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New Lexus small CUV may have been behind moving ES production to Kentucky

Lexus may have had another big reason - in addition to the financial incentives potentially worth up to $146.5 million that Kentucky offered - to move ES production to its Georgetown, KY plant. The ES has always been built in Japan, and a report at TheDetroitBureau.com claims that the Kyushu facility will be tooling up to build a new model thought to be a compact hybrid crossover expected to go on sale next year. While ES300h production would remain in Japan, shedding 50,000 units of traditional ES production would free capacity for what many think will be an important model in the Lexus lineup.
The new CUV will come in below the RX and be built on the platform of the RAV4. Speculation is that there will be an NX200t and an NX300h, the former possibly getting the 2.0-liter turbo Toyota engine due in 2014 - matching the predicted timeline for the CUV and supposedly also meant for an RX200t - and latter getting the same 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain in the ES300h. We'll see a preview of the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 fighter at this year's Tokyo Motor Show; the production version should be unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.

2022 Lexus NX touchscreen infotainment review

The all-new 2022 Lexus NX’s most important change, improvement and missed opportunity is its equally new Human Machine Interface infotainment system. It also has implications for the entire Lexus brand, because it signals the demise of the unloved Remote Touch tech interface. That such an important development arrives on one of the brand's cheapest vehicles may seem surprising, but it's consistent with the brand's product cycle: Remote Touch's first major upgrade, the infernal touchpad, actually debuted on the original NX. We didn't like it 2014 and that never changed. The new "Human Machine Interface" touchscreen isn't perfect, but it's still a vast improvement. Or rather, both touchscreen choices are vast improvements: a 9.6 unit base unit and a 14-inch widescreen upgrade included in Luxury and F Sport trims. Both share a common, all-new interface developed in the United States that will spread throughout the Lexus lineup. Regardless of size, the screen's lowermost portion is devoted to the climate controls, with physical temperature knobs sticking around along with defroster buttons. The touch icons are large enough, don't omit frequently used choices and always remain on the screen. So does the row of menu icons on the screen's left side, making it easy to go back and forth between screens. Unusually, though, there is no home screen, nor the ability to split the screen to show two sources – for instance, Google Maps on the left and radio information on the right. This would be one of the aforementioned missed opportunities, especially on the 14-inch unit, as split-screen functionality is usually a key benefit of a widescreen format. Not only do rival brands like BMW and Genesis offer this, so do the widescreen displays of Lexus Remote Touch and some Toyotas. According to Technical Communications Lead Chris Pedregon, the decision to only show one thing at once was to highlight the new natural voice command functionality and to "minimize the touch-touch-touch" of using a touchscreen. She also noted that people did not like that the old Lexus NX only had a split screen. Another Lexus representative noted that secondary information, say that radio information, can be shown in the instrument panel. That's the argument, here's the refutation. First, saying "Hey Lexus" followed by a command can be just as frustrating and/or futile as it is with any other voice recognition system.

Lexus IS commercial made with Instagram photos

Facebook was so 2010, so it's no surprise that automakers are taking advantage of newer social media applications for their marketing purposes. Most recently, Lexus invited more than 200 followers on Instagram ("Instagrammers"), along with their smartphones, to make a commercial of the 2014 Lexus IS using hundreds of their photos of the car strung together into a video.
Instagram, taking advantage of smartphone cameras, is an application that allows users to shoot, edit and share photos or video online with friends and strangers alike. Lexus's stop-motion Insta-commercial is unique as far as commercials go, with each photo in the sequence sporting a personal touch thanks to the app's photo editor. But, even more impressive is the ability of social media to bring people together for, and involve them in, a commercial shoot. All of which you can watch below. Stay tuned after the commercial to get a look behind the scenes at the making of it all.