The curious case of the Lexus CT 200h

I don't know anyone who owns a Lexus CT 200h, their C-Segment petrol-hybrid hatchback. I don't know anyone, who knows anyone who owns a CT 200h.

Despite this, they are absolutely everywhere. I bet, if you head outside today, you will see at least one, if not more. Who's buying them though? And why?

I'm not going to try and claim the CT 200h is a bad car, but it's hardly worthy of people buying them in their droves. Especially when it carries a hefty premium.

The CT 200h shares it's hybrid-powertrain and underlying platform with it's stablemate, the Toyota Prius. Well I say it shares it's platform, but it actually shares it's platform with the previous generation Prius, which ceased production five years ago.

The Prius moved to Toyota's GA platform in 2015 and has since been revised in 2018. The Lexus, for all intents and purposes has been the same car since it was launched in 2011, barring the occasional nip and tuck.

Christ, look, there's two of them

That's also the baffling thing, the Lexus is still in production, after nearly a decade. Surely there aren't that many Freemasons out there?

If you go on the Lexus Ireland website, the CT 200h is absent from their lineup, but I can assure you, it is still on sale. Here's a 2020 car for sale at an official dealer in Galway.

Are Lexus ashamed of their hybrid-hatch, or just as amazed as I am that it keeps selling and don't feel the need to advertise it?

That showroom-fresh CT 200h is priced at just a hair under 36 grand before any haggling. A brand new Prius starts at just a shade over 33k. Ok, so not exactly a gulf in price difference and the materials inside the Lexus will be of a higher quality, but let's not forget, the Prius, as a model, is a much newer car.

Not even in car-loving Italy could I avoid them

The Prius is also a much more practical car too, being larger inside and having a cavernous boot. One of the Lexus' weakest points, it having a change-purse sized trunk, thanks to how it's battery is packaged.

Even if you go down the used-market route, I can't see an argument for the Lexus. The cheapest you can get a CT 200h for is just under 9 grand, which will be as near-as-damn-it, a ten-year-old car, with 215,000kms on it's odometer.

Ok, you'll pay another six thousand euro for the cheapest, current generation Prius, but that's just it, it's current generation, unlike the Lexus and it's ageing platform. Even going like for like, a same year Prius as our cheapest Lexus, is less money and wearing far less miles.

Why not have a cheaper, newer Prius

I've driven a few CT 200h briefly, when I worked in a garage. They are quite well spec'd and beautifully made, but so is anything that comes off of a Toyota production-line these days. To drive, it's pretty forgettable. The steering is lifeless, it's not particularly quick or nice in the bends and the ride is questionable.

Don't just take my word for it either, look at what Top Gear have to say about it.

I won't argue too much about aesthetics, it's too subjective, but the Lexus, to my eyes isn't a looker, so people surely aren't buying it as a fashion statement, are they?

I suppose the only thing it can boil down to, is badge snobbery. A Lexus makes you appear successful, if you care about such things, but if you care about status, there are many, far better ways to display it.

Whatever it is, I still can't answer my question, who is actually buying them? I've never met someone who has, have you? Please let me know if you have, because I'd love to know why?