Lexus goes off the road ... in a refined way
October 1998
Now there are even more. Yesterday, Lexus Ireland rolled out both a high-performance version of their GS machines, the GS430 (right), and a luxury 4x4 which might well pose a threat to the current dominence of Mercedes-Benz in that rarified segment. The RX300 is expected to be a key player in the continuing growth of Lexus.The GS430 has the new V8 4.3-litre engine that is also coming soon in the flagship LS series. It also has bigger wheels than its smaller-engined sibling (the 3-litre) and a variety of comfort and safety details. It also does the 0-62 sprint in 6.2 seconds.
“You have to go to specialist sports cars to do that kind of performance,” MD of Lexus Ireland Mark Teevan (left) said at the launch. “And even then there are few who can better it.”The GS430 is aimed straight at those who buy the Jaguar S-Type in its 4-litre guise. Which in this country aren’t many. But the Lexus is superior in performance to all its direct competitors, according to Teevan, and may also attract customers from competing larger cars who might have opted for a smaller engine to afford the car.
“These vehicles are similarly priced to the Lexus GS430, but have inferior performance and much less equipment,” says Teevan. “We can compete with them on exclusivity and image. And on performance, of course.”
That performance has already been described as ‘riding a magic carpet at warp speed’. Teevan had no qualms about repeating that line from a prestigious US magazine. He expects to sell 15 units next year, at £65,950 a time.
The RX300 (below) is a horse of a different colour, so to speak. Maybe even a workhorse. But Lexus wanted a workhorse that was a thoroughbred, that didn’t compromise any of the luxury or refinement of the brand. So it is built on the same platform as the GS, but with an entirely new body. That allowed more refinement than the usual separate-chassis off-road build type.
RX300 also does its off-road thing without the driver having to engage much with the process, because everything taking care of any difficult conditions does so completely automatically. All the acronyms - VST, TC, BA, ABS, EBD - and the 4WD power transfer mechanisms work as a computer-coached team to do the needful.We’ll give more detail after a proper time behind and above the various wheels of this machine. But at first try it is comfortable, luxurious, and untaxing.
There’s an Executive version, with leather, walnut, and an indispensable windscreen wiper de-icer.Prices are £49,000 and £53,500 respectively. A total of 150 units are expected to roll onto Irish roads next year. And there’s money out there for them, as Mercedes-Benz have found. The RX300 also comes on the market before the next generation Range Rover due next year. So it could well pick up market from those R-R people who don’t want to wait.
And anyway, Mark Teevan suggests that quite a few existing Lexus owners will simply ‘add’ an RX to their garage. For the difficult days.
There’ll be none of those for Lexus in the coming year, we think.
- Brian Byrne.
