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Lexus Europe gets a new boss
by Mark Appleton - Automotive News Europe

Toyota has promoted Andy Pfeiffenberger to be head of the European operations of its Lexus brand.

Pfeiffenberger, 48, succeeds Karl Schlicht who will assume a new global role for Toyota from January next year.

Pfeiffenberger, an American, had been vice president of Toyota in Russia since 2004. Prior to that, he was a core member of the team that launched Toyota's youth brand, Scion, in the U.S.

Schlicht, a 47-year-old Canadian, was vice president of Lexus Europe since 2005.

Lexus sales in Europe fell to 19,817 units from 25,091 in the first seven months compared with the year before, according to UK market researchers JATO Dynamics.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2008...2&Profile=1193

LexFather

They don't have any Europeans to hire? I hope this guy has a better understanding of the Euro market and some PULL, so Lexus can compete better there.

Lexus sells basically as many cars in a MONTH here as Europe in a year.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

But don't forget that Lexus has no product that directly competes with the sub-compact diesel vehicles in Europe: no competitor for the Smart, BMW 1-Series, Mercedes A-Class, Audi A1, etc.

I don't think Lexus will have the type of numbers in sales until Toyota creates something for that specific market. The IS220d/250 is physically huge in terms of size when compared to half the cars on the road in Europe.

Because of this, I think Lexus will remain a low volume luxury car similar to that of Jaguar or Land Rover and such across the pond...

encore888

Yes, Lexus Europe is affected by the product for sure, having one diesel, and size, having no mini-cars. The forthcoming hybrid-only model may help things.