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:

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]