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Lexus LBX
Auto Express|January 29, 2025
FIRST DRIVE With Lexus’s F brand on hiatus, the LBX Morizo RR previews the company’s future performance models
- Jordan Katsianis
Lexus LBX

AEX LEXUS has an interesting relationship with high-performance cars. The F brand, which started with a legion of V8-powered rear-drive saloons such as the IS F and GS F, quickly gave rise to the LFA-one of the most revered supercars of the past two decades. But since then the F brand has been largely left to stagnate, and judging from the new LBX Morizo RR, that seems set to continue.

But all is not lost, because the Morizo moniker also happens to be the alter-ego of Toyota's inspirational, car-loving chairman Akio Toyoda - he races under the name Morizo Kinishita - and signals that while F will remain in the dark (for now), this LBX Morizo RR might be something quite special.

This is reinforced the moment you hear the spec, because this B-segment SUV packs an impressive 296bhp and 400Nm of torque, which is generated by the same brilliant three-cylinder turbocharged engine that is found in the Toyota GR Yaris.

This is then sent through Toyota's clever new eight-speed automatic transmission and variable all-wheel drive system - a first for the LBX. In order to fit the rear differential and driveshafts, the standard car's torsion-beam rear suspension has been thrown out entirely and replaced with the independent set-up used in the GR Corolla - a model that we don't get in the UK or Europe.

This story is from the January 29, 2025 edition of Auto Express.

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This story is from the January 29, 2025 edition of Auto Express.

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