Pimp My Prius: Lexus Wants a Bigger Piece of the Hybrid Market
Now that Toyota's co-opted the Camry to make the ES, hijacked the Highlander to make the RX, fine-tuned the 4Runner to make the GX and liberated the Land Cruiser to make the LX, Lexus is planning to pimp a Prius. Bloomberg reports that Lexus wants to add "something different, and that's highly-efficiency" to their current hybrid offerings, which currently emphasize performance over fuel economy. Market research has revealed that more than a third of the people who bought a Prius last year have a family income over $100k. Half of those top $150k. (Previously blogged by TTAC here.) Not surprisingly, Lexus sees gold in them thar' demographics! That said, I guess they've never heard of "reverse snob appeal" (a.k.a. slumming). And you gotta wonder how you can add upmarket appeal without adding weight. The Japanese manufacturers didn't release any details about the new hybrid– other than the fact it'll be added to the Lexus lineup next year.
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Or like eating tofu out of a steer's skull. ;-)
Don't discount the Lexus purchasing and servicing experience - people love that customer service.
How much says that the Lexus econo-hybrid and the next-gen Prius are the same vehicle (i.e. badge-engineered)?
Can we get an Avarvarii photoshop of a Lexus PS150h?