Toyota has finally given the green signal to the launch of its luxury brand, Lexus in India for 2017. Though, it is not the first time in the news when the Japanese automaker assured to bring its luxury brand in the Indian market, as it happened several times before as well.
Back in 2011, Toyota had confirmed that the Lexus brand would be launched in the country in 2013. But in the Union Budget 2013-14, the Government of India increased the custom duties to the 100 percent on the imported cars. And due to this, Toyota had to shelve the project at the very last minute, as they did not have the plan to locally assemble the Lexus cars in India. Toyota would have brought the Lexus cars through the CBU (Complete Built Unit) route in India, and the high custom duties would give a large bump in the cost of its models. Hence, the first impression of this luxury car brand would unable to leave a lasting mark on the Indian automobile market.
But this time, Toyota revived the plan of launching the Lexus in India, as it is just a beginning for the hybrid vehicles in the Indian market and it will be good opportunity for Lexus to make a strong impression on the buyers. Plus, the hybrid vehicles have less custom duties on them and furthermore, the hybrid cars longer than 4 meters get a concession of up to INR 1.38 Lakh under the FAME scheme.
Hybrid cars would be a good attempt since the odd-even rule has introduced in the national capital and possibly spreading to other major cities also, as they are exempt from this rule.
However, the Japanese brand did not confirm that in which month Lexus will make its entry and which model of this luxury brand will be first introduced. Though, it is being expected that Lexus will make its grand entry with the full size LX SUV, followed by an entry level hybrid sedan ES 300h.
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