Radical styling at the expense of utility? We will see when the Gen 4 Lexus RX debuts.
At separate press conferences Wednesday and Thursday during the New York Auto Show in late March, Toyota will reveal low cost automatic braking systems on its first RAV4 Hybrid SUV, while Lexus unveils its all-new fourth-generation RX luxury crossover SUV.
Both debuts mark the arrival of new, multi-funtional, safety technology led by automatic pre-collision automatic braking. The systems will be offered at a $300-$600 price range that is well below the cost of similar systems across the auto industry. Thus another battle in the auto safety marketing wars is emerging.
“Taking high-level driver assist to the next level, the safety packages will be offered as a very-low-cost option and will be systematically introduced across nearly all U.S. Toyota and Lexus models and trim levels, top-to-bottom, by the end of 2017,” said Jim Lentz, President and CEO Toyota Motor North America.
TSS will initially be available on the RAV4 and Avalon, and three additional models, which will be announced later this year. LSS+ will initially be available on RX, and four additional models to be announced later this year.
From a significance point of view the new Lexus RX – the crossover SUV built from the Camry in the last century that caught the Detroit Three and the Germans napping and ultimately propelled Lexus into the number one spot of U.S. luxury car sales is the one to watch. Early previews reveal a radically style fastback that aside from the now expected and highly controversial exaggerated snout grille, seems to trade off utility for flash. Honda previously tried this approach on the Crosstour. It was not a huge success.
