Cup holder joy for new Lexus

When one of the Lexus engineering team cited the cup holders of the company’s new premium mid-size SUV — the NX — as being one of the car’s most important characteristics, he raised a few eyebrows among motoring hacks.

Ok, so the new cup holder will allow you to place an unopened bottle into its maw and then allow you to twist open the bottle top without it spinning around, but to highlight the development as being one of the car’s outstanding and endearing traits, seemed rather to diminish what else is on offer here. But Japanese manufacturers in general — and Lexus in particular — pride themselves on the level of detail they install in their cars and the cup holders in the NX merely highlight the fact.

Unveiled at a ‘static’ launch in London last week, the new NX is a seriously important car for Lexus, a fact underlined by the company’s claim that it will account for one-third of company sales across Europe by next year.