Lexus is claimed to be working on a luxury ute that will be badged the LX600.
According to a report on US-based website 2020truck.com, Toyota is developing a Lexus-badged luxury pick-up to sell alongside the Tacoma midsize pick-up and Tundra full-size pick-up in the USA.
While 2020truck.com says the new ute is a strong possibility for a 2021 launch, it admits it has no solid details on the vehicle to date. The website does, however, predict that the Lexus pick-up will be called the LX600, and that if it’s to be a midsize pick-up it will likely run with the Tacoma’s 4.0-litre petrol V6 engine, but if it’s to be a full-size pick-up it will probably use Tundra’s 5.7-litre petrol V8 engine. The latter is the same powerplant used in the LX570 wagon in Australia, which in Aussie-spec makes a handy 270kW of power and 530Nm of torque.
While the story appears to be little more than conjecture at this stage, a luxury ute would make perfect sense, both in the US market as well as in Australia. If a Lexus-badged luxury ute was ever to be sold locally, the inclusion of a diesel variant would be critical for market success, and would likely be the 1VD-FTV 4.5-litre twin-turbo-diesel engine used in the LX450d (as well as the LC200) that makes a claimed 200kW and 650Nm.
Lexus wouldn’t be the first manufacturer to have contemplated a luxury ute offering in the USA, with previous models including the Ford F-150-based Lincoln Mark LT and the GM Truck-based Cadillac Escalade EXT.
A luxury-ute offering also makes sense in Australia with $80k dual-cabs no longer seeming excessive; just look at the success of vehicles like the Ford Ranger Raptor and Ram 1500 and 2500 variants. Of course, Lexus would also have to consider Mercedes-Benz’s less-than-successful X-Class experiment which yielded little in the way of sales volume for the luxury German marque.
What do you think? Would a Lexus-badged ute work for cashed-up tradies in Australia or would it be for posers only?
