2025 Lexus NX450h+ plug-in hybrid orders reopen in Australia after almost two-year pause

Customer orders for the Lexus NX450h+ plug-in hybrid luxury family SUV have resumed in Australia.

Lexus Australia has confirmed order books for the NX PHEV have reopened after it temporarily stopped taking customer deposits in March 2023 – 20 months ago – due to high wait times, with priority given to customers who have expressed their interest.

"Lexus Australia thanks customers for their patience and loyalty while it fulfilled all outstanding orders of NX 450h+ plug-in hybrid," said a Lexus Australia spokesperson.

"We also thank those who expressed interest in the NX PHEV during the order pause, with dealers now contacting those customers.

"Lexus Australia will resume active marketing of the NX 450h+ once all existing enquiries have been satisfied."

In March 2023, Lexus Australia said it had taken 1000 orders since the NX450h+ launched at the start of 2022, with wait times stretching into 2025 for customers at the end of the queue.

Lexus delivered 230 examples of the plug-in hybrid NX in 2022, and 34 to the end of March 2023, meaning it needed to clear an estimated backlog of approximately 740 orders, with a 50 per cent increase in supply of the NX450h+ by the end of 2023.

The order pause in Australia was attributed to demand outstripping supply for the model due to supply challenges facing the global automotive industry – including the semiconductor chip shortage – following the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Lexus Australia website, a 2025 Lexus NX450h+ ordered today costs $94,859 before on-road costs – up $4869 from $89,990 in March 2023 when it was last available to order.

The NX450h+ – the luxury twin-under-the-skin to the Toyota RAV4 PHEV not offered in Australia – pairs a 136kW/227Nm 2.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine with a 134kW/270Nm front electric motor and a 40kW/121Nm rear electric motor for a 227kW combined output.

It has an 18.1kWh lithium-ion battery pack and rated with an 87-kilometre electric-only driving range under the ADR 81/02 (NEDC) lab-test standard – more than the Mazda CX-60 (76km), Volvo XC60 (81km) and Mitsubishi Outlander (84km) plug-in hybrids.

VFACTS new-car sales data reveals 5102 examples of the Lexus NX – including petrol and hybrid variants – have been delivered in Australia between January and October 2024, down 40 per cent from the same time in 2023.

The NX350h and NX450h+ accounted for 74.4 per cent of all NX deliveries to the end of September 2024, the brand said, with the remaining 25.6 per cent for the NX250 entry model and the NX350 F Sport turbo.

• NX250 2.5-litre petrol FWD: $63,400
• NX350h Luxury 2.5-litre hybrid FWD: $71,600
• NX350h Luxury 2.5-litre hybrid AWD: $76,400
• NX350h Sports Luxury 2.5-litre hybrid FWD: $79,100
• NX350h F Sport 2.5-litre hybrid FWD: $79,100
• NX350 F Sport petrol 2.4-litre turbo-petrol AWD: $79,343
• NX350h Sports Luxury 2.5-litre hybrid AWD: $83,900
• NX350h F Sport 2.5-litre hybrid AWD: $83,900
• NX450h+ F Sport AWD 2.5-litre plug-in hybrid: $94,859

Note: All prices above exclude on-road costs.

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Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.

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