In an interview with German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche, Lexus Europe Managing Director Tadashi Arashima confirmed that Lexus will indeed be launching a compact entry-level model. From Motor Authority:

“We will offer a Lexus in the compact class,” he told reporters, explaining that the company needs “smaller and more efficient vehicles” to meet Europe’s CO2 emissions regulations. He described the car as being a rival to the likes of BMW’s 1-series and Audi’s A3, although he didn't reveal any exact release date.

Lexus has been selling in cars in Europe since 1990 but it still commands less than 1% of the total market, something Arashima hopes to change with the introduction of a more affordable and more fuel-efficient model.

Motor Authority seems to think that this isn't a vehicle we will see in North America, but I don't believe that to be the case at all. In fact, I'd go as far to say that this would probably eclipse BMW 1-series & Audi A3 sales in very short order. Tiny luxury, especially combined with hybrid technology, would be a perfect package for the USA's current economic climate.

[Source: Motor Authority Image: Lexus Owners Club]

When I read Toyota Managing Officer Toshio Furutani's comments in the Nikkei Business News last week that "in the medium to long term, Toyota was considering making the Lexus lineup hybrid-only", it barely registered. Now, after seeing it reported over and over, I've come to release it might be an idea to post here -- this is a Lexus news site, after all.

Honestly, I had always just assumed that eventually Lexus would stop selling conventional gas engines and replace them all with hybrid versions. In fact, with the hybrid version of the RX making up 86% of all European sales and the very technology being so important to the brand's success there, I wouldn't be surprised to see the next-gen RX to be only offered as a hybrid there.

With the exception of the IS-F, picturing a hybrid-only lineup isn't very difficult at all -- and then when you consider the rumor that the LF-A would also be offered as a hybrid, even the IS-F doesn't seem implausible at all.

(And this doesn't even take into account the potential brand benefit of being the first mass market car manufacturer to drop conventional engines!)

[Source: Reuters]

Responding to a report that Toyota may be unable to achieve its projected global sales target, Senior Managing Director Yoichiro Ichimaru shared some details about the current state of Lexus sales worldwide.

According to Market Watch:

...[Toyota] will open a showroom in Tokyo for its upscale Lexus brand vehicles that is designed to draw in customers from countries outside of Japan.

At the new showroom, located in the center of one of Japan's fashion districts, the company will offer services to explain Lexus products and Japanese traffic rules in English and other languages.

Lexus is currently struggling to boost sales of its luxury vehicles with sales for the first nine months of this year falling 25% from the same term last year.

Due to the brand's reliance on the American market, the 25% drop in global sales is understandable, but that doesn't make it any less shocking. Certainly, the number one focus for Lexus management has to be increasing the profile in Europe, if only to insure that similar drops don't occur in the future.

Some interesting facts came out of a Europa Press interview with Lexus Europe vice-president Andy Pfeiffenberger -- from the translated text:

...the vice president of the European subsidiary of Toyota said his company expected its sales this year on the European continent will be reduced by about 11%, to about 48,000 units, due to economic weakness, which has resulted in a sharp decline in car registrations in the region, particularly in the markets in Spain, Italy, Britain and Germany.

The new vice president of the company on the European continent stressed that "probably in the future" Lexus brand will become a "fundamentally hybrid," in which the highest sales volume for this technology.

Pfeiffenberger explained that the subsidiary of the Toyota group is considering making a new compact model in order to compete with cars like the BMW 1 Series or the Audi A3, which are in a segment in which the Japanese firm is not present at present.

An 11% drop certainly isn't good news, but at least it's lower than the projected US number. It also gives us some insight to the overall brand growth in Europe, where statistics are far and few between.

As far as the Lexus competitor to the 1-Series or the A3, I've gone from one extreme to the other, where it's now to a point where it's probably the vehicle I'm most looking forward to in the Lexus lineup.

[Source: Europa Press via AutoblogGreen]

Interbrand's annual Best Global Brands study has been completed, and Lexus has ranked 90th overall, and 10th among automotive brands:

When compared to last year's study, Lexus is moving up the ladder, climbing two spots. The value of the brand, calculated from combination of analysts’ projections, company financial documents, and qualitative and quantitative analysis stands at $3.588 billion, up from $3.354 billion. The automotive brands ranked as follows:

• 1. Toyota - $34B
• 2. Mercedes-Benz - $25.6B
• 3. BMW - $23.3B
• 4. Honda - $19.1B
• 5. Ford - $7.9B
• 6. Volkswagen - $7B
• 7. Audi - $5.4B
• 8. Hyundai - $4.8B
• 9. Porsche - $4.6B
• 10. Lexus - $3.6B

[Source: Interbrand]

Lexus has launched an online entertainment "channel" today called L Studio, which looks to be a continuation of the company's movement towards becoming a true lifestyle brand. From Reuters:

The carmaker is launching an Internet-only branded channel Tuesday (September 23) stocked with a full slate of original programing headlined by [Lisa] Kudrow [from Friends] in a shortform comedy series in which she plays a nutty shrink.

In an effort to keep the buzz going for the project, Lexus plans to recruit more celebrity contributors in the coming months. For now, the rest of L Studio is an eclectic mix of high-toned nonfiction programing that concerns everything from art to architecture to science. Some notable figures who are profiled on the site include the Doors' Ray Manzarek and designer Patricia Field.

Taken together, the connective thread between the programing mix and the Lexus brand, Blanchard said, is the theme of innovation. "We kind of look at ourselves as a broadband HBO," she said. "Being on broadband in and of itself is innovative for a lot of these artists."

One of the videos posted is a tour of the Hybrid Living Suites, a joint project by Fairmont Hotels & Lexus -- and while the site offers embedded video, I've been unable to get it working. There was also mention of a series featuring artists repurposing old Lexus', similar to what Kelly LaPlante did with the hotel room. I'll be on the lookout for that, stay tuned!

Update: Here's a promo video from Youtube:

[Source: Reuters]