A new form of luxury

THE Lexus NX is the Japanese luxury brand's first compact SUV and it was created with one simple target - to attract conquest customers, all of them if possible. "We would like to have new customers for the Lexus brand," says Lexus NX chief engineer Takeaki Kato in fluent English. "Of course we welcome existing Lexus owners and we expect some cannibalisation. But my target is 100 per cent new customers for the NX."

Lexus already has the popular RX mid-sized sport-utility vehicle, a model which is particularly successful in the US. The smaller NX is also aimed at the American market, as well as Europe and China, where the compact crossover segment is experiencing strong growth. Lexus says that these three geographical areas are currently registering similar sales volumes.

But it isn't just the NX's size that sets it apart from other Lexus SUV models; its styling is also radically different.