Toyota Postpones Lexus Production in China

Toyota Motor Corp. is likely to delay plans to build Lexus luxury cars in China until at least 2018 because of the cooling market, company sources in Beijing tell Reuters.

The weak yen also makes it cheaper to continue for now to export Japanese-made Lexus vehicles to China. One source adds that Toyota wants to further establish the Lexus brand there before committing to local output.

Reuters says Toyota has been discussing Chinese production of the Lexus ES sedan and RX crossover vehicle. Imported versions of those two models and RX crossover currently account for 85% of Lexus sales in China, according to LMC Automotive. The firm predicts Lexus deliveries in the country will grow 12% to 83,700 units in 2015.