2003 Lexus HPX Concept - Carving a New Sport, Luxury Direction
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| The Minority Report Lexus concept that was featured in the movie of the same name as about as radical as concept cars get. (Photo: Lexus) |
Lexus concepts don't come around very often. There was the ultra-conservative FLV, a minivan cum crossover SUV from a few years ago, and then the audacious Minority Report concept used for the sci-fi movie of the same name, about as radical as any automaker has gone with a four wheel vehicle. Of course the majority of the company's production cars first appeared as concepts, like the SC 430 and most recent GX 470, but these were really thinly veiled prototypes of soon to be announced road cars.
The Japanese firm's latest, however, could be a little of both. While the HPX has seriously conceptual leanings, more on these in a minute, at first glance it already seems like a production car. And by listening to the remarks made at its New York Auto Show introduction it would be easy to presume Lexus has every intention of building something closely resembling it, at least regarding its styling and packaging.
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| While the HPX looks ready to roll out on the street on the outside, its space pod interior probably wouldn't be accepted readily, except maybe by wealthy commercial pilots. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
"We wanted to develop a next-generation SUV concept that would help lead us into the future of luxury sport utility vehicles," stated Kevin Hunter, Vice President of Calty Design Research, Inc., Toyota's Newport Beach, California-based design center. "Our objective as to look beyond the current SUV formulas and define a vehicle that expresses strong emotional styling with high levels of performance, utility, comfort and luxury. We see the HPX as an intelligent evolution of the SUV."