<\/p>\n
D<\/span>etroit (Reuters) –<\/strong> Japanese luxury auto brands Lexus and Infiniti are using the Detroit auto show to test new ways to regain momentum against Germany\u2019s prestige automakers and Silicon Valley\u2019s Tesla Inc.<\/span><\/p>\n Toyota Motor Corp\u2019s\u00a0Lexus brand unveiled at Detroit its \u201cLF-1 Limitless\u201d concept SUV model, signalling that Lexus may start to focus more on SUVs than its traditional large sedans.<\/span><\/p>\n The LF-1 proposed a blend of an aggressive, sleek profile with a system called \u201cChauffeur mode\u201d which allows the driver to take hands off the wheel and let the SUV handle most of the driving.<\/span><\/p>\n The LF-1\u2019s also previews a futuristic navigation technology that anticipates where the driver is going based on driving habits and history and provides hotel recommendations or other concierge services.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be the \u2018race car\u2019 brand; we don\u2019t want to be the \u2018quiet ride\u2019 brand. We want to be the brand which is emotionally connected with the customer,\u201d said Cooper Ericksen, vice president of U.S. marketing for Lexus.<\/span><\/p>\n The Japanese luxury brands are fighting to gain ground in the U.S. luxury market as Volkswagen AG\u2019s Audi brand and Mercedes-Benz have expanded sales, and Tesla has provided a fresh alternative to the established brands.<\/span><\/p>\n Last year the Lexus brand suffered a 7.6 percent slide in U.S. sales last year. At Honda Motor Co Ltd\u2019s\u00a0Acura luxury brand, 2017 sales fell 3.9 percent from 2016. Nissan Motor Co Ltd\u2019s\u00a0Infiniti pushed up sales by 11.3 percent, mainly by selling almost twice as many sport utility vehicles as cars. <\/span><\/p>\n However, Infiniti\u2019s total 2017 sales of 153,415 vehicles put it behind the leading Germany luxury car brands, as well as Acura, Lexus and General Motors Co\u2019s\u00a0Cadillac brand.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lexus, Infiniti and Acura launched in the U.S. market in the late 1980s and took advantage of quality problems at Audi and a lack of innovation at the then-leading luxury brands in the market, General Motors Co\u2019s\u00a0Cadillac and Ford Motor Co\u2019s\u00a0Lincoln brand.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, the structure of the U.S. luxury vehicle market has changed. Four brands – Daimler AG\u2019s\u00a0Mercedes-Benz, BMW AG, Volkswagen\u2019s Audi brand and Lexus dominate sales in the U.S. luxury market.<\/span><\/p>\n Tesla, meanwhile, has gathered more than 400,000 orders for its Model 3 sedan, which is just starting to reach customers as the automaker tries to iron out production problems.<\/span><\/p>\n For more Logistics News,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Follow us on TWITTER <\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Follow us on FACEBOOK<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n In Detroit, Infiniti showed a future sedan powered by a high-efficiency gasoline engine. While the prototype is not electric, its exterior might appeal to customers of the Tesla Model S.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t look at Tesla and try to do the same idea of luxury, but there has been a natural evolution of luxury,\u201d Infiniti\u2019s executive design director Karim Habib said at the North American International Auto Show earlier this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n FILE PHOTO: A car with the Lexus logo is seen on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 16, 2018. REUTERS\/Jonathan Ernst Detroit (Reuters) – Japanese luxury auto brands Lexus and Infiniti are using the Detroit auto show to test new ways to regain momentum against Germany\u2019s prestige…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,47,55],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9292"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9295,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9292\/revisions\/9295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Cargo-Ad-1.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/moovafrica.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Lexus-Infiniti-luxury-car-brands-test-ways-to-fight-Tesla-other-rivals.jpg\")