Lexus UX set to bow out in 2027, with no replacement in sight

Key highlights

• Lexus Japan has confirmed UX production will end in February 2027.
• No replacement for the small luxury SUV has been announced.
• Lexus Australia says the UX remains an important part of its local line-up.

Lexus has confirmed what industry watchers have been whispering about for a while. The Lexus UX, its entry point into small luxury SUV territory, is heading for retirement. Production wraps in February 2027, and right now, there’s no word on what, if anything, will take its place.

The confirmation came via a notice on Lexus Japan’s website, which had previously been flagged by Japanese outlet Creative Trend. It’s a fairly blunt admission for a car that’s been quietly doing its job since 2018.

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What this means for Australian buyers

Here’s the part that matters most if you’re shopping locally: Lexus Australia isn’t giving much away. When asked about what this means down under, the local arm kept things vague, simply stating the UX remains “an important part” of the current line-up.

Translation? Nothing changes for now, but don’t expect that to last forever. If you’ve had your eye on a UX, this is worth paying attention to, once local stock dries up, it’s gone, and there’s no confirmed successor queued up to take its spot.

A gap opens up below the Lexus NX

The bigger story here is what happens to Lexus’ SUV range structure. With the UX gone, the brand’s only offering smaller than the mid-size NX becomes the LBX, and that’s not really an apples-to-apples replacement.

The LBX is a noticeably smaller vehicle. Despite technically sitting in the same “small SUV” category as the UX in Australian sales data, it’s actually 85mm shorter than a Mazda CX-3, which itself is generally considered a “light” SUV. So buyers who liked the UX’s slightly larger footprint may find the LBX doesn’t quite scratch the same itch.

There’s also a global angle worth noting. The LBX isn’t sold everywhere, it’s missing from the US and China, Lexus’ two biggest markets by volume. The UX, on the other hand, has had a presence in both. That mismatch makes the lack of an announced replacement a bit more puzzling, since Lexus is essentially leaving a hole in some of its most important markets.

Nine years, three powertrains, one farewell

The UX has quietly gone through a fair bit of change since launch. The petrol-only UX200 was dropped back in 2023, and the fully electric UX300e followed it out the door in 2025. That left the UX300h, a conventional hybrid, as the sole survivor, and it’ll be the version that sees the model through to the end.

It’s also worth pointing out that the UX300h holds a fairly unique position in its segment right now: it’s the only traditional (non-plug-in) hybrid among a field of petrol, EV and PHEV rivals in the small premium SUV class.

Globally, Lexus says it’s sold around 400,000 UX examples across more than 80 countries and regions as of June 2026, a solid, if not spectacular, run for a car that’s always played second fiddle to bigger-selling rivals.

How the Lexus UX has fared against the competition?

Locally, the numbers tell a story of a model past its peak. The UX’s best year in Australia was 2023, when Lexus sold 2468 of them. Fast forward to this year, and sales to the end of July sit at 569, down 17.2 per cent on the same period last year.

For context, that’s roughly half the volume of the Audi Q3, a quarter of the Mercedes-Benz GLA’s tally, and about a fifth of what the BMW X1/iX1 has managed. The writing’s been on the wall for a while.

Pricing-wise, the UX300h currently kicks off at $55,370 before on-roads with its 2.0-litre petrol-hybrid setup, available in front- or all-wheel drive. The LBX starts cheaper at $47,320 plus on-roads, though it runs a smaller three-cylinder hybrid engine, unless you go for the punchy Morizo RR variant.

What to watch next?

For now, this is a production timeline, not a fire sale, the UX isn’t disappearing from Australian showrooms overnight. But with February 2027 as the cut-off and no successor confirmed, anyone keen on this particular slice of the Lexus range shouldn’t leave their decision too late. We’ll keep you posted if Lexus reveals what, if anything, steps in to fill the gap.