Lexus likes to look
at itself as a rival to the likes of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi. However, its
family of models is nowhere near as extensive and it lacks a single
high-performance SUV to fight those of its German competitors. This, however,
could change.
During an interview
with Motor1 prior to the 24 Hours of Daytona last weekend, Lexus vice president
for product planning and strategy, Cooper Ericksen, said that the Japanese
automaker is indeed considering such a model.
Performance-focused
SUVs from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Jaguar, typically place a priority on
road performance at the sacrifice of off-roading abilities. In all likelihood,
Lexus would go down a similar route with a go-faster version of one of its
high-riding models.
As for what would
be the most likely Lexus SUV model to get such a version, that remains unknown
but the UX, RX, and LX are all possible candidates, but if we had to choose
we’d lean more towards the RX to bring the fight to the X5 M and GLE 63 AMG. Among
the key boxes which Lexus would need to tick include sporty handling,
gobsmacking power, and eye-catching looks.
