Most people would never guess that the mild-mannered middle child of Lexus’ SUV range would actually pack such serious off-road underpinnings, but Lexus is out to change that perception.
Most Americans think of Lexus’ GX SUV as being the second-biggest thing you can buy with a Lexus badge on it, behind the Land Cruiser-based LX. What a lot of people don’t know is that elsewhere in the world, the GX is sold as the Land Cruiser Prado and has a pretty serious reputation for its off-road ability.
To celebrate that capability, and to give the internet yet another dose of overland camping, Lexus created the GX Off-Road concept which it debuted on Wednesday at the FJ Summit off-road driving event in Colorado. So what exactly did Toyota’s fancier sibling do to unlock the potential of the GX?
Lots, actually and to get it done, it turned to the well-established aftermarket for the GX/Prado. Some of the highlights include a custom bumper with a hidden Warn winch, aluminum roof boxes and a super trick Patriot Campers off-road trailer with a built-in tent.
Lexus
Underneath, the GX shares a lot with its bigger, more expensive sibling the LX. It’s got a relatively under-stressed V8 gasoline engine under its hood, has full-time four-wheel drive with a locking center differential and is built with body-on-frame construction. It still has all the Lexus luxury touches you’d expect too.
At the end of the day, the purpose of the GXOR concept is to get people stoked about having adventures and going off-road in a big expensive SUV — something that people don’t really do here in the US in the same way that they do in places like South Africa and Australia — and you know what, it worked (on us at least).
Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll just be looking at used GXs on Craigslist.
Source: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2019-lexus-gx-off-road-concept/