Lexus Manila Introduces New Compact SUV to Local Shores
Lexus has unveiled in the market the brand’s global best-seller, the RX350, which the company predicts will dominate the compact luxury SUV segment in the country.
Daniel Isla, president of Lexus Manila Inc., said even before its formal introduction in the Philippines, there had been 20 reservations for the RX350.
“I think we will be able to sell 80 units of the RX350 this year,” Isla said at the launch of the new compact SUV at the Lexus Manila showroom in the Bonifacio Global City on Monday.
This means that the RX350, which sells an average of 135,000 units a year worldwide, will eat up 40 percent of the company’s projected local sales of 200 units for 2009.
Since the brand was launched in the country in January, Isla said they have so far sold 23 units.
At the Lexus Manila inauguration, the company—a unit of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMPC)—introduced five models: the sport sedan IS300, luxury sedan ES 350, performance luxury sedan GS 460, luxury SUV LX 570 and the flagship luxury sedan LS 460L.
Isla said the RX350, which will retail for P4.208 million, is seen to become the best-seller in the compact-luxury SUV segment.
Despite the economic crisis, Isla said Lexus Manila has been realizing sales projections, and the entry of the RX350 is expected to further capture the interest of Filipinos for the brand.
Hiroshi Ito, TMPC president, said although the RX350 is a relatively new model in the Lexus lineup, it has become the best-selling Lexus vehicle in the last three years.
“As Lexus offers this fresh alternative to the compact luxury SUV market, we hope that the RX350 will spark a high level of interest in the Philippine market,” Ito said.
IN PHOTO — LEXUS Manila executives, led by (from left) EVP Hiroyuki Tsuda, together with president Daniel Isla and chairman Alfred Ty together with Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. president Hiroshi Ito and Lexus Development chief engineer Takayuki Katsuda pose beside the newly launched luxury compact SUV, the RX350.
by Jude Morte, Business Mirror
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Still, LFA is a completely different beast than this car, which will be a bland, boring hybrid so I don’t even expect this to be half as good as the LFA. Since this car is a hybrid, I have no expectations from it since Lexus has completely failed to convince anyone hybrid and performance can mix. They made several efforts, but none of them succeeded.