unveiled at the end of last year, Lexus brought its ROV off-road buggy concept to this year’s Tokyo car Salon. It previews a possible extension to the Lexus brand, as well as some experimental hydrogen technology that works on the same principles as a conventional combustion engine.
Lexus’ European boss, Spiros Fotinos, recently described the ROV as a automobile that was developed to “unlock a new kind of off-roading adventure for our customers in a true Lexus way” – and we’d say Lexus has the “off-road” part of that brief nailed down well.
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It’s a small, two-seat buggy with a similar design to the Can-Am Maverick, sporting an exposed construction, long-travel suspension and chunky off-road tyres. It steps just 3.1 metres long and 1.7 metres broad – and its appearance has little in common with Lexus’ road cars, although the headlight design does hint at a connection.
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The cabin is even less like a conventional Lexus, with exposed carbon-fibre trim, a leather steering wheel, a easy rev-counter and only a few switches. Also, the seats are trimmed in wipe-down synthetic leather upholstery, because they’re developed to get dirty.
While these off-the-wall design choices are certainly interesting from a brand such as Lexus, the real importance of the car is its choice of powertrain. It uses a 1.0-litre three-cylinder combustion engine that’s fuelled by hydrogen, fed from a high-pressure storage tank.