuel consumption... IS220d was dead, CT200th was in 3rd year.

Since then they added (by the early 2016) IS300h, IS200t, GS200t, GS300h, RX200t, RX450h... I am assuming that all new CT200h is not far away and best seller will be NX300h/200t, by large margin.

In many countries Lexus is not a household name so they need to stun in order to get the sales... and continuously do that to keep them. Lexus did great back in 2007/2008 before the crisis in Europe, with IS220d, RX450h and GS450h.... however it was not sustainable as the models grew old, they were not stunning anymore and people forgot about them... new models and engines brought those back and Lexus will have record year worldwide in 2015 and also 2016 with new RX. Unless Russia messes it up

What I read so far, they will re-open (almost?) everywhere in 2016 and add new countries like India.

mmarshall

Since they are going into India, Tata Motors, of course, is a big fixture there (that's their world HQ). Tata owns Jaguar and Land Rover, having bought both of them from Ford. In the U.S., of course, Lexus outsells both Jag and Land Rover......neither brand provides more than token competition to Lexus. In India, though, where Tata has a much more established base, time will tell if they can hold off the Lexus competition. A significant part of India's population, though, lives in dire poverty.......more so even than in China. These persons don't even know where their next meal is coming from, or if they will have a roof over their heads, from one day to the next, much less a new car, especially a new car in the Lexus or Jaguar/Land Rover class.

Sulu

Why would Lexus need to expand into Canada, the second-largest country in the world (second only to Russia)? They are already here.

Now, if they want to expand their operations within Canada, go right ahead. I know a Toyota dealer that has land set aside to establish a Lexus dealership, just awaiting approval (or perhaps they have approval already -- this was a few months ago). Their justification is that there is a Mercedes-Benz dealership not too far away. Without the competitor's showroom close by, this Toyota dealer in an otherwise small city would never have been approved (so I was told not that long ago).

mmarshall

The OP was referring to India as having the world's second-largest population. Canada, apart from a populated strip along the St. Lawrence River, parts of Ontario, and around Vancouver on the West Coast, is mostly a vast wilderness.

sorptd

That isn't the Target market brands like Lexus are going after be it India or anywhere else. There is enough market in India which can afford cars in the Lexus / JLR class. Even if that is 1 % that is still a significant market & growing at a rapid rate. The Indian luxury market is ruled by the German trio. JLR (even though owned by Tata) is still a niche player.

Trexus

Mike you are correct in that India is the world's second largest populated country. China is the first, the U.S. is third and Indonesia is the fourth. The U.S. has about 321 million people. Canada is small time with regards to population. There's way more people in Mexico than Canada.

Sulu

You guys obviously missed my big smiley face.

And, in my own defence, the headline said "Lexus Set to Expand to World's Second Largest Country", NOT "Lexus Set to Expand to World's Second Most Populous Country".

And thanks for the geography lesson, Mike. It is not like I do not know my own country. Here is one more geographical fact: Toronto is the 4th most populous city in North America, behind New York and Los Angeles, and ahead of Chicago; Mexico City is the most populous city in North America.

spwolf

Sulu got you all :-)

Not sure if JLR sells in India... India is not a big market for luxury vehicles at all, in India Corolla is considered luxury and Camry is Executive limo.

mmarshall

Well, the original post (and my own) did mention India the second most populous country. I'm not sure what the smiley-face meant in relation to that.

I'm sure you do. But many others don't. The post was not necessarily aimed at you.

Probably so.......................although we don't know just how many illegals are living in and around New York City that aren't officially counted in the census.

mmarshall

Well, now you can be sure. Jaguar does, in fact, sell vehicles in India. Here is their official Indian web-site...with a list of India dealerships by region.


http://www.jaguar.in/dealer-locator/index.html

spwolf

yeah, as suspected, their sales are really low.... Land Rover and Jaguar together had 444 sales in March.

Best selling luxury brand is MB, with 1200 sales for March 2015.

Tata, while big industry conglomerate, is relatively small car brand... They sold 15k vehicles in March, vs 105k for the leader - Maruti-Suzuki.

More data:
http://focus2move.com/india-vehicle-...ry-march-2015/

mmarshall

That's what makes me wonder just how well Lexus will do there, essentially selling vehicles in the same price ranges as Jaguar.

India, like China, is rapidly growing economically, but, unlike China, still has an enormous number of desperately poor persons, living in squalid conditions, that will probably never be able to afford ANY car (even some of the extremely low-priced ones sold in that country), much less something in the Jag or Lexus class. Part of that is the Caste system deeply ingrained into the country's society for centuries, where social classes are considered permanent, Karma-dictated, and not subject to change.