Sad to see Lexus UK dropping GS460 and LS460 and from now on only offering GS450h (&GS300) and LS600h.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsAr...ASpx?AR=242718

http://www.greencarreports.com/blog/...nly-in-britain


This could be a sign of Lexus policies for future models ...

 

V8's dont sell well in Europe, plus the gas prices there are much higher...

 

V8s will always do well in the USA...Lexus just needs to pump more HP out of that 4.6 liter engine.

 

well fellas thanks to this countrys new corporatist/fascist agenda, we will be seeing gas over $4.00 a gallon by this time next year. We all have to pay our carbon taxes now, our right for breathing.

 

Hybrids outsell the petrol versions like 3 to one, some models even greater than that. Hybrids in Europe are exempt to lower taxes due to emissions and in the U.K they are not charged a congestion charge. They also make great company cars.

The Lexus strategy in Europe will be hybrids and diesels....the new CT-h hatch will help sales there as well.

V-8s will still be sold here.

 

This is what Lexus UK replies:

"""Sales of non-hybrid LS, GS and RX in recent years were such a small (single digit) percentage of the overall sales - i.e. demand was very low - it makes little sense to incur the cost of re-engineering them to meet lower emission limits when we have the hybrids that already do that and more.

The historic sales split in favour of hybrid over the petrol derivatives suggests that boot space is not a major factor in the purchase decision.

Lexus is the only premium brand in the UK to offer hybrid, indeed half of all hybrid cars currently on sale in the UK are Lexus models, making hybrid a strong USP for us.

Streaming the range, IS apart, to be all hybrid, is a logical step.

Scott Brownlee
Head of PR
Toyota and Lexus in UK"""

Lexus UK claims that sales of petrol only engines has been less than 10%. Bear in mind that this is UK only. Every European Union Member State has different emission regulations. For the UK one of the major emission tax levels is 225 g CO2/km, i.e. more of less same as GS300 at 224 g CO2/km. The congestion charge concerns London and is indeed an important factor.

Nevertheless, the semi-British (owned now by Tata Motors of India) luxury car manufacturer Jaguar has launched several new V8 models in the last half a year.

As for diesels, Lexus has at least until now firmly denied plans to expand the diesel engine range in Europe beyond the IS 220d. They have said that hybrids are Lexus' diesels. As for IS, they do not have a hybrid version, hence the diesel.

Lexus UK seems not to mind to loose <10% of sales, many of these buyers probably migrating to Jaguar, BMW or Mercedes. They also do not seem to recognise the brand marketing value of a top of the range V8.

...indeed Lexus needs to have a more powerful V8 to justify it more clearly. GS-F (V10 or tuned V8) will be even more marginal in terms of sales than a 'normal' V8.

 

no surprise at all. I am surprised its even offered in the UK. The v6 has more hp and less torque. After all is said and done the performance is extremely similar. The V8 isn't worth it unless the dealership gives it away

 

That's simply not true. The V8 has over 40 more hp than the V6. I think you were comparing the GS350 to Gs430. The GS460 is noticeably more powerful than the GS350. When you add in the sublime 8-speed transmission it is an awesome car.

I think the real issue in the UK is the kind of people who want that kind of performance aren't attuned to the Lexus brand. In the US you have life long BMW drivers like me who switched because we just could not deal with the crappy service and poor reliability of the BMWs, but you still want a performance Lexus. The GS460 fills that gap - its a better BMW 550i.

 

This is not a surprise at all........