More Lexus Crossovers to Meet High Market Demands
Facts are facts: if you want to be a major player in the world of competitive, mainstream automotive brands, you’ve got to have a strong line of crossovers, SUVs, or pickups. That’s what 2014 taught us and, so far, it’s more of the same in 2015.
Companies across the board are taking notice and diversifying their brands with new crossover concepts. Hot on the heels of Hyundai’s HCD-15 Concept (aka ‘the Santa Cruz’) announcement at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show, Toyota has released a statement affirming their commitment to expand their already comprehensive lineup of Lexus crossovers and SUVs.
2015 will be the first full year that Lexus will produce the NX SUV, which outsold its competitors (the Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Daimler AG’s Merecedes-Benz) in December 2014. Production of the NX has already increased since it went on sale in the third quarter of last year, Executive Vice President of Lexus Mark Templin told Bloomberg. Though Templin declined to offer specific figures, he did say that the original production plan was altered to meet higher than anticipated demand.
Bloomberg reports that sales of crossover vehicles were up 16 percent from 2013 for Toyota, leading the company to ramp up production at the plants responsible for the RAV4 and Lexus RX. Jim Lentz (North American CEO of Toyota) told Bloomberg, “The freeze is still in place until the end of March of 2016,” referencing the increase in production of the two models at Japanese and Canadian plants. “All indications are that it will lift, but right now it has not lifted.”
The decline of gas prices below $2/gallon across America has quickened the buying pace of a customer base who was already shifting from passenger cars to newer, roomier, and more efficient SUVs. With demand unlikely to level off, Toyota is now considering manufacturing additional CUVs. The plan, Lentz told Bloomberg, is to create a fleet of compact Lexus crossovers would slot in below the RAV4 – bringing the total of Toyota SUV/CUVs up to six. Combined with the present and projected success of the Lexus NX, as well as the other four SUV/CUV vehicles in the Lexus line, Toyota is positioning itself as one of the most formidable competitors on the market.
So stop by Lexus of Highland Park today to find out what all the fuss is about. Take a test drive in any of our luxury Lexus models and you’ll see why so many people are making the change.
