Lexus used to define itself by its incredibly practical, large, quiet sedans. The LS. That kind of thing. But executive cars don’t speak prestige like they used to. You want an SUV that can double as an escape pod, and for that, there is the new J201 one-off, a supercharged, lifted expedition-prepped overland Lexus LX570.
For reasons beyond my understanding, Lexus is indeed making just one of these, calling it a “concept car.” I think it’s probably wiser to consider it a template for what your own personal Lexus should look like. You can find the press page for the thing here, and the mini brochure for the J201 here.
Expedition Overland did the conversion from a stock LX570, the paragon for overbuilt and incomprehensible vehicles still in production.
Why does the LX570 exist when you could get a Land Cruiser for less? I couldn’t give you a clear reason, but that’s beside the point. I will say that a rugged Lexus truck build has a certain wonder to it that a straightforward Land Cruiser build does not.
As it is, the J201 one-off gets a hidden WARN winch, a roof ladder, two light bars, a tool box and full-size spare mounted at the back, skidplates, big brakes, and updated suspension. This being a Lexus-backed deal, I’m not surprised that the electronic ride-height adjustments are changed along with new shocks and upper control arms, taking you from two inches of lift in the front and one in the back, on up to 4.8 inches front/4.1 back, with two intermediate stages in between.
There are also auxiliary fuel tanks good for another 12 gallons, which is good because the truck gets a TVS1900 Magnussen supercharger good for 550 horsepower and matching torque. You don’t want to be endlessly looking for a gas station on the wrong side of the Altai mountains, or wherever you’re supposed to be driving this thing.
Lexus will be running the thing in the all-women Rebelle Rally on the 8th, but I do hope to see lookalike builds popping up on remote Instagram location tags the world over soon.
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