The share price of Alcoa Inc has risen by 2% in New York after a report that Toyota is planning aluminium body panels for a new generation of Lexus models.
Japan’s Nikkei has published claims that certain future Lexus vehicles will have aluminium bodies. Currently, TMC specifies the soft, silvery metal for the bonnet of some Prius variants as well as certain Lexus models. The next US-built Camry is also understood to be getting an aluminium bonnet/hood.
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The business daily, which does not name its sources, says that Toyota Motor Corporation plans to “invest several billion yen to set up assembly lines exclusively for aluminium parts at a plant outside Nagoya and elsewhere”.
Lexus’ future model plans include replacements for the GX and LX SUVs, RX crossover and LS sedan in 2015/2016, a new ES in 2017/2018, a successor for the CT and an LC big coupe and TX seven-seat crossover in 2017, a new GS in 2018 and an IS replacement in 2020.
