The world’s highest selling car company Toyota, has a less impressive presence in India. The reason behind this is that Toyota is primarily a maker of bigger and premium cars that do not become so hot selling in India, though some cars such its Innova is a best seller. Moreover, Toyota is a pioneer of green cars, such as EVs and Hybrids, which also don’t appeal to the Indian consumers at all, as the eco-friendly cars are not pocket friendly as well. Now, Toyota is also delaying the launch of its premium Lexus brand in India, owing to the market slowdown.
Toyota, which is known as the Toyota Kirloskar Motor in India, as the car maker has its presence in the country through a joint venture with Kirloskar Motor in the country has expressed that it will probably further delay the introduction of Lexus. Toyota has not revealed as to when the company is expecting to launch the Lexus in India, as it is anxious about the market slowdown. Moreover, the Lexus will also attract heavy import duty rates which will hike up its price that may not strike the right cords with the Indian consumers during the current unstable economic conditions of the country.
Toyota has been very interested in introducing the Lexus range to India. However the Japanese car leader had also expressed earlier that this plan is getting stalled owing to the double challenge of the high import duty coupled with limited sales expectations.
The deputy MD and COO of the marketing and commercial department at Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Sandeep Singh said that the company has delayed the Lexus project due to heavy import duty and slow market conditions. He added that the company cannot set an exact timeline as no there has been no decision on the reduction of the import duty charges by the Indian government. In the month of March, 2013 the government increased the import duty on luxury cars by 30 percent, from the earlier 75 percent to the current 100 percent. To this the global car makers have appealed to lower this duty but no decision has been taken by the government as yet.
Toyota started contemplating launching the Lexus range in India two years back. In the previous year, the Managing Director of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Hiroshi Nakagawa had told that the company is working hard to success full implement the project but it is hindered by duty related cost, heavy investments on showrooms coupled with limited sales expectations.
It can be noted that though the Indian car market is going through a tough slowdown, the luxury car segment has been recording a considerable a steady growth. Even in this slow market where even the compact and mini car segments are hit with low demands, the luxury cars are selling better than expected by their makers. Thus, Toyota might eventually launch the Lexus sooner or later in India.
Toyota is also busy with other upcoming launches in India like the Camry Hybrid and the Rush SUV.
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