Toyota boss talks down Lexus RX 7-seat potential – report

The global head of Toyota has hosed down talk of a longer seven-seat version of the new 2016 Lexus RX SUV.

Despite the appearance of camouflaged RX SUVs in the US recently, Toyota president Akio Toyoda told press in Europe this week that seven-seat SUVs are the domain of the company’s volume-selling arm.

“That’s the Toyota brand”, Toyoda said in an interview with industry journal Automotive News Europe.

“We are trying to position Lexus vehicles as emotional and cool. For Toyota, I attach greater value to family, convenience, fun-to-drive.”

Above: the big eight-seat Lexus LX570.

The new RC models represent the clearest view of “emotional and cool” models for the Lexus brand, and an even larger flagship coupe â€" understood to be previewed by the earlier LF-LC concept â€" has also been spied.

He added that although “dealers are telling me all the time” that there is significant interest in a seven-seat Lexus that would sit below the large LandCruiser-based LX.

“Dealers are always asking for more. But there is a sequence of things, of introducing models,” he said.

Above: the LS-teasing LF-FC concept.

That sequence includes the launch of a next-generation LS sedan slash limousine, inspired by the recent LF-FC concept, along with a replacement for the ageing CT hatch.

Until Toyoda gives the nod to a seven-seat Lexus RX, buyers staying within the family must look to either the big LX 4WD SUV, or the soft-roading Kluger.

MORE: Lexus RX seven-seat SUV is in demand, says chief engineer