There are more reasons to believe the rumor than ever before.
Lexus Launches its First Luxury Minivan in Shanghai
Although the headline may seem like it could be from a humorous website, we thought we would make it with serious content. We are, or at least, we think we will be in the coming weeks.
The Lexus Enthusiast luxury arm of Toyota has been able to scoop up a new model, which is believed to be an SUV. Lexus China announced the news with the words “explore and create extraordinary” and “discuss ourselves with your spiritual space carrying temperature, collection time and carrying temperature.” Below is a teaser photo.
Although the teaser may not be conclusive, Lexus Enthusiast points out many things that lead us to believe that the Japanese luxury brand is launching a minivan during the 2019 Shanghai Motor Show.
First, Lexus China and Lexus Taiwan have announced the new model. This makes sense as minivans are more popular in Southeast Asia than elsewhere. Minivan sales are starting to decline in the United States as a SUV/Crossover country.
The headline of “The Luxury Of Space” is what I can see in the social media post. It means that Lexus’ new model would be large and have “personal private space,” according to the rest.
Lexus Enthusiast pointed out that has trademarked LM 350 and LM 300h in the last year. Lexus Enthusiast, an automotive website for Lexus owners, believes that LM means “Lexus Minivan”. This is not a crazy idea. It also confirms that the Lexus badge in the teaser above features a blue outline. This indicates that the new model is hybrid or at least has hybrid versions, in Lexus-speak.
We’ve heard rumors about a Lexus minivan before. Raymond Rodriguez, of Lexus Manila, Inc., a company that is located in the same Asian region of Taiwan, said that the birth of a Lexus minivan was “only a matter time.” We were inspired to create this rendering of an L-badged people-hauler (see gallery at the bottom).
This rumor could become a fact. Although we have many reasons to believe this, there is no rush. We will confirm this report in a few weeks, as the Shanghai Motor Show is scheduled to take place on April 16, 2019.