Toyota News: LC 500 Name Trademarked, Increased Mirai Production

Things are happening at Toyota this week… Big things! Chief among them are two breaking news stories:

First, last week we learned that Toyota already had an astounding 200 pre-orders for their Mirai fuel-cell sedan, and this week we’ve learned that Toyota is devoting an extra $165 million to the car’s initial production.

Second, the avid users over at Lexus Enthusiast – a popular Lexus-themed blog and forum – also found out this week that the premium Japanese automaker has filed trademarks for the Lexus LC 500 and LC 500h nameplate in several countries.

You can read more about both stories below:

Increased Toyota Mirai Production

The word from a popular Japanese newspaper, Nikkei, has informed us that Toyota plans to invest something in the ballpark of ¥20 billion – about $165 million – to more than triple domestic production. Toyota will reportedly deliver 700 Mirais (instead of just 200) by the end of 2015. Apparently, demand is so strong that even with this increased production capacity, Toyota still won’t be able to meet production demands.

As a reminder, the all-new Toyota Mirai goes on sale in Japan next Monday, December 15. Then, it’ll go on sale in the US and Europe in the summer of next year.

Along with the news of increased production, Nikkei also gave us an updated breakdown of exactly how many Toyota Mirai FCVs the Japanese automaker intends to sell in its first three years on the market. They want to sell:

• 400 units in the Japan by the end of 2015
• 50 – 100 units per year in Europe by the end of 2016
• 3,000 units per year in the US by the end of 2017

Lexus Trademarks LC 500 & LC 500h Names

Remember the Lexus LF-C2 Concept from last month’s LA auto show? So do we – it’s a hard car to forget. Thanks to the investigative users at the popular Lexus blog, Lexus Enthusiast, we’ve learned that the premium automaker has filed trademarks for both LC 500 and LC 500h in the US, Canada and Australia.

This means that the Lexus LF-LC and the LF-C2 Concepts were never meant to herald new RC F models or revived SC coupe models… Instead, it looks like the Lexus LC 500 and 500h will mark the beginning of a totally new nameplate for Toyota’s sub-brand. Furthermore, we can now assume that the Lexus LF-LC and LF-C2 production models will be the “exciting new cars” we were told to expect at next year’s Detroit Auto Show, and that they’ll run on the Lexus RC F’s 467hp 5.0L V8 engine.