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NEWS
2014 Geneva launch for RAV4-based Lexus SUV?
With concept confirmed for Tokyo show in November, expect production NX to debut in Geneva Q1 next yearLexus has told European media it will use the 2014 Geneva motor show to launch a new compact SUV. Odds-on to be badged NX, the newcomer will slot in beneath the existing RX series, giving Toyota’s luxury brand a competitor for Audi’s Q3 and BMW’s X1 and X3.
Lexus Executive VP Kazuo Ohara has confirmed the company will pull the wraps off a concept interpretation at this year's Tokyo show in November, with a production-ready vehicle set for international launch in Geneva in March 2014.
The NX is expected to place Lexus drivetrains on parent company Toyota’s RAV4 (pictured) platform, speeding up time to market while keeping development costs down. With Toyota’s ‘thin’ platform sharing formula restricting common componentry to fender inners, firewall and cross-member, Lexus will have plenty of leeway to work it up into premium product free of compromise and befitting its badge and price tag.
Lexus trademarked NX 200t and NX 300h nameplates late in 2012, pointing to an initial lineup comprising 2.0-litre turbo petrol and hybrid variants. The latter looks most likely to be the same as that in the new ES and next-gen IS lineup, set for launch later this year. That means a 2.5-litre Atkinson cycle petrol four married to an electric motor and feeding the wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT). In IS form, the burner is good for 133kW/221Nm, the electric motor 105kW/300Nm; combined they deliver a maximum 164kW.
The company is yet to make any announcement about which variants will reach which markets, but the NX looks a decent bet to find wide demand, given Toyota’s reach, the rising global popularity of compact SUVs and take-it-as-read decent fuel economy figures for the hybrid.
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Written byJeremy Bass
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