The rugged Lexus GX: more than just a fancy Prado

The first two generations of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado-based Lexus GX were sold predominantly in North America and the Middle East. Now, the third generation has finally found its way to the southern tip of Africa

- The Citizen's Charl Bosch.

Like the recent addition of hardcore LX Overtrail models, the GX expands Lexus's rugged SUV portfolio. It slots in between the RX and LX and is benchmarked against the Land Rover Defender 110 P400.

The GX will, for the moment, only derive motivation from a 3,5ℓ twin-turbo V6 and carry the 550 nameplate, with a hybrid model in the pipeline. The second application of the engine locally, the first being the Land Cruiser 300, has been detuned by 45kW of power and 50Nm of torque to 260kW/650Nm. The unit is paired to a 10-speed automatic gearbox, with drive going to all four wheels via a permanent four-wheel-drive system.

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