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Lexus Marketing: “People Hear About Turbos and Know They're Good and Want Them”

Lexus introduced turbocharged gasoline engines to its range in 2015 and the company seems delighted of the results.
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Lexus NX 200t badgeLexus RX 200t badgeLexus's 2.0 gasoline turbo engine, 200t nameplateLexus GS 200t
According to Brian Bolain, Lexus’s marketing manager, the word “turbo” has become a real buzzword in the premium car market. The Lexus official revealed his opinions on the effects of the introduction of turbocharged gasoline power plants in an interview with Automotive News.

Apparently, the new turbo engines have obtained a sense of parity for Lexus in online comparisons done by customers. Even if some don’t know or can’t accurately explain what a turbo does and how it works, they know a turbocharger is a positive thing and want one in their new car.

What turbo says to the typical consumers is you’re modern,” Brian Bolain of Lexus believes. Since we consider turbocharged gasoline engines something normal in today’s automotive industry, we can’t really agree with Mr. Bolain on the “modern” part of his statement.

But we welcome the introduction of turbocharged gasoline engines in the Lexus lineup, as they bring a new base trim for an ever expanding customer base. After all, if the base trim of a car features a turbocharged gasoline engine instead of a naturally aspirated unit of an unnecessarily higher capacity, the customer gets more value and technology for their hard-earned money.

Currently, Lexus employs just one turbocharged gasoline engine in its range. We’re speaking of a 2.0-liter, inline-four unit. Depending on the car it’s fitted to, the unit provides 235 or 241 HP and 256 pounds-feet of torque. Except for the NX, all the other Lexus models that feature the brand’s first production gasoline turbo engine have an eight-speed Aisin automatic transmission. The NX, however, features all-wheel-drive and a six-speed automatic transmission.

Currently, the Lexus range features four models offered for sale with the 200t engine. The other cars in the range that don’t feature this engine might not get it at all.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
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Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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