Lexus’ top-selling nameplate, the RX, gets completely redone with a new look inside and outside, more technology and four new engines – three of them electrified. Plus, it’s made in Canada!
Thank you hi everyone i’m in santa barbara california for the launch of this vehicle this is the fifth generation 2023 lexus rx and i’m here with scott mckenzie he’s a director of external affairs with lexis canada it’s scott this is a very important vehicle this is the vehicle that really launched and became the world’s first luxury crossover vehicle back
In 1998. what is the secret of this vehicle’s success over all these decades the rx like you said we started uh selling in 1998 we actually started making it in canada in 2003 but it’s been a very important vehicle for us but it’s uh it’s really appealing in terms of uh satisfying as many of our guests as possible uh it’s always been loaded with features um
It’s been you know the first place where we introduce a lot of technology and it’s just been a great product for us and we’re really proud to make it in canada canada is the only place outside of japan that builds the the rx that’s correct there’s actually only two plants outside of japan that make lexus at all and the rx we started making in canada back in 2003
And it’s made in two places one in kyushu japan and one in cambridge ontario tell me about some of the unique features in that plant that you know help with even for example the paint like i love this stunning copper crest color you know what goes into that process a lot of engineering work to make sure that we can actually coat the body and have like a uniform
Transition as you’re walking along the car so this particular paint is a four coat paint so there’s a base coat and then there’s two color coats and then a clear coat and they’re all applied with extreme precision to make sure that we have the proper coverage and also the proper travel as you’re walking around the car you can see the the color changes because
It has a reflection from the the mica flakes that are in the actual paint and it’s done by robotics and human touch as well yeah a little bit of both so uh you know most of the painting is done by robotics but we still hand spray some portions of the car for 2023 we also have four new power trains three of them are electrified walk me through the different power
Trees yeah actually all four of the power trains are brand new for this vehicle so we start with a 2.4 liter gas uh turbo engine and it’s got 275 horsepower we have a hybrid the 350h so it’s a 246 horsepower it’s also got an electric motor integrated with the gasoline engine for this model we also have the 500 which is a performance model so it is a 2.4 liter
Turbo mated with a performance hybrid system and then we’ve got a plug-in hybrid that’ll be coming on a little bit later now the plug-in hybrid is still going to be made in japan the other three will be made in on ontario as we mentioned though it’s about 300 vehicles a day every two minutes a vehicle rolls off that line that’s correct we the the three power
Trains the first three power trains we’ll be making in canada the fourth uh at least when we launched will be uh made in japan we roll an rx off the line every approximately every two minutes so one is uh rolling off the line and we make about 105 to 110 000 of these every year well let’s talk about some of the exterior changes on this model compared to the last
Version the front end has been completely redesigned and we’ve actually taken the spindle grill and actually incorporated into the body so it used to be just the spindle grill or the grill was you know inserted into the front end of the vehicle but it’s actually you can see it’s actually incorporated into the into the bumper itself and what about the lighting
Has it changed at all yeah all new headlights for this model it’s a triple beam led with an integrated signature light on it now along the side you have new wheels as well these are 19 inch or 21 inch that you get these are the 21 inch wheels but they also come in a 19 inch wheel and there’s a few different stylings for each one and i love you know the contours
Here especially with this collar it really shimmers and gives you a different look as you go along the side of the body yeah part of that is actually the character lines of the vehicle and part of it is actually the paint what we call high travel so as you’re moving through the the color of the paints adjusts based on the the different lighting conditions but
Also it’s a very strong character lines on the side of the car and compared to the last version this is you know 200 pounds lighter same length same height but wider correct it’s about the same length the wheelbase is uh 60 millimeters longer which gives you a little bit of more room in the in the back seat area and also a little bit more luggage space for sure
You definitely have a lot more leg room and certainly good headroom as well exactly i’m over six feet tall and lots of room for me and it’s actually a pretty comfortable uh ride and they’ve also got hollowed out front seats which give it a little bit more room for your legs and coming around the back it’s been all redesigned as well yeah it’s it’s a completely
Redesigned uh back end and you’ve got the integrated single light bar going across the back of the car and actually the new lexus script on the back as well and the back door actually uh can open and close with a kick sensor that makes it easy and inside the cargo space is grown the cargo space is uh slightly larger than the last model um it’s a fully collapsible
Rear seats so they’ll actually fold flat and there’s two switches in the back that actually that’ll make them go down voila all right well let’s go check out the interior now sounds great and it’s hard to imagine but the cabin has actually gone up and upscale even more inside right yeah once again completely redesigned uh for the 23 model year but we’ve got a
Brand new cockpit in the rx and a new instrument panel new instrument cluster we’ve got an available 14 inch multimedia display and this is our new lexus interface infotainment system lots of safety features you have lane departure warning systems intuitive parking assist this is all packaged in a new system that lexus has that adds extra features in it correct
It’s a lexus safety sense 3.0 and it’s got lane departure alert intuitive parking assistant assist parking support brake blind spot monitors safe exit assist so if you’re a cyclist as an example and you’re driving beside the car the car will actually not allow you to open the door into traffic so it’s a it’s a brand new safety feature which is new for this model
And wireless charging wireless apple carplay android auto ports yeah we’ve integrated more usb charging availability so it’s got usbc which is now going to be standard across the lineup and g wireless charging you know for anybody with a smartphone so more technology more connectivity features we still don’t know the price of yet that is coming out later pricing
Will be a little bit later this year but uh yep new all new technology features um it’s it’s a really exciting product well i am going to take it for a drive now thanks scott you’re very welcome so i am driving the rx 350h this is the conventional hybrid it’s powered by a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine made into electric motors it has about 247 horsepower which
Is perfectly enough for this vehicle sometimes though you do feel its struggle going uphills especially in this california area but overall you know it’s a beautiful composed drive it has a cvt transmission and it shifts gears very smoothly as well very quiet in the cabin and extremely luxurious lots of features here in the screen it takes a little bit of time
Getting used to all of the information and where things are but that will come easily you also have heated steering wheel air conditioned and heated front seats same with the back ventilated and heated seats as well lots of new features including a new gear shifter that’s smaller it’s it’s quite nice ice there’s an ev mode here as well to help you save more fuel
This vehicle is actually more fuel efficient than the v6 engine that it replaces we don’t have official numbers yet but it is definitely a step in the right direction overall this is a really nice package a vehicle that drives beautifully smoothly it’s very comfortable filled with lots of technology and safety features and best of all it is made in canada now
We don’t have the prices of it yet as we mentioned we’ll find out later this year when it goes on sale thanks for watching please comment like and subscribe to my channel ciao foreign
Transcribed from video
2023 Lexus RX First Drive in California By Motoragazza
