► Lexus’s first MPV for Europe
► Confirmed for UK sale in autumn 2023
► A large luxury hybrid people carrier
The Lexus LM launches the upmarket Japanese brand into a new market segment in Europe – the luxury people carrier. Although Lexus has sold MPVs elsewhere in the world before, it has never deigned to bring them to the UK… until now.
From autumn 2023, the new 2024 Lexus LM will be imported here and will be available in right-hand drive. It signals that Lexus is broadening its Euro portfolio from the previous focus on limousines, SUVs and sports cars (with the odd estate thrown in over the years).
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Lexus LM: what you need to know
This is a large MPV, stretching the tape measure to 5.1m long with an expansive 3m wheelbase to create space for seven seats split over three rows. The rear side doors slide open, for easier access in tight spaces.
The interior is highly configurable and the Lexus LM can be specced with seven- or leg-stretchy four-seater layouts. No wonder the company says that badge stands for ‘Luxury Mover’ and talks of ‘a new market segment for luxurious, chauffeur-driven people carriers.’
Typical Lexus niceties feature throughout: there’s what sounds like a banging Mark Levinson 23-speaker stereo and a huge 48-inch widescreen TV on the partition between front and rear passenger compartments.
Fold-out tables, wireless phone chargers and reading lights proliferate – and there’s a refrigerator, obviously. Lexus has taken a leaf out of Skoda’s book and included an umbrella holder next to the sliding doors.
That glass panel above the TV display can be dimmed to block out the driver or be transparent, depending on the clients’ mood – and Lexus claims it’s the world’s first car geared to accept voice commands from the rear pews…
Hybrid power
The Lexus LM 350h is powered by a hybrid powertrain, naturally: a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to an electric powertrain for whisper-quiet progress around town. It is based on the group’s GA-K global platform, meaning it is what Toyota calls a self-charging hybrid, with no option to plug in.
The emphasis here is on smooth, laidback wafting: peak power of 247bhp and 176lb ft of torque sent to all four wheels have to compete with what we suspect is a hefty kerbweight. Top speed is quoted as 118mph and no acceleration figures have been provided.
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