Toyota’s luxury arm Lexus has finally started a local assembly unit on the premises of Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s (TKM) Bidadi plant in Karnataka.
The price of the ES luxury sedan has now been reduced to Rs 51.90 lakh for the Exquisite variant, a Rs 8.05 lakh drop.
The top-spec Luxury variant which has heads-up display & 360-degree parking camera is priced at Rs 56.95 lakh.
Earlier, the ES was imported as a Completely-Built Unit (CBU), which attracts higher taxes here. Lexus will reportedly start assembling the NX SUV in the same line soon.
This had been a disadvantage for Lexus as higher import prices didn’t help it compete with German luxury cars. Lexus, in 2019, had a market share of just 1-2 per cent in the Luxury space.
The Lexus ES is the company’s entry-level sedan and is powered by petrol-hybrid setup. It combines a 178hp, 2.5-litre petrol engine with a 120hp electric motor for a total output of 218hp. It is mated to a 6-step eCVT gearbox.
Lexus also launched the LC500h grand tourer at Rs 1.96 crore (ex-showroom). This will not be locally assembled.
