Small Lexus NX Crossover Launches in Beijing. U.S. Snubbed

The U.S. market, which put Lexus into the global luxury car big leagues, will eventually offer the 2015 NX 200t turbo and NX 300h hybrid.

The all-new Lexus NX compact crossover debuts at the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, which runs in China from 20 April to 29 April this year. Lexus will show a NX 200t equipped with a newly developed 2-liter turbo engine and a NX 300h equipped with a 2.5-liter hybrid system in the world’s largest auto market.

Aside from the fact that this is the first turbocharged engine in the lineup, Lexus is ignoring the New York Auto Show, which runs just after Beijing in what was formerly its most important market. China, the world’s largest auto market by far, is now a higher priority. The NX will have naturally aspirated and hybrid powertrains varying by regional regulations. The U.S. market that put Lexus on the global luxury car map will eventually offer the 2015 NX 200t turbo and NX 300h hybrid. The NX 200t F SPORT will also be available with allegedly unique exterior and interior features but thus far, no performance upgrades confirmed. The coming of the Lexus NX 300h means there will be six hybrid models in dealer showrooms. No other luxury brand comes close. Pricing, yet unannounced, will be less than the popular RX crossover that caught the Detroit Three napping and catapulted Lexus to the Number One Luxury sales spot in U.S. German automakers, who initially dismissed Lexus as a poser, are still scrambling to catch up with their own – late to market – hybrids. The Lexus LF-NX concepts, originally introduced at the 2013 Frankfurt and Tokyo Motor Shows, are close it appears to the actual production design of the NX; no doubt because the concepts were prepared after the production designs was approved. It’s an old automakers trick. It has the latest – exaggerated – Lexus front snout of course.