The Lexus has been operational in India since 2017, but costly products and the non-availability of assembly facility has kept the company under major disadvantage against its rivals. Now, all of this is about to change since the company has set up an assembly line in Bidadi (Bengaluru) and has begun assembly of the ES sedan.
Lexus' assembly line in India has been set-up with an estimated investment of about $100 million. Currently, Lexus products in India range from INR 58.2 lakh to INR 2.32 Crore, but the with rejigged operations, the prices of some of its lower-end products are bound come down in the future. Any official confirmation from the company is still awaited.
The Lexus ES is currently available in only the ES 300h variant, at INR 59,95,000 (ex-showroom). The Lexus NX could be the next model to be locally assembled. Currently, it is available in only the NX 300h variant. Customers can select between Luxury and F Sport trims, priced at INR 58,20,000 (ex-showroom) and INR 60,60,000 (ex-showroom).
Lexus currently has a very limited reach and operates in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon and Bengaluru. It may add more major cities to list such as Chennai, Ahmadabad and Hyderabad to the list in order to expand its geographical footprint and thus market share which is currently almost negligible, around 1-2 %.
Lexus will expand its Indian line-up with the launch of the LC today. The grand tourer was previously showcased at a private event in the past and pre-bookings of the same have been open from around half a year now. It is the production version of the Lexus LF-LC concept originally showcased at NAIAS 2012. It is based on the new GA-L platform which is now even seen under the Lexus LS.
Also Read: Lexus ES getting BS-VI upgrade soon
Following the tradition like a majority of Lexus models in India, the Lexus LC will be a hybrid-only model (LC 500h). It will employ the 8GR-FXS 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine which develops 299 PS of maximum power and 356 Nm of peak torque, along with the 2NM electric motor which delivers 180 PS and 300 Nm of torque. The system delivers 359 PS of maximum power in a combined form. The system comes teamed-up with a Multistage hybrid transmission, a Lexus-only combination of a 4-speed AT with an eCVT.
