Small Lexus Coming to Frankfurt

Most of the major luxury automakers have or are planning to offer downsized models. BMW has the 1-Series, Audi offers the A3 (and soon to be A1), Mercedes has the A and B-Class, and Cadillac is supposedly developing one of it's own as well. Now the word is Lexus is readying one of it's own as well, spurred by European executives who insist the market is "too lucrative" for the company not to be in.

You might say, what about the HS 250h? Well, Europe isn't getting that model. I guess they figured Europeans have better taste than we do. Not only that though, the HS 250h is priced too high and isn't a hatchback.

The new model, which I'll refer to as it's rumored name "CS", is coming to the Frankfurt Auto Show in September as the "C-Premium". There it will debut as production-preview concept, with an official production debut at the Geneva Auto Show next year.

In Europe, diesels are popular but Lexus plans match efficiency in a different way by having a hybrid-drivetrain standard. The powertrain will be the exact one found in the HS 250h, but the platform underpinning the CS will be different, and the car will be smaller in size than the HS 250h. Also, it is expected to come in at under $30,000, something sources say Lexus doesn't want to do in the United States. With this in mind, I wouldn't expect the CS to make it's way over here.

What Lexus needs is basically a smaller IS - it could still be FWD if necessary (RWD preferred though), but sporty, luxurious and affordable - in essence a sportier CS sans hybrid drivetrain. I doubt we'll see anything like that though. Autocar is the source for this latest bit of information on the "Baby Lexus"