The next generation RX from Lexus will only be offered as a hybrid model in the UK. The new RX 450h is being shown at the
Los Angeles show this week. The new car, due to go on sale in the UK next summer, uses a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine working in conjunction with an electric motor. The combined output of the hybrid system is 295bhp, some 27bhp more than the current
RX 400h.
Key to the RX 450h's appeal will be its economy and emissions, the new car featuring several new technologies to help it be as clean and fuel efficient as possible. Two of these centre around the RX 450h's exhaust, one heating up the engine as quickly as possible to allow stop-start and electric-mode driving much quicker, and the other using exhaust gas recycling to remove pumping losses in the engine.
These improvements, among others, will need to work well to improve the 34.9mpg and 192g/km fuel consumption and emissions of the existing model - conventionally powered rival turbodiesel SUVs coming close and even beating the much-hyped hybrid in real world driving. Lexus remains tight-lipped about the economy and emissions figures from the new RX 450h, with details of its environmental credibility likely to be revealed early next year.
As ever Lexus will load its new model with new kit, safety equipment including a pre-collision system and ten airbags throughout the cabin. Expect too a stereo that you could hear on the moon at full volume and plenty of other electric gizmos that you probably managed without until now.
Prices should be around that of the outgoing model, so figure on paying circa £35,000 for an entry-level version. Lexus will only offer the new RX in hybrid form in the UK, though other markets get the 3.5-litre V6 without all the electrical hybrid gubbins attached. How about attaching that clever hybrid stuff to a diesel and making a really green SUV, Lexus?
Kyle Fortune - 21 Nov 2008