Lexus will be developing a compact car to compete with the Audi A3 and the BMW 1-Series, but it won’t hit the US markets where Lexus was born, instead the new vehicle will compete in the European market and help Lexus with its CO2 emissions targets.
Knowing Toyota, a compact Lexus could very well be based on some form of variation of the Toyota Auris. Lexus may even spice up the Toyota Blade for the European market, a model that is essentially a premium Japanese market Toyota Auris.
This won’t be the first time a “regular” car has crossed over to the premium marque – Acura sells the regular Asian Honda Civic in Canada as the Acura CSX (the North American Civic gets different styling).
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
See? BMW wannabe.
no matter it named.. it’s still toyota.
BTW.. 1 series is the ugliest series of BMW.
people don’t care much bout it.
Like it or not, the fact is that, Lexus will continue to copy mainly BMW and also Merc. And yes it is a Toyota…… with better build quality.
Toyota quality better than BMW?
you must meet eye specialist a.s.a.p before it’s too late.
a boring small car?
layman said,
October 22, 2008 @ 11:53 am
I agree Toyota won’t fail easily, but not build quality. You will find eeek eeek quek quek squeaks on most Japanese cars after 5 years(maybe 1 year) but not Germans.
“BTW.. 1 series is the ugliest series of BMW.
people don’t care much bout it.”
the strange thing is, although ugly, the 1 series is one of the major sales successes for BMW.
end of the day, its better to be selling more cars to people with questionable tastes(imho), then to build a car that appeals only to a few people.
Waaaaaaa…most of you all are right and can’t say I agree more!
bmpower said,
October 22, 2008 @ 10:26 am
BTW.. 1 series is the ugliest series of BMW.
people don’t care much bout it.
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Yuuuuuuuup! That’s one ugly car you (BMW) got there man!
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IsaacVky said,
October 22, 2008 @ 2:36 pm
I agree Toyota won’t fail easily, but not build quality. You will find eeek eeek quek quek squeaks on most Japanese cars after 5 years(maybe 1 year) but not Germans.
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Well well…and here I thought my 2001 model Toyota Celica is “complaining” towards me! Heh!
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BanyakMasukWorkshop said,
October 22, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
“BTW.. 1 series is the ugliest series of BMW.
people don’t care much bout it.”
the strange thing is, although ugly, the 1 series is one of the major sales successes for BMW.
end of the day, its better to be selling more cars to people with questionable tastes(imho), then to build a car that appeals only to a few people.
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You are also right on that one bro! And may I add that the ugly Vios (2008 model) also is the best seller in our nation beating the Honda City until now (I won’t bet it when the new City is out though). BMW have their ugly 1 series and then Toyota also have their ugly Vios version in which they ain’t complaining as long as there are people (aka big fans) buying their cars simply just on the brands itself. Why would they satisfy a small market segment with a great taste?!
the A3 is kinda ‘square’, but definitely looks better than 1-series….
I WANT AN AUDI RS3
Living in germany right now, the 1Series is sold less than a 5 series, market for BMW 1 Series is going down, but has increased after the introduction of the Coupe version, but A3 is still winning, and the new one more stylish.
Just waiting for the A1 by Audi soon.
farhathaniff said,
October 23, 2008 @ 12:07 am
Living in germany right now, the 1Series is sold less than a 5 series, market for BMW 1 Series is going down, but has increased after the introduction of the Coupe version, but A3 is still winning, and the new one more stylish.
Just waiting for the A1 by Audi soon.
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one advice for you, stay there as long as possible, don’t come back.
Living on the moon right now, see a lot of Proton, but no A3.
Those of you guys who are saying about the QUALITY, that is one area LEXUS excels in front of the germans.
Although they may not be as good to drive as the German cars, Lexus tend to have much more equipment.
The Build quality is better on LEXUS, even though the materials used may not be.
I take a completely unbiased approach to this.
This is how i see it.
Audi A3 is discreet and has a huge range of engines, However it is just a golf underneath and it is very expensive.
The 1 series is great to drive and be in, but it is incredibly ugly and not very spacious.
This Lexus hatch will be super reliable, have great quality, but it may turn out to be boring (however it is based on the IS saloon which is quite stylish).
If i were to buy one of these cars, i would take none.
Instead i would just buy a normal execuitve saloon like the LEXUS IS, or AUDI A4.