LEXUS CT200h

ADR85 CALLS TIME ON A CAR THAT WAS NEVER LEXUS’S FINEST HOUR

- NATHAN PONCHARD

THE JAPANESE USED to play the model-renewal game to clockwork perfection. Churn out a new generation every four to five years, with a mid-life update wedged somewhere in between, and then keep repeating that process over and over, regardless of whether the underpinnings and oily bits have been altered.

But the Japanese have also shown they can be quite partial to an inordinately long model run – particularly Toyota. And caught up among these ‘models that time forgot’ is the Lexus CT200h – Australia’s first (and only) premium-brand hybrid hatchback of the last decade.