• by Karl Greenberg , April 7, 2015

At the New York International Auto Show this week, Lexus put the spotlight on its RX crossover SUV, which — when the nameplate launched 17 or so years ago — was one of the first vehicles of its type, and the first one in the luxury market. One thing that is immediately apparent in the new 2016 RX is its aggressive styling, which says a lot about the entire brand and where it is going across the vehicle lineup. It is among products like the new RC sports coupe, its RC-F performance version, and the IS and IS-F performance cars. Not to mention its first entry crossover, the NX. 

Jeff Bracken, group VP and general manager of Toyota Motor Sales Lexus Division, speaking with Marketing Daily at the show, says RX is still Lexus’ top volume vehicle at 30% of total Lexus sales in the U.S. He says 60% of RX’s sold in the world are sold here in the U.S., where it accounts for 25% of the segment.

“When we first began with RX in 1998, we were one of the only crossovers in that segment. Today there are 16, so the mid-size luxury crossover segment is hotly contested,” he says. “But it's also our most loyal owner, at 60% female, 40% male, with an average age of 60 years old.”

Brian Bolain, Lexus national marketing manager, tells Marketing Daily that the RX’s larger size and bigger attitude will appeal to younger buyers, adding that Lexus’ LX, the largest SUV in the Toyota Motor luxury brand's lineup, and one that costs upward of $90,000, actually has the second-youngest Lexus buyer. “It’s a paradox, but the LX buyer is 49 years old on average, with a household income of $350,000 per year.” He notes that the youngest buyer for Lexus is the IS consumer, at 43 years old, on average. 

While Lexus, like the other luxury-vehicle manufacturers, is moving the focus to entry-level vehicles like NX, IS and RC to bring in new customers, it will studiously avoid lowering the brand's price floor. “We won't sell a vehicle under $30,000,” says Bracken. 

He says the company will market the RX, which goes on sale in the fourth quarter, with a “sophistication with an edge” position, and a focus on styling and powertrain. And, he says, the automaker is using the vehicle as a launch for a new program around its comprehensive Lexus Safety System Plus suite of technologies. “Typically, that bundle of features would be thousands of dollars. But we are bundling them together, and offering it at under $650.” The suite comprises technologies like auto high beam, pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, and radar cruise control. He says Lexus plans to make those technologies available on almost all Lexus vehicles by the end of 2017. 

And the automaker is entering the racing scene, an announcement it made when it unveiled the RC-F GT3 race car in Detroit. “So this year we are going through process of identifying the team, driver, sponsor, we are also going through homologation next month or two. We are very serious about it. probably next year we will be racing here in America.” Says Bolain, “Performance and racing: nothing changes our brand perception faster than that. I just don't think you can be in luxury without some nod to dynamics.”