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Lexus Philippines Opens First Dealership

Posted by Kevin on January 19th, 2009

Lexus has opened their first dealership in the Philippines, and it’s a exceptionally beautiful facility built in Manila at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig:

{embed=“site/gallery” gallery_id=“1054 “}

It was designed a collaboration between Japanese firm Nomura Co. Filipino architectural firm Recio + Casas. I’m absolutely floored, it’s gorgeous.

Lexus will be offering five models to start (six including the LS 460L), and they won’t be cheap. Here’s a full breakdown from Club Lexus:

Model PHP$ US$
IS300 2,938,000.00 $62,331.60
ES350 3,678,000.00 $78,031.18
GS460 5,328,000.00 $113,037.02
LX570 7,218,000.00 $153,134.61
LS460 7,268,000.00 $154,621.85
LS460L 8,238,000.00 $175,257.95

(I suppose it won’t take long to recoup the cost of the building with this sort of markup. TPP commenter Pond brings up a good point, chances are the astronomic markup is the result of government taxes and tariffs, not the dealership.)

And lastly, during the opening of the facility, Akira Okabe, senior managing director of Toyota Motor Corp. and head of the Asia, Oceania and Middle East Operations Group gave some idea of how Lexus will develop the brand in the region:

Okabe said the era of mass production and mass consumption that characterized the huge US market is no longer the dominant strategy. He said Toyota is instead pursuing a strategy of “parallel operations,” with one based on the market in developed countries and another based on markets in the developing countries. 

“We need new technology which is very different from what is for the West,” Okabe told The STAR. “The focus used to be the US and Japan. We make cars for that market and then just bring them over to Asia. But now we must develop (cars) in Asia, by Asians for Asia,” he stressed.

[Photos: Lexus Source: Philstar]

Update: David from Lexus has posted up the contact information for their dealership while their website is being fixed:

Lexus Manila Inc.
3402 8th Avenue corner 34th Stret
North Bonifacio Global City
Taguig City 1634
Metro Manila, Philippines
Trunkline : (+63-2) 856-5050

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Comments
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  • B
    balagtas
  • July 20, 2010
:-D hi do
krew wrote:I’m closing down comments on this story, as I’ve had to delete five comments in the last couple days.
:-o:-o
B
  • B
    balagtas
  • July 20, 2010
krew wrote:I’m closing down comments on this story, as I’ve had to delete five comments in the last couple days.
B
  • B
    balagtas
  • July 20, 2010
David M. wrote:Hi guys, this is David of Lexus Manila. If you need contact information regarding our dealership, here’s our address and telephone number. If you are familiar with area, we are actually behind MC Home Depot and S&R Price Smart. We apologize for our website, it should be up and running in a couple of weeks. Hope you guys can visit us soon! Lexus Manila Inc.3402 8th Avenue corner 34th StretNorth Bonifacio Global CityTaguig City 1634Metro Manila, PhilippinesTrunkline : (+63-2) 856-5050
:-D
J
  • J
    jun robes
  • September 19, 2010
Hello DAVID, do you have RX 350 and how much in Peso? thanks...
L
  • L
    Luis
  • October 3, 2010
@lwa: Hi David, can you confirm what Iwa said? Do you really charge $10,000. for servicing lexus not bought from your dealership? I have an ES350. I am now retired and considering bringing it home.
A
  • A
    akiko
  • October 21, 2010
good day to you david, do you have lx570 and how much it in peso? tnx
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    RODRIGO MAIGZ
  • November 22, 2010
WHAI I CANNOT UNDERSTAND IS THE WAY THEY ARE PRICING THEIR VEHICLES HERE IN THE PHILLIPPINES... IF THEY CAN OFFER THE LX 570 IN THE US FOR ROUGHLY $77,775.00, THEN WHY NOT OFFER IT AT THE SAME PRICE HERE... WHY MUST THEY DOUBLE IT HERE.. WHY CANNOT THE GOVT. DO AWAY WITH THE CURRENT TAX SCHEME... SINCE THE COMPANY HAS OPENED A DEALERSHIP HERE, THEIR PRODUCTS SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS A HIGHLY TAXABLE LUXURY ITEM... OUR LAWMAKERS SHOULD LOOK INTO THIS MATTER.. COZ THIS TAX SCHEMATICS SURE IS GOING TO SCARE MORE BUSINESS LOCATORS AND POSSIBLE INVESTORS FROM OUR COUNTRY...
L
  • L
    lexi
  • November 23, 2010
@RODRIGO MAIGZ: on the contrary, a lot of rich Filipinos can afford to buy these luxury vehicles(lexus, bmw, mb, audi, maserati, ferrari) ya know... don't count on the lawmakers and politicians because they themselves have luxury vehicles on their mansions... not only in the Philippines, some other countries imposed luxury taxes on all imported cars... that includes engine size...
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    Robert
  • January 3, 2011
@Jarvis: Jarvis, the CIA World Factbook (which I assume is what you are referring to) has a figure of 32.9% (which is basically 1 in 3). However, if you click on the link for the heading it states that this figure is based on each nation's definition of poverty. And there is no question that by the standards of wealthy nations such as the US, a lot more than 33% of Filipinos are living in poverty. I am American and have been living in the Philippines for several years and I absolutely feel that a number like 80% is not far off the mark. I own a company here and employ college educated workers. I pay more than the average company here does for similar positions and still I pay my employees far less than a comparable job in the US would. For example, a fresh college grad in the US with a degree in computer programming could realistically expect, once employed, to be able to buy a brand new car, rent a very nice apartment, and still have plenty of money for other things. That simply is not the case here. There is a middle class (as defined in the US), but jobs that would typically would put you in the middle class in the US don't necessarily do so here. In the 4 years I have been here, I have seen an increase in people who can afford to buy a car (new or otherwise) so the economy is getting better here, but US like middle class lifestyles still are something that the vast majority of Filipinos can only dream about. Additionally, there are levels of poverty here that would shock most people in the US since very few Americans visit developing countries. If you don't believe that, here is a little statistic for you: only 25% of US citizens own a passport. And obviously a lot of those who have passports use them to go to developed nations, not poor developing countries. Too bad the government duties over here make so many things (not just luxury or near luxury cars) out of the reach of even the middle class here. Back on topic though....Beautiful building. And Lexus makes very nice cars. :)
krew
Shutting these comments down now, we're way, way off-topic. :-)

K