Say Hello To Lexus

Toyota’s Luxury Arm Arrives With an ‘Entry-level’ Sedan and Two SUVs

- Girish Karkera

To many in India, Toyota is still a luxury brand. With a majority of cars from its line-up out of reach for a substantial portion of the population, that perception has stayed, even with the Etios brand in the mix of it. However, Lexus is now here. The luxury arm of the world’s biggest carmaker is roughly three decades old. It all began when Toyota asked its engineers to make a full-size limo and somewhere down the line, it became clear that they had actually ended up building a different car. Substantially different enough to spawn a new brand.

After years of going back and forth, Lexus named a three model lineup for India starting with the ES 300h sedan, RX 450h crossover and LX 450d SUV. Prices were announced for only the former two. The ES comes with a price tag of ₹55.27 lakh ex-showroom, and the RX, which is available in two variants, starts at ₹1.07 crore for the standard version and ₹1.09 crore for the sportier F variant.