Lexus’s popular family hauler is getting a redesign.
Automotive News reports a fifth generation of RX will be introduced in the US market in the second half of 2022.
It’ll be the latest Lexus model to move to a newer TNGA modular architecture, following the next-generation NX that arrives here in November 2021.
Pictured: 2021 Lexus RX
It’ll use an improved hybrid powertrain, though there’s no word on whether it’ll receive a plug-in hybrid variant like the redesigned NX.
One thing it will definitely share with the NX is the next-generation Lexus Interface touchscreen-based infotainment system, which banishes the frustrating centre console touch-pad.
The new system will spread across most of the range over the next three years.
Pictured: 2022 Lexus NX interior
The next models in Lexus’s pipeline include a production version of the 2021 LF-Z Electrified concept and a redesigned LX based on the new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.
Automotive News reports the LX will arrive in the US in the first half of 2022 and the production LF-Z Electrified, which will reportedly wear the same name as the concept, will appear in the second half of 2022.
Two more EVs are expected to follow before 2025.
Pictured: LF-Z Electrified concept
The small UX crossover will reportedly get a mid-cycle update in 2023 and the LC coupe and convertible will follow in 2025. A redesigned ES sedan is also due in 2025.
The GX, a North American model closely related to our Toyota LandCruiser Prado but powered by a petrol V8, will move to the new TNGA-F body-on-frame architecture in 2024 and pick up a hybrid option.
TNGA-F underpins the new Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series and is expected to also host the next-generation Prado, Tundra and Sequoia, among others.
The RC coupe will reportedly soldier on until 2024 with only minor tweaks, while the IS sedan isn’t slated for replacement until that year, either.
There are no details yet as to what platform these models will move to. Both will leave the Australian market before the end of 2021 as they’ve fallen afoul of changes to Australian Design Rules (ADR) for side impact collisions.
That’s a blow to Lexus, though neither is the brand’s best-seller in Australia.
Pictured: 2022 Lexus NX
More crucial to Lexus are the NX and RX, currently the best and second-best sellers for the brand locally with 1842 and 1031 sales, respectively, to the end of June 2021.
The current RX was first introduced in Australia in 2015, with a stretched, seven-seat L version arriving in 2018 and a facelifted model appearing in 2019.
The facelift finally added touch functionality for the infotainment screen as well as smartphone mirroring.
The RX is slipping behind rivals in the sales race, however. So far this year, it’s trailing the Range Rover Sport (1155), Mercedes-Benz GLE wagon (1715) and BMW X5 (1902).
It also faces fresh competition in the Genesis GV80 (154), though it’s fending off the Volvo XC90 (836). Like the RX, the XC90 is also at the end of its lifecycle, though its replacement will be all-electric.
MORE: Everything Lexus RX
