Rumour: Toyota revives plans to bring Lexus to India

The Indian automotive sector has been going through a slump for a while. However, while lesser segments have struggled, the luxury segment has defied the odds to register a growth at a double-digit pace. Latest media reports suggest that Japanese auto major, Toyota has taken heart from this trend and started exploring the possibility of introducing the Lexus brand in the country.

Worldwide, Lexus competes with established luxury car manufacturers such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In India, sales of these manufacturers have nearly doubled between 2010 and 2014.

Toyota had been planning to bring Lexus to India for a long time. But, the slump in the automobile sector and the high import duty on cars forced it to postpone its plans indefinitely.

CBU models attract a 160% import duty. Other luxury brands like the three Germans and Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover have worked their way around the problem by importing cars through the CKD route and assembling them locally, which has helped them keep their prices relatively low. If Toyota expects to compete with the Europeans it will have to employ the same method in the case of Lexus. The company has already started assembly of the Camry sedan at its Bidadi plant.

Lexus cars will appeal to those customers who like a good combination of quality and reliability - the latter trait has been rather iffy in the case of the Europeans.

Source: ET Auto