Napa Valley, California–It wasn’t easy, convincing Japanese executives to build the first Lexus model outside Japan. But when an Ontario-based plant started building the Lexus RX crossover earlier this decade, the suits were elated with both the quality and sales results.
Not only did the RX become Lexus’s global sales leader — the 2003 plant opening, in Cambridge, also coincided with the reveal of a hybrid version. That model hit the market a few years later and a technologically advanced yet planet-friendly sheen to the brand.
In Canada, about 40 per cent of all 2008 Lexus sales were RX models, with about one-fifth of those being the 400h hybrid version. Both versions set sales records by October, even as they entered grey-hair status in market terms.
With all this success, it’s not surprising that Lexus has chosen a conservative path for its all-new 2010 RX 350, and 450h hybrid counterpart (see “Cleaner, meaner RX Hybrid” for 450h details).
