Considering that Toyota Canada declined to import the MR2 roadster this year for price/volume reasons, it may surprise a lot of people to learn that the company will import the Lexus SC 430 convertible next year.
After all, the Toronto-based company's upscale brand has even smaller volumes and bigger prices.
Whatever Toyota's corporate thinking, enough big buck buyers are likely going to welcome a Lexus alternative to such sports-luxury roadsters as the BMW Z9, the Jaguar XK8, and the Mercedes-Benz SL500.
When the SC 430 arrives in the spring of 2001, it will look a lot like the Lexus Sport Coupe Concept Car that debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show last year and then turned up again at the Detroit show.
Lexus says this car is a response to influences noted by the company's European designers found when they toured the French Riviera looking for high-end luxury themes.
"It is very important to be able to design products that fit the overall environment and the taste of the people using them," says Chief exterior designer Sotiris Kovos. "We discovered that people there show a clear preference to products and services with a high degree of simplicity, character, sophistication and quality."
Among the sights along the Riviera that inspired Kovos were the many high-performance luxury yachts, and he now says the SC 430 will share an essential trait with those yachts -- all season pleasure.