Will Lexus ever make a diesel SUV? According to a Drive Australia interview with Lexus International executive vice president Mark Templin, there is a remote possibility:
Templin also reaffirmed the brand’s aversion to diesel engines, despite soaring sales of diesels in other luxury marques.
“At Lexus we don’t have plans for diesel at the current time, but the [parent company] Toyota brand is going to be doing diesel engines in some markets. We don’t see that as a long term, we see that as an interim step.”
However, he did leave the door open for diesel-powered Lexus SUVs in the future, while stressing there were no current plans.
“SUVs are a different story, there is the possibility some day in the future we’ll put diesels in SUVs, but there’s a very different market to the car market in our mind.”
Should Lexus develop a diesel SUV, it’s more likely to be an LX, GX or some brand new model — a RX diesel seems an unlikely fit given the crossover is already available as a hybrid.
(Combine this with last week’s mention of a possible LX hybrid, and there may just be a powertrain shakeup in store for Lexus’ larger SUVs.)
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