Lexus NX loses its petrol option in Australia. The upgraded car had its world premiere on 1 September 2026 and reaches us in 2027, sold here as a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. That’s the whole shebang.
Lexus Australia sold 7,352 units to the end of July 2026, down from 8,685 last year. Lexus follows other legacy car makers by heading downward, and in this case that is 15.3%, while the market grew overall. Those VFACTS figures come from our own July 2026 sales report, the one where Chinese brands accounted for 238,496 of the 740,160 vehicles sold here, or 32.2% of everything registered. So the new Lexus NX has a harder job than improving on the old one. It has to fill a 15.3% hole. As a whole, things are not looking rosy.
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ABOVE: 2027 NX
The NX has been the backbone for Lexus since 2014, when it became the first compact crossover SUV Lexus built. Total sales reached 1.9 million cars across more than 90 countries by the end of July 2026. In Australia it accounted for 6,024 of Lexus’s 14,561 sales in calendar 2025. That was a 1.6% dip of its own, in a year Lexus grew 6.7% overall. Lexus Australia confirmed the hybrid and plug-in hybrid line-up for 2027, and confirmed the RX 350 and LS 500 petrol grades are finished here as well. We covered the direction of travel when electrified models reached 76.5% of Lexus sales.
Lexus marked 20 years of hybrids earlier in 2026, and we covered the battery-only TZ, a three-row electric luxury SUV, not long after. Petrol was always going to be shown the door. Deleting the RX 350 and LS 500 in the same breath makes it a clear-out rather than a trim.
Lexus NX Loses the Petrol Option
The Australian line-up covers the 450h+, a 2.5L all-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid, and the 350h, which uses the same 2.5L engine in all-wheel or front-drive form. Under them, the 300h is a 2.0L front-driver. All of them use an electronically controlled CVT. The 2.5L is quoted at 100kW to 135kW and the 2.0L at 110kW, before the electric motors get involved. There’s no petrol-only Lexus NX at any price.
Keep in mind Australian specifications may vary. The 450h+ makes 215kW to 240kW with 6.0 seconds to 100km/h. The 350h ranges from 140kW to 180kW and 7.1 to 7.8 seconds. The 145kW 300h takes 9.2 seconds to 100km/h, the slowest grade in the line-up by a country mile. Kerb weight spans 1,690kg for the lightest 300h to 2,130kg for the heaviest 450h+. The 350h falls between them, at 1,730kg to 1,810kg in front-drive and 1,790kg to 1,870kg with all-wheel drive.
Not a New Platform, Just 30mm of Extra Nose
Length goes up 30mm to 4,690mm. Width holds at 1,865mm, height at 1,660mm, and the wheelbase at 2,690mm. The extra 30mm is overhang, not cabin. Tyres are 235/60R18 or 235/50R20. Underneath, Lexus calls it a next-generation platform with a new-generation hybrid system. It’s neither. The wheelbase, width and height all carry over, the engines are the same 2.5L and 2.0L fours through an e-CVT, and only the nose grows. This is an upgrade.
The equipment list gains Sensory Concierge, which personalises cabin lighting and fragrance to the driver. Kunihiko Endo of Lexus International is the chief engineer. The development theme is “DISCOVER YOUR EDGE”, following the “Imitate No One” brand message shown at the Japan Mobility Show 2025. Perfume and mood lighting are easier to engineer than a lower price, and price is what that sales chart keeps asking about. the Japanese stormed the 60s and 70s with cheap, well made cars. Korea did it in the 90s, and slowly both went up market. China is filling the gap and now buyers are used to more for less, legacy brands worldwide are sinking like stones.
Lexus NX Range Figures Australia Didn’t Get
Lexus NX 450h+ claims more than 100km of electric range on the European cycle. Japan gets a quoted figure of more than 140km, North America more than 40 miles. No Australian number exists, and those cycles don’t translate into one. A plug-in with genuine electric range suits anyone who commutes short and travels long, which is the case we set out in our plug-in hybrid explainer.
For scale, look at what the money buys elsewhere. We drove the Omoda 9 Virtue SHS at $66,466 drive-away, with a $3,000 cashback pulling it to $63,466 at the time. It makes 395kW/650Nm and claims 169km of electric range on NEDC from a 34kWh battery. It covers 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds and comes with an 8-year unlimited-kilometre warranty. We also drove Geely Starray EM-i Inspire, which cost $39,990 plus on-roads. That buys 193kW, 83km of electric range from an 18.3kWh LFP battery, and a 7-year unlimited-kilometre warranty. Claimed total range is 943km which from a small engine and fuel tank was once what people bought diesels for.
Today’s Lexus NX 450h+ Luxury costs $84,500 plus on-roads. F Sport is $96,000, and the 350h spreads from $71,700 to $91,000. That Luxury grade only goes on sale here from late September 2026, weeks after its own replacement had a world premiere. Those are the current car’s prices, with Lexus not yet costing the new model. Geely asks $39,990 for a plug-in hybrid SUV. Headlines like that is already forcing Lexus to lift its ownership game.
A brand down 15.3% is replacing its best seller with a slightly refreshed version of a car first sold in 2014. The cheapest way into the model goes, and the result will be priced against rivals that undercut the old one by tens of thousands. Lexus NX introduction begins at the end of 2026, with deliveries in Australia to follow in 2027.
Sources: Lexus Australia, Lexus International, and VFACTS via our July 2026 sales report.
Lexus NX Prototype Numbers
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Grades | 450h+ (2.5L AWD PHEV), 350h (2.5L AWD or FWD), 300h (2.0L FWD) |
| Engines | 2.5L inline four (100kW to 135kW), 2.0L inline four (110kW) |
| Transmission | Electronically controlled CVT |
| System output | 450h+ 215kW to 240kW, 350h 140kW to 180kW, 300h 145kW |
| 0-100km/h | 450h+ 6.0s, 350h 7.1s to 7.8s, 300h 9.2s |
| Length | 4,690mm, up 30mm |
| Width, height, wheelbase | 1,865mm, 1,660mm, 2,690mm, all unchanged |
| Kerb weight | 1,690kg to 2,130kg depending on grade |
| Tyres | 235/60R18 or 235/50R20 |
| 450h+ electric range | More than 100km (Europe), more than 140km (Japan), more than 40 miles (North America). No Australian figure quoted |
| Australian timing | 2027, hybrid and plug-in hybrid only, price not announced |
How It Compares
| Lexus NX 450h+ | Omoda 9 Virtue SHS | Geely Starray EM-i Inspire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $84,500 (RRP, current model, 2027 car unpriced) | $66,466 (drive-away) | $39,990 (RRP) |
| System output | 215kW to 240kW (prototype figure, 2027 model) | 395kW | 193kW |
| Electric range | More than 100km (Europe cycle, 2027 model), no Australian figure quoted | 169km (NEDC) | 83km (claimed) |
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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