Lexus reboot How it plans to finally conquer Europe

Sales of the NX in Europe have fallen below Lexus’s hopes

Lexus to try again to crack Europe

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Lexus seemingly does everything you would want of a premium brand.

In 2022, it topped the reliability survey of Autocar sibling What Car? for the third year running. Owners regularly praise the dealership experience. Lexus was also leagues ahead on electrification, launching its first hybrid in 2005. It was at the forefront of the plush, road-oriented SUV trend, starting with the RX in 1998.

So why does the brand still not resonate with buyers in the UK and mainland Europe? As Lexus owner Toyota basks in a record market share for its mainstream brand on the continent, it is applying an

Toyota Europe boss Harrison: “2022 was a very tough year”

overhaul to Lexus in the region in an effort to fix the imbalance.

Lexus’s UK sales to the end of November reached just 9034, down 31% and behind even beleaguered Jaguar, according to UK trade body the SMMT. Even in its best year, 2019, it sold only 15,713 cars.

Despite those small numbers, the UK is still a relatively big market for Lexus compared with the rest of Europe. The brand sold 30,265 cars to the end of October across the region, down 27%, according to ACEA, the SMMT equivalent for Europe.

“There’s no denying 2022 was a very tough year for Lexus, ” the head of Toyota in Europe, Matt Harrison, told Autocar. All Lexus models sold in Europe are made in Japan and they have been hard hit by the chip shortage.

At the start of December, the UK webpage for the brand’s key NX mid-sized SUV – which vies with the compact UX for best-seller in the Lexus range –was dominated by the message

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that the hybrid version of the newly launched model has sold out for 2023. The PHEV model remains on sale.

Many car makers have been shifting chip supply to highermargin models or brands, but not the NX. “The NX has a lot of components unique to the car, so flexibility is limited, ” said Pascal Ruch, head of value chain and business planning for Lexus Europe. The NX was “central to our growth aspirations [in 2022]” , added Harrison, so the production crunch has hit hard.

But Lexus’s difficulties in the region go beyond shortage. The brand has struggled to appeal to fleet buyers, which accounted for 35% last year

We want to leverage electrification to reinvent the driving experience

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compared with around half for Mercedes. That’s a hangover from the old days. “Diesel was the dominant powertrain for many, many years, ” said Ruch. “This is now evolving. ”

Lexus had been in danger of making a similar mistake by not offering a broad enough range of plug-in electrified models, which have fast replaced diesel as the powertrain of choice. The electric UX 300e SUV has been a flop so far, with just 300 sold in the UK to the end of October, with buyers potentially put off by the modest 196-mile range.

Ruch’s defence of Lexus’s low market share is that it’s still a “young” brand compared with the likes of BMW and Mercedes. However, Polestar is even younger and is now snapping at Lexus’s heels. But his argument that the brand is positioning itself with the freshest line-up in years carries more weight.

There’s more in the pipeline, too. December 2021’s reveal of 15 new electric cars for Toyota had seven Lexus models, giving us an intriguing peek into a future when it offers a “full line-up of EVs” by 2030 for Europe. Included in that concept line-up was a sportylooking saloon and estate, indicating a possible return of the IS and IS Sport Cross. The extreme-looking Electrified Sport EV supercar is also a possibility by 2030.

“We’re clearly working on alternative body types that would allow us to not only offer a wider range of vehicles but also meet the growth ambitions we have for Europe, ” said Lexus Europe boss Spiros Fotinos in May.

Lexus hopes to sharpen its slightly fuzzy brand image with a renewed focus on engineering-led technology that leans to the sporty. “We want to leverage electrification to reinvent the driving experience, ” said Ruch.

Two innovations stand out: One Motion Grip, which is steer-by-wire; and Direct4 torque vectoring, which applies torque to individual wheels for better grip and control. Direct4 makes use of an electric motor on each axle, on either EVs or hybrids, and is key to the “Lexus driving signature” .

That Toyota is persisting with Lexus in Europe is a compliment, given how little the brand needs the European market to succeed. Lexus notched up 760,012 sales globally in 2021, dominated by the US (332,000) and China (227,000). Europe, including the UK, for the same period was just 47,604. Sales outside Europe are mostly larger models such as the RX.

So far, the Lexus formula has not triggered a wave of affection for it in this part of the world but electrification and a unique driving experience are what Lexus hopes will bump up its appeal. NICK GIBBS

W H A T T O E X P E C T F R O M L E X U S T H I S Y E A R

UX 300e Electric compact SUV will a get range upgrade from 196 to 280 miles thanks to a new 73kWh battery (up from the current 54kWh unit). RX A plug-in hybrid variant of the flagship SUV will arrive. A performance hybrid, badged RX 500h, is also on the way with 366bhp. RZ 350e The firm’s first bespoke EV will serve as a spearhead for Lexus’s electric push. It will also be the first model on the dedicated e-TNGA platform.