Lexus Bringing an All-New, Three-Row SUV to its Lineup
New Lexus SUV will be electrified, high-tech, and–for the first time–made in Indiana.
Toyota is always on point when it comes to pacing automotive industry trends. Looking at the top sellers for 2021, you can see almost half are Lexus or Toyota–so clearly they know what they’re doing. Also hot are performance cars, luxury, and versatile vehicles (crossovers and SUVs). To keep the heat going, the automaker recently invested $803 million in their Princeton, Indiana manufacturing facility. One of the first projects they will tackle is producing two all-new, three-row, electrified SUVs; one of which will be produced exclusively for Lexus. Not only will we get a new model, but it will be the first Lexus built in the Hoosier state.
Toyota is clever enough to reveal just enough to pique our interest. We don’t know what the vehicles will be, nor when they’ll be released other than “a later date.”
What we do know is that the new Lexus will be a part of the automaker’s electrified product portfolio. The Lexus SUV will be all-new, have third-row seating, can seat over 8 passengers, and will be loaded with cool extras.
New cutting-edge technology includes a semi-automated driving system which allows for hands-free driving in certain conditions. There will be a remote parking system that lets drivers park and unpark from outside the vehicle using their smartphone. A digital key will also use the driver’s smartphone to gain entry, and may be shared digitally.
“Over the past 20 years, Toyota has led the way with more electrified vehicles on the road than all automakers combined,” said Ted Ogawa, president and CEO of Toyota Motor North America. “This investment and new vehicle line-up will allow us to continue our work with electrification, expand our portfolio to around 70 models globally by 2025, and meet the needs of our customers while we accelerate towards carbon neutrality.”
The $803 million will be used to prepare the manufacturing line for the new vehicles. Some of the vehicles they currently assemble are all-hybrid Sienna minivan, Highlander/Highlander Hybrid SUV and Sequoia full-size SUV.
In keeping with these sturdier rides, we’d love to see a rugged, tough but sporty, off-road capable electric Lexus SUV. Honestly, if we could build a perfect SUV it would have to have deep LX roots.
Indiana’s team is ready to roll. With more than 7,000 employees already, Toyota will add another 1,400 to the workforce. With the ability to assemble more than 420,000 vehicles annually, we’ll be looking forward to see where Lexus is going.
Photos: Toyota/Lexus
