Lexus RX

Lexus RX
Fifth generation Lexus RX 500h F Sport
Overview
Manufacturer	Toyota
Also called	Toyota Harrier (Japan, 1997–2013)
Production	December 1997 – present
Model years	1998–present
Body and chassis
Class	Compact luxury crossover SUV (1997–2003) Mid-size luxury crossover SUV (2003–present)
Body style	5-door SUV
Layout	Front-engine, front-wheel drive Front-engine, four-wheel drive
Chassis	Unibody
Chronology
Successor	Toyota Harrier (XU60) (Japan, for XU30 model) Lexus TX (RX-L)

The Lexus RX (Japanese: レクサス・RX, Hepburn: Rekusasu RX) is a luxury crossover SUV sold since 1998 by Lexus, a luxury division of Toyota. Originally released in its home market of Japan in late 1997 as the Toyota Harrier, export sales began in March 1998 as the Lexus RX.^[1]

Considered as the first luxury crossover SUV,^[2][3] five generations of the RX have been produced to date, the first being compact in size, and the latter classified as mid-size. Both front- and four-wheel drive configurations have been used on the RX series, and several gasoline powertrain options, including V6 engines and hybrid systems, have been offered. In the Lexus model lineup, the RX sits below the larger Lexus LX (marketed as the Toyota Land Cruiser body-on-frame SUVs outside North America, respectively), and below the body-on-frame, but also mid-size GX SUV. The name "RX" stands for "Radiant Crossover".^[4] It has also been labelled as "Recreational Cross Country" in some markets.^[5] The RX's current Toyota counterpart is the Highlander/Kluger; past counterparts included the Harrier and Venza.

The first-generation RX 300, fitted with a 3.0-liter V6 engine, began sales in 1998. The Japanese market Harrier released in 1997 also offered a 2.2-liter inline-four, later uprated to 2.4 liters. The second-generation RX 300 (3.0-liter V6) and RX 330 (3.3-liter V6) models went on sale in 2003, with both variants supplanted by the more powerful RX 350 (3.5-liter V6) in 2006. Like the previous series, a 2.4-liter inline-four engine was sold alongside the 3.0-liter V6 in the Japanese market Harrier. In 2005, a hybridized gasoline-electric version of the 3.3-liter second-generation model was made available as the RX 400h in export markets and as the Harrier Hybrid in Japan. For the third generation released in 2009, both RX 350 (3.5-liter V6) and RX 450h (3.5-liter V6 hybrid) models were initially offered, with an entry-level RX 270 (2.7-liter inline-four) offered by Lexus in some Asian markets, including in Japan, since 2010. Since the release of the third generation, Japanese sales have occurred under the RX name as opposed to Harrier as had been the case previously. In the fourth generation, a turbocharged (2.0-liter inline-four) RX 200t/300 model was introduced to replace the previous 2.7-liter unit.

The RX has been assembled at Toyota Motor Kyushu since launch. The RX and RX Hybrid were the first Lexus models to be built outside Japan, with North American market versions produced at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada plant in Cambridge, Ontario beginning 2003 (RX) and expanded in 2014 (RX Hybrid).^[6] Hybrid transaxles are built at the Kokura plant in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka since 2009.^[7][8]