For quite a while now, internationally popular automaker Lexus has been eyeing the Indian market. As reports indicate, Lexus will launch the RX450h and the ES300h by end of first quarter in 2017. The vehicles will be sold in India via the CBU route. It is believed that in order to generate customer interest towards the brand, the company will import its popular lot in the country.
By end of first quarter next year, the brand will also have 4 dealerships in the country, out of which 2 will be in Delhi, while Mumbai and Bengaluru will get one Lexus dealerships each. Initially, Lexus will be using Toyota’s service facility with a dedicated service bay for Lexus cars. Toyota dealers have been accepting bookings for Lexus vehicles a while ago and by the end of 2017, Lexus plans on introducing the LX450 diesel, LX570 petrol and the NX models in the country.
The Lexus RX450h will be powered by a 3.5-litre, V6 petrol motor engine with Toyota’s popular hybrid system with an e-CVT gearbox to generate 304bhp of power. The vehicle will be tweaked to suit Indian conditions. Post launch, the vehicle will compete against the likes of BMW X3 and Audi Q5. The Lexus ES300h is likely to be offered as an entry level model. Like the Camry hybrid, the new ES300h is likely to be powered by a 2.5-litre petrol engine mated to a CVT transmission. More details on the automaker’s future plans will be known in the coming days.
