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Chief Engineer Says Lexus NX Shouldn’t Be Compared with the RAV4

The new Lexus NX luxury crossover was built using the Toyota RAV4 platform and that’s not a secret. The mule for the car was in fact a RAV4 if you recall. However, the NX’s chief engineer says the car is very different from the Toyota.
Lexus NX versus Toyota RAV4 1 photo
Photo: edited by autoevolution
In an interview with Automotive News, Lexus NX chief engineer Takeaki Kato said they chose to stick with the new RAV4 because of its good proportions and versatility. Still, the two are using few common parts.

On the underneath, the front bumpers and crash box are fully redesigned, the inside rocker panel is reinforced and the rear is all new. The suspension uses the same geometry but different parts to make the car more rigid and let’s not forget that the rear end also needed to be reconfigured to accommodate the electric motor for the AWD hybrid NX.

The two vehicles won’t even be made on the same assembly line at the Woodstock plant, Ontario. Takeaki-san said it is possible, but a big investment is needed so the line can handle the high-tensile sheet metal, more adhesives and laser screw welds the NX needs.

We drove the new Toyota RAV4 and we can tell you the diesel version fitted with a manual gearbox felt pretty solid on the underneath - a major improvement from the old generation. With this in mind, we can only imagine the NX is spot on, especially when coming fitted with that new 2-liter turbocharged unit.
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