High Hopes? Lexus Targets BMW With European Only 2010 1-Series Competitor

How come it is Brilliant. Someone in Lexus PR was like, Umm, BMW has a 1 series, Infiniti is building a 1-series competitor for Europe, maybe we should do the same thing.

i could not have said it better.......montyz81

Hey, according to your previous statements this means Lexus no competes with Kia and Suzuki.

NEGATIVE!

Many americans are simply looking at the badge. So yes a $25,000 Lexus would sell in the US. But would Lexus want to stoop that low?

Lexus should have made it years ago. Audi sell its A3, the rebadged Golf with 30% higher price for equally equipped versions with same engines since 1996 and score 200.000 units annually in Europe itself.

Current IS is already that size of E46 3. Unless they make it bigger I cannot imagine coming up w/ another midget 1 series competitor.

Simple fact is, that to compete in Europe, Lexus must introduce smaller vehicles like Mercedes,BMW and Audi already have been doing for years.

Problem is that a smaller Lexus won't increase Lexus sales exponentially. Other factors that affect poor Lexus sales in Europe are a thin dealer network and more importantly poor resale value. Why buy a Lexus when you'll have trouble selling it in the future? The German luxury brands are too well established in the European market which make competition for any newcomer very difficult.

If they want to compete in Europe, they have to bring a GOOD diesel, not the one they have now, offer folding rear seats, and MPV type vehicles.
Without them.... ain't gonna happen.

Could be a tough road for Lexus.

Not exactly desirable cars in Europe, unless, it is a hybrid that can avoid congestion charges.

Lexus selling well in Europe? That is as likely as a vegetarian eating meat.

It just won´t happen that a rebadged Toyota is a success over there - check the actual sales Numbers for Lexus in Europe, if you are interested:

Year 2008, Lexus cars sold in Europe: 45.240 (-16% to 2007)
Source: http://www.blogspan.net/presse/toyota-verkaufszahlen-2008-in-deutschland-und-europa/mitteilung/22575/

Any German Premium Brand sold more cars in Germany solely, than Lexus was able to "Sell" in whole Europe:

Year 2008, sold in Germany:
Lexus: 3.745
Audi: 251.393
BMW (without MINI): 253.967
Mercedes: 327.965
Source: http://www.kfz-betrieb.vogel.de/fileserver/vogelonline/issues/kfz/sonst/2008/1912.pdf

These guys know what is good, and as a matter of fact they have enough own premium labels, which deliver them quality products since years.

Answer to the question: Ridiculous attempt. Period.

Most of those sales are due to the stripped-down versions of their least expensive models (A-class, b-class, A3, etc.)

Go Go BMW , Please stop copy the king is to much and constanly stop.
Create and design your own machine.

READ THE ARTICLE, "The new Lexus model will be distinctly a hybrid patterned after the 2010 Toyota Prius, will be a compact hatch equipped with FWD and targeted to rival the highly-economical 4-cylinder diesel lineup of German brand."

so they're rebadging the prius and calling it a lexus. same HS model we'll be getting here. just another to-yo-ta.