Lexus has sold the millionth car in Europe this year, Toyota’s luxury brand announced. This milestone coincides – purely by coincidence – with the thirty years of Lexus presence on our continent.
Lexus has been with us since 1990. A few months after the launch of the LS 400 in its homeland Japan, the top limousine also came to Europe as the only available model of Toyota’s luxury subsidiary brand. Later on, other models such as the IS, GS and RX were added. The latter leads the list of best-selling models with a sales total of 289,214 units, followed by the IS with 202,210 units. The most striking figure in the ranking is that of the NX. This SUV under the RX only came on the market in 2014, but 155,366 units have already been sold. It looks like the smaller UX could repeat that success with 32,972 units sold since its launch last year. The bottom line is of course the LFA; only 38 copies of the limited supercar have found their way to wealthy European customers.
The more recent success of the NX and UX also explains why Lexus is increasingly focusing on SUVs and crossovers in Europe. The new IS is not coming to Europe and the RC 300h and CT will also disappear from the price list. The only remaining non-SUVs are the ES mid-size sedan, LS top limousine and the LC coupé and convertible versions. In Russia, Lexus also supplies the full-size SUV LX and the more utilitarian GX. Hybrid drive is also important for Lexus in Europe. Of the one million cars sold, 45 percent have such a powertrain, that percentage is growing fast, according to Lexus. In the Netherlands, however, the brand remains a small player: this year only 507 new Lexuses were sold in our country.