Toyota Upbeat on Lexus Sales Despite Crunch
January 21, 2009 by Tsikot
Targeting just 1 percent of the population, Toyota Motor Corp. recently brought in to the Philippines five models of its luxury brand Lexus with a price range of P2.9 million to P8.2 million.
Even with the difficult economic situation, Daniel Isla, president of the newly created Toyota subsidiary Lexus Manila Inc., said the company is confident of doing well in its initial year of operations in the country by selling 200 to 300 units.
“The luxury market will not be severely affected during the financial crisis, not as compared with the volume segment,” Isla told the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of the grand inauguration of the Lexus Manila Inc. facility at the North Bonifacio in Taguig.The market of Lexus, he said, will be the “Class A” segment like the businessmen and senior executives, who comprise just about 1 percent of the Philippine population.
Currently, Isla said the luxury vehicle segment represents about 1.4 percent of the Philippine auto market.
The Lexus models currently on display at the North Bonifacio show room are the LS460L, GS460, ES350, IS300, and LX570.
Even before the launch, Isla said they had received orders for eight Lexus vehicles.
Isla said the entry of Lexus into the market has been in Toyota’s plans since 2005, so the crisis will not be enough reason for them to suspend the Philippine launch.
The Lexus cars, Isla said, will not count in the total sales of Toyota Philippines, which dominated the market anew by selling 45,915 units in 2008.
According to Lexus Manila Inc., the LS460L, a long wheel base luxury sedan that boasts of semiairline leather seats with ottoman and massage features, is the flagship model of Lexus. The GS460 is a 4.6-liter V8, eight-speed luxury sedan that bears a sporty elegance.
The LX570 is a sport-utility vehicle equipped with the world-renowned Mark Levinson audio system that has a total of 19 speakers.
ES350, a six-speed V6 luxury sedan, is for discriminating executives, while the IS300 is for the performance-purists younger set of affluent motoring enthusiasts.
by M.V. de Leon, Business Mirror
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