2022 LEXUS NX 350h

THE SECOND-GEN LEXUS NX 350H IS A NEW BEGINNING, FOR ITSELF AND FOR LEXUS IN INDIA

- TUHIN GUHA

If you are in the market for a luxury car in India, the Europeans have you fully covered with their vast model line-ups and a constant churn of new options. But Lexus India, which has been around for over half a decade in the country, now wants in on the action. The company is expanding its touchpoints in the country, and a stream of new models are incoming, starting with the facelifted ES earlier this year. But this second-generation Lexus NX 350h will probably be the one the Japanese luxury brand hedges quite a few of its bets on.

Exterior

This is the first full generation shift for the Lexus NX since it debuted globally in 2014, so deep changes are the order of the day. The NX now moves to the Lexus Global Architecture-K, effectively the luxury arm’s version of the Toyota’s New Global Architecture-K which underpins SUVs like the RAV4 internationally. Lexus’ architecture is more rigid and the battery pack in this hybrid version is positioned within the wheelbase for better weight distribution and packaging.

This shift also means that the NX has grown in size. The SUV is now 20mm longer, 20mm wider and 5mm taller. More noticeably, the new architecture has brought with it a 50mm increase in wheelbase while front and rear tracks have grown by 35mm and 55mm. So the new Lexus design theme, which debuts with the NX, works quite well on the SUV. The overtly aggressive styling theme on Lexuses has sparked debate but this new take should quell that to an extent. The NX now sits more naturally on the road with quite an athletic stance.