Lexus RX News

Lexus Australia has moved to improve its aftersales offer by introducing more affordable capped-pricing servicing

Lexus Australia has rolled out smartphone mirroring to some of its models, with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay coming as standard to future NX, ES, RC, LC, LS, RX and UX vehicles and a retrofit available to existing cars.Starting from October, all ES seda

Lexus hybrid demand is out-stripping supply.

Uber has announced that all new drivers from today will require a full five-star Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) vehicle, while existing drivers will have two years to move to the new standard.As for vehicles that have yet to be tested by

Lexus Australia's new-look RX will land in local showrooms from early October with price changes and increased specification across the large luxury SUV line-up.Kicking off at $71,920 before on-road costs for the RX 300 Luxury, the point of entry to Lexus

Lexus Australia has released special-edition variants of the NX and RX SUVs, dubbed Crafted, that add several features inside and out over their respective Luxury grades.The mid-size crossover is available in 175kW/350Nm turbo-petrol NX300 form

The Lexus RX has been revealed ahead of its Q4 arrival in Australia, with the five- or seven-seat SUV getting a cabin-tech overhaul with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to make their brand debut.

Lexus Australia has announced drive-away pricing for its volume selling SUVs and IS sedan in a bid to pump up sales before the end of the financial year.First cab off the rank is the UX200 Luxury small SUV, which is priced from $49,888 drive-away (a saving of $1173). The UX200 has a 126kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a CVT auto, as well as AEB, radar cruise control, heated and electrically-adjustable front seats, satellite navigation and a power-adjustable steering column.The NX300 Luxury is now available for $59,888 drive-away (a saving of $2073). Powered by a 175kW 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and a six-speed automatic transmission, the NX300 Luxury also includes a 10.3-inch multimedia screen, heated and powered front seats and DAB+ digital radio.Above the NX sits the RX SUV at $69,888 drive-away which offers the biggest saving to consumers of $12,685. The RX300 is powered by the same 175kW 2.0L turbo-petrol engine as the NX, and includes kit such as wireless phone charging, full leather upholstery and a 12-speaker sound system.The brand’s IS300 Luxury sedan is also on sale for $57,888 drive-away, which is a saving of $8809. The IS300 is powered by the same 2.0-litre turbo-petrol as the NX and RX, though it develops more power at 180kW and features heated/cooled front seats, leather upholstery and a 10.3-inch multimedia screen.Lexus sales in 2019 so far are down by 1.6 per cent to 2978 units, though some models are enjoying healthy increases including the LX SUV (163 units, up 55.2 per cent on 2018) and the ES sedan (219 units, up 242.2 per cent). The new UX is also selling well in its first year on sale, with 584 units sold in 2019 so far.The EOFY campaign runs until June 30. 

The wait for true phone mirroring is almost over, with Lexus to roll-out Apple CarPlay in its newest models before the end of the year.

If there was ever a snapshot highlighting the challenges of our brave new driving world, surely this is it.Apple’s autonomous car program has suffered its first bruise – and in a stunning irony, it involves the world’s most commercially successful electric car.Reports from Santa Clara, California have revealed that a 2015 Lexus LX450h – owned by Apple and equipped with a battery of autonomous sensors – was involved in a rear-end collision with a Nissan Leaf late last week.The crash was minor, with the Leaf rear-ending the almost-stopped Apple rig at about 24km/h. No injuries were noted.It’s the first reported incident involving Apple’s autonomous car program, which looks a lot different now than it did in 2014, when the computer company announced it would build its own autonomous car by 2017.However, the program was wound back in 2016, with up to 1000 people cut from the project, while Apple focused its attentions on developing autonomous software.The software, known internally as Apple Automated System, has been rolled out across a fleet of some 45 RX SUVs that are actively testing across the state of California, which has granted the Cupertino company licences to run on public roads.Just six Apple employees are reportedly approved to 'drive' the cars, and all hold senior positions within the company.California’s regulations around autonomous vehicles are very strict, requiring licence holders to submit documents like an annual disengagement report, which show just how many times an autonomous vehicle’s driver has had to take control of the car over the testing period.Even the incident report submitted after the crash was on an autonomous vehicle-specific form.A crash between an autonomous vehicle and an EV serves to illustrate the technology barriers that will need to be overcome if self-driving cars are to become part of the modern motoring mix.The majority of crashes in the United States involving autonomous vehicles have been similar in nature, with a piloted car colliding with a slow-moving or stationary autonomous car.There have been tragic exceptions, with a self-driving Volvo XC90 belonging to ride share company Uber striking and killing a pedestrian in Arizona earlier this year, after it failed to detect her crossing a road late at night. The Uber’s minder wasn’t paying attention to the road.It’s also worth noting that the Leaf was recorded as a 2016 model, which wasn’t equipped with AEB as standard; driver safety aids like AEB and lane departure warning are also vital parts of the new technology mix.