Not discouraged by the commercial flop that was the Nissan Navara-based Mercedes X-Class, Lexus isn’t completely ruling out launching a luxury pickup. Although a fancy truck is currently not in the pipeline, Toyota’s premium division isn’t against a posh utilitarian vehicle if customers will want one someday. The surprising disclosure was made by Takashi Watanabe during a press conference held in Japan during which he shared a few other tidbits.
The top brass said that if green-lighted for production, a Lexus ute wouldn’t be based on any existing Toyota product. Consequently, it wouldn’t have any relation with the likes of the Hilux, Tacoma, or Tundra. In fact, it wouldn’t even have a combustion engine at all since the development team would make it purely electric. Watanabe mentioned that while Toyota is in charge of pickup trucks, Lexus wants to cater to a wide audience. If enough people will warrant the development of a truck, it might just happen.
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