Hot Lexus LBX Morizo RR ‘considered’ for UK launch

Chips and curry sauce. It’s a combination of tastes that really shouldn’t work – and yet, together, this fusion adds up to more than the sum of its parts. The same is true when you take the Lexus LBX and spice it up with the engine from the Toyota GR Yaris.

We drove a prototype of such a car – dubbed Lexus LBX Morizo RR – last year, and found that taking our favourite small SUV and combining it with the heart of the brilliant Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch was a match made in heaven.

In fact, our key criticism was that it could be denied to UK buyers. But that could be set to change, with Lexus’s European Vice President, Pascal Ruch saying the firm is “considering” bringing it to the UK.

The performance SUV is currently gearing up for a launch in Japan, but speaking to What Car?, Ruch said that the fact that Japan and the UK both drive on the left makes it far easier to adapt to the British market than the rest of Europe. He said the firm was “investigating homologation” – the certification process to permit the car to be sold here.

“It would bring another dimension to the brand,” he said.

The case for a UK launch could be strengthened further, following the announcement the car will be sold in Australia – another right-hand drive market – in the first half of this year. But because plans for a UK introduction are in their infancy, we may not see the car on these shores for a year or more.

The Lexus LBX is a former What Car? Car of the Year, and when we drove the LBX Morizo RR prototype we found it blends the practicality and high quality of the standard car with a fantastically entertaining driving experience.

It’s lower and wider than the standard car, and features four-wheel drive as standard. The 300bhp 1.6-litre engine from the GR Yaris can propel the LBX Morizo RR from 0-62mph in 5.2sec, which is substantially less than the Ford Puma ST and only 0.4sec slower than the Volkswagen T-Roc R. Automatic and manual versions will be available – the latter featuring a manual handbrake.

On the move, we found the LBX Morizo RR to be enormous fun and hugely capable of covering ground very quickly. That ought to be a given, judging by the car’s name: Morizo is the name adopted by Toyota president Akio Toyoda when he began competing in high-level motorsport to avoid criticism that the boss of a major car maker was involved in dangerous pursuits.

RR is more straightforward: it stands for Rookie Racing, a team founded by Toyota that participates in single seater and touring car racing in Japan. Lexus views it as its version of Toyota’s own GR – Gazoo Racing – division.

There’s no word yet on pricing, but given the GR Yaris costs between £44,250 and £60,000, a starting price of at least £50,000 is perfectly feasible.

Read more: Best small SUVs >>

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