Lexus plans to attack the Mercedes-Benz V-class in Europe. It is most likely the next generation of the Lexus LM, a luxury passenger bus that was launched in Asia.
The Lexus LM launched in 2019 is the Lexus version of the already quite lavish Toyota Alphard. This luxury passenger carrier with sliding doors is quite popular in Japan and many other Asian countries. In Europe we really only have one real player in this area: the Mercedes-Benz V-class. The luxury passenger car brother of the Vito is used all over Europe for the transport of people to and from airports and the better hotels. Of course there are more comfortable vans, but thanks to its Mercedes coach and the remarkably luxurious interior, the V-class has an edge over the competition in many places.
Lexus would be planning to put an end to that. Pascal Ruch, a senior manager of Lexus Europe, let slip during the presentation of the new NX that there are plans to introduce a version of the Lexus LM in Europe. As ‘Vice President Lexus Europe, Value Chain and Business Planning’, Ruch certainly has a right to speak in this area.
New Generation
Ruch recognizes that the luxury passenger transport company is also an interesting part of the market for us. He hints that there are plans to introduce the successor to the current LM in Europe. The LM was presented in 2019, but is based on a Toyota Alphard launched in 2016. That probably means that a brand new version of both models will be ready in the near future.
Bringing that new LM to Europe could be a smart move, because Lexus already has the model elsewhere in the world. Moreover, the current LM is already available as a hybrid, a version that seems to be perfect for our regions. So it should be relatively easy to get the model ready for our continent, although European tastes may have to be taken into account when designing the car.
Multivan
The V-class can wet his chest, because with the new Volkswagen Multivan, Volkswagen also has a direct rival for the V-class. Of course, there was already a Multivan before, but the new model is still completely separate from the Transporter and is therefore focused on transporting many passengers in luxury as never before. It’s getting busy at the airports again…
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl