CARS.COM — If tailfins stage a 21st-century comeback, you might credit a sliver of that to an unlikely player: Lexus. Toyota’s luxury division released a teaser image today of its new UX, an SUV set to debut March 6 at the 2018 Geneva International Motor Show — and at each corner of the width-spanning taillights are, indeed, ever-so-slight tailfins.
Related: 2018 Lexus RX 350L’s Third Row Isn’t for Adults
Now before you go all 1959 Cadillac Eldorado and declare the Return of the Fin, these units are nubs at best. Lexus’ darkened image suggests they’re just three-dimensional outcroppings at the edges of the taillights, not full tailfins — or the upswept units that arched through the C-pillars in the brand’s aggressive UX Concept, for that matter.
Stay tuned to see how close the rest of the production UX comes to the concept. In a U.S. press release, Lexus called the UX an “all-new compact crossover,” noting that it heralds “the fifth member of the brand’s extensive lineup of luxury utility vehicles.”
Today’s news has been a year in the making: The UX Concept showed up on the auto-show circuit a year ago, and Lexus officials reportedly said in March 2017 that it was “not so far away” from production. Automotive News expects the production UX to share a platform with Toyota’s C-HR, a micro-sized crossover that only comes with front-wheel drive in the U.S., though all-wheel drive is available overseas.
Indeed, the UX Concept’s dimensions (namely, 173.2 inches’ length on a 103.9-inch wheelbase) fit closer to the C-HR than the brand’s current small SUV, the NX. But the latter is closer in size to compact luxury SUVs like the Audi A5, BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class than it is to their smaller, subcompact peers — think Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class.
How will the UX compare? Stay tuned for more.
’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with ’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of ’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.
