Lexus LF-1 Limitless SUV Concept TEASED

Lexus is teasing the LF-1 Limitless SUV Concept ahead of a debut at the Detroit Motor Show in January. Is it an Audi Q8 competitor or a new LX? Or something else?

There is a perception that the big Premium SUV market belongs to Range Rover and the German triumvirate of BMW, Mercedes and Audi. But that’s a long way from the truth.

To that list you can now add the Volvo XC90 – so good in its latest iteration – and Lexus has been busy making Premium SUVs / Crossovers for longer than the Germans or Volvo.

The Lexus RX first arrived 20 years ago – at the same time as the Mercedes M Class and before the BMW X5, XC90 and Audi Q7 – and it’s being a big success for Lexus, especially in the US.

So Lexus know how to pitch a premium SUV, and the latest RX is a car which is perfectly suited to the UK and offers a very different, and appealing, recipe from the Germans.

Of course, there is an even bigger Lexus SUV than the RX – the Lexus LX, based on the Toyota Land Cruiser – but that’s really not been updated much in 20 years, and is a big old lump aimed at the American market.

But now Lexus is teasing the LF-1 Limitless SUV Concept ahead of a debut at the Detroit Motor Show next month, and all it’s saying at the moment is that the L-F1 is a new genre of luxury crossover and is a flagship model for Lexus.

Does that mean Lexus are planning to do a Lexus take on the Audi Q8, or could this be a global replacement for the LX, putting it up against the top end of luxury SUVs?

The L-F1 looks to have rather softer styling than the latest, angular, Lexus SUVs, and the back end does look to be a bit coupe-like – complete with two-part roof spoiler – which tends to suggest this could be a big, luxury SUV coupe sitting above the RX.

No doubt, between now an January, all will be revealed.