New Lexus TX Reportedly In The Works As A Big 3-Row SUV To Rival BMW X7 And Mercedes GLS

New Lexus TX Reportedly In The Works As A Big 3-Row SUV To Rival BMW X7 And Mercedes GLS

Lexus customers in the U.S. may soon be presented with another model option, a big three-row, unibody SUV that will reportedly be called the TX. A competitor to the Mercedes-Benz GLS and the BMW X7, the SUV is said to be larger than the Lexus RX L.

Unnamed sources told Autonews that the three-row SUV will be based on the same platform as the upcoming Toyota Grand Highlander, an extended version of the Highlander, which they said would go on sale in U.S. showrooms in mid-2023. The TX will arrive about six months later. We have reached out to Lexus for comment but they have not yet responded.

Although neither vehicle has been formally announced yet, Toyota, which owns Lexus, has committed $803 million to update its Princeton, Indiana assembly plant, where the sources said the two SUVs will be built.

Read Also: Toyota Will Invest $803 Million At Indiana Plant To Build Two New SUVs

The Toyota Highlander

When Toyota announced the investment in the plant last year, it said that the two vehicles produced there would feature “a semi-automated driving system which will allow for hands-free driving in certain conditions, a remote parking system allowing the driver to park and unpark from outside the vehicle using a smartphone, and a digital key that turns a user’s smartphone into their key and allows them to share it digitally.”

It also added that the vehicles produced at the plant would be able to accommodate up to eight passengers. Toyota’s electrification plans also make it likely that these SUVs will feature hybrid powertrains.

According to John Iacono, the chairman of the Lexus National Dealer Advisory Council who spoke to AN, the brand’s dealers have long wanted an SUV that was larger than the RX L that does not require buyers to buy a body-on-frame SUV like the GX and LX SUVs.

“The only vehicle that we have right now in that size is the RX L. It’s done a nice job for us, but it’s not the vehicle we’re waiting for,” Iacono told the news site. “The design and who the TX will attract is a much younger buyer than what we have now — younger buyers in their 40s or 50s with families — and those are buyers we need in our showrooms. This vehicle is going to do just that. It’s everything we want it to be.”

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