Let’s roll back to last week and Lexus Australia CEO Scott Thomson’s interview with Carsales Australia:
“But we can’t give any more specifics. They want to make the big announcement in November [about a pure-electric vehicle and] some timing around PHEV as well,” he said, confirming reports that Lexus will have its first plug-in hybrid vehicle online as soon as 2021.
While most of our attention has been on the announcement of a Lexus-first EV, this mention of a plug-in hybrid deserves some thought. As Lexus Enthusiast writer Joaquin Ruhi points out in our forums:
With Toyota already confirming a Plug-In Hybrid version of RAV4 for the 2021 model year and its Lexus cousin the NX about to enter its 2nd-generation around that time frame, it’s almost a no-brainer to suggest that 2NX will be Lexus’ first plug-in hybrid.
This is a smart take, as it adheres to the tried-and-true pattern of Toyota debuting a vehicle and Lexus following up with something similar. It’s expected the Lexus UX will be released as an EV alongside its Toyota C-HR stablemate, so it makes sense that the NX would follow suit.
What do you think? Is the NX the best choice for the first Lexus plug-in hybrid?
Discussion