Lexus LBX unveiled: baby crossover is smallest Lexus ever

Published: 05 June 2023

► New Lexus LBX revealed► A small premium crossover ► First deliveries March 2024

The new Lexus LBX is a baby crossover to stretch the Lexus range down in to the compact SUV marketplace. It's significant in many ways, not least for its higher volume aspirations, the smallest footprint of any Lexus in history, a new badge and its fresh design, ushering in a distinctive face post-spindle grille.

LBX is designed and engineered primarily for the European market, says Lexus, although the hybrid SUV will likely be sold in other continents, too.

Based around the Toyota group's GA-B global platform like its Toyota Yaris Cross sibling, the Lexus LBX comes with the 1.5-litre hybrid powertrain featuring the latest, more powerful bi-polar nickel-metal hydride batteries for greater range and energy density.

The LBX is 4190mm long and 1825mm wide, almost precisely shadowing the popular Ford Puma. It's slap-bang in the middle of the small SUV segment, where it’ll compete with the likes of the VW T-Cross, Volvo XC40 and Mazda CX-30.

The compact crossover is most noteworthy for its new grille treatment; after a decade of large ‘spindle’ design grilles that dominated the noses of most Lexus cars, the LBX adopts a new, pared-back look.

Koichi Suga, general manager Lexus Design, said: ‘We have "deconstructed" the spindle grille to make way for a new frontal design. We’ve succeeded in creating a new face identity that's completely different from before yet is instantly recognisable as a Lexus.’

Slimline headlamps are co-joined by a narrow aperture running the width of the bonnet, shrinking the trapezoidal grille to a smaller opening below the metal badge on the leading edge of the bonnet. The grille is more modestly sized, its honeycomb pattern repeated on the body coloured front bumper area.

Europe was the lead global region for the development of the LBX – for the first time ever on a Lexus. ‘This influence will help the LBX become one of the best-sellers for the brand in Europe,’ the firm vows.

There's the familiar three-cylinder 1.5-litre petrol engine that operates on the Atkinson cycle, matched to the Toyota group's self-charging hybrid tech. Total system power output is rated at 134bhp and 137lb ft and wheel sizes are 17in or 18in.

Drive is sent to the front wheels as standard, but higher-spec models will come with Lexus's E-Four all-wheel drive adding an electric motor at the rear axle, enabling traction at both ends.

No performance figures are yet available, but the identically powered Yaris Cross manages 0-62mph in 11.2sec, 105mph all out, 65.9mpg combined fuel economy and 120g/km of CO2. We’d expect similar figures for the Lexus LBX.

The LBX has seating for four and a cabin spruced up to meet the brand's luxury ambitions. The Lexus Link Connect system is standard, operated via a 9.8-inch touchscreen.

Lexus has made significant advances in infotainment in recent years and you can now talk to your car using ‘Hey Lexus’ speech recognition. As is the brand's tradition, audiophiles can also specify a very top-end Mark Levinson 13-speaker stereo.

The Lexus LBX is a modestly sized crossover, but loadspace is rated at 332 litres for front-wheel drive models; that figure dips an unspecified amount for all-wheel drive E-Four models.

The first customer deliveries aren't scheduled until March 2024, but you can place a reservation from July 2023 and full UK pricing and specs will be confirmed in October 2023, at which point orders can be placed.

LBX marks a new naming convention for the brand; only the LFA has enjoyed three letters before. Lexus says it stands for Lexus Breakthrough Crossover, but an alternative reading has L for Lexus, B points to the B-segment market (so Ford Puma, Vauxhall Mokka etc) and X again implies it's an SUV/crossover, as is the industry norm.

It's a market segment Lexus currently isn't in, and is likely attracted to joining given the prevalence and success of compact crossovers. It’ll also likely aid in recapturing some of the customers it had with the CT hatchback on sale until a few years ago.

By Tim Pollard

Group digital editorial director, motoring news magnet