Car Toyota bets on Lexus revamp to overcome

[urpussysucker]

Toyota bets on Lexus revamp to overcome monotony
New Delhi, Jan 12 (ANI): World's largest automaker, Toyota Motor Corp, is all set to revamp its premium Lexus line with a facelift of its flagship sports coupe for 2017.

To shake off its reputation for boring designs, Toyota recently unveiled its Lexus LC 500 coupe at the Detroit auto show.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said that the new model featuring the brand's distinct jagged grille was the company's response to years of public criticism about the brand's uninspired designs.

"I was determined to make sure we became a more emotional brand, and that the words 'boring' and 'Lexus' never showed up in the same sentence," Toyoda added.

Based on a flowing concept design shown in 2012, the new model features a V8 engine and a new 10-speed transmission system, and will be the brand's first model to use a new, luxury rear-wheel drive platform developed under the company's new shared platform production system.

Toyoda also said it plans to market a fuel cell vehicle (FCV) under the Lexus brand "around 2020" as part of its pledge that all of its vehicles would be zero emissions by 2050.

A Lexus FCV would be the second model produced by Toyota, which uses hydrogen as a power source, to cut out carbon emissions, following the Mirai launched in late 2014. (ANI)