Lexus has yet to build a high-performance F brand crossover, and the new UX will not be the first (at least for now) — Lexus International executive vice-president Chika Kako confirmed to Which Car? that there are no plans to build a UX F:
“Currently we haven’t considered it,” Kako said through an interpreter.
“It has potential to have a UX F, but we will think about that,” she continued. “The intent of creating this vehicle is not just to create something that’s accessible or cheap, but to create a vehicle for somebody that really likes the package that we’ve come up with.
“Within those customers, if there are customers that want a super-high performance version of the UX we’ll of course have to study and consider.”
That said, Kako does mention the possibility of hybrid technology playing a role in future F brand powertrains:
“We have our F models, and going back to hybrid technology we want to have a more performance-oriented, sporty image of the hybrid technology that we could offer. We can’t talk about what’s going to be next, but that’s something that we want to introduce,” Kako said.
“With hybrid, having the [electric] motor and how you tune and calibrate that, you can really change the level of dynamics of the car itself. We’re studying right now what’s the optimum way to do that.”
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