Report: Is Lexus really considering a pickup truck?

Word from down yonder in Australia reports Lexus could be eyeing the pickup truck market from an observable growth in demand for luxuriated pickups, from the likes of Ford’s King Ranch models, to Chevrolet’s new Silverado High Country. And lately, Toyota themselves even made a pseudo-Lexus-like pickup out of the Tundra with the 1492 Edition.

But it seems Lexus might dive-in head first with a new pickup, following a brief interview with the company’s product planning chief, Makoto Tanaka. Given Lexus’ heavy integration with Toyota, it wouldn’t be hard for them to source a platform for a Lexus pickup, since the aforementioned Tundra and the Tacoma exist, as well as Toyota’s body-on-frame Land Crusier and 4Runner models. Lexus has their own Land Cruiser still in the form of the LX570 and the smaller Land Cruiser Prado-based GX.

Technically, it wouldn’t be too difficult to take one of those platforms, slap a nice Lexus-treated cab-body onto the frame next to an open bed. But should anything actually happen, it would be based on Toyota’s worldly Hilux pickup–a model available pretty much everywhere except the United States. And as much as you’d like to dream, our Tacoma is nowhere near like the foreign Hilux.

A pickup would be one of two new models the company is seeking to introduce, next to the idea of an elongated RX designed with seven seats.

Not much else is known, but it’s been noted throughout the market that high-dollar pickups are growing in popularity, to the point where Mercedes-Benz introduced plans to come up with one by 2020.

Should they make a Lexi-Tundra?

– By: Chris Chin

Source: Motoring

Chris Chin

Chris Chin is the Editor-In-Chief of egmCarTech and is a regular contributor to Automobile Magazine.

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