If reports are to be believed, it has emerged that test units of the Lexus LX570 have arrived in India. In the past year at least, the Indian automobile industry has witnessed a good rise in sales of cars at and above the 25-lakh Rupee range. And this is one area where Ze Germans are dominant. But the Japanese giants have always shy’d away from bring their Luxury marques such as Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura into the country. But Toyota has been carefully noticing the trends in this bustling market and the testing of some LX570 cars on the Indian roads could be a hint of what’s to come. Toyota, it seems, is seriously contemplating bringing in it’s luxury sub-brand, Lexus, to India.
| 25-Sep-2014 | 87032491 | BRAND NEW MOTOR VEHICLE RHD 2014 LEXUS LX570 SUV GAOLINE 5700CC VIN NO:JTJHY00W304155616 (7 SEATER) COLOUR.SILVER WITH B | Japan | Tughlakabad | UNT | 1 | 8,109,290 | 8,109,290 |
It might even be just an R&D act for Toyota, but the undeniable fact remains that the company is keen on introducing Lexus to the country. It’s clear that the brand in itself has witnessed a slowdown in sales over the recent months, but in India, Toyota has never lost it’s fan-following and for good reason, your fridge at home might stop working, but a Toyota would go on for eons. And brands like Lexus, combine this rugged Japanese reliability with unmistakable opulence.
The Lexus LX570 is based on it’s Toyota cousin, the Land Cruiser. And this cousin still isn’t the prettiest lady in the party. But, Lexus has substituted good looks with power, quite a lot of power. As the name suggests, the 5.7-litre naturally aspirated V8 petrol motor in this car, mills out a healthy 383 hp and a tractor-like 546 Nm of torque. The LX570 is capable of sprinting from a standstill to 100 Km/h in 7.5 seconds, which, given the sheer size of the car, is very impressive. All this power is fed to all four wheels through a 6-speed autobox which does it’s transmission chores smoothly and quietly.
It will be interesting to see how Lexus goes about doing this whole thing. Nevertheless, this is sure to spice-up competition within this niche market.
Source: Zauba