2021 Lexus NX Updates Improve Standard Safety, Add F Sport Hybrid Version

A compact crossover SUV with a roomy interior, the 2021 Lexus NX returns to the luxury automaker’s lineup with a handful of changes intended to increase its appeal.

Perhaps most importantly, the 2021 NX adds more standard safety equipment for the new year. Lexus reports that a blind-spot warning system with rear cross-traffic alert will now come on every NX 300 and NX 300h, joining the already standard Lexus Safety System+ 2.0 collection of driving assistance and collision avoidance technologies. Already rated as a Top Safety Pick+ by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, this enhancement makes an already safe SUV even more so.

A second change to the 2021 Lexus NX is the addition of an F Sport version of the NX 300h gas-electric hybrid. Previously reserved for the turbocharged NX 300, the F Sport treatment equips the fuel-sipping SUV with a more aggressive styling treatment. Don’t get too excited, though, because Lexus will build just 1,000 examples, each equipped with a Black Line design treatment and a set of Zero Halliburton luggage.

Additional changes to the 2021 Lexus NX lineup are minor, including an improved amplifier for the optional Mark Levinson premium surround sound system and a new color called Nori Green Pearl.

Two versions of the NX are available. The NX 300 comes in standard, F Sport, and Luxury trim, and has a turbocharged 235-horsepower 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine. The NX 300h is a hybrid, offered in standard, F Sport Black Line, and Luxury trim. It’s 194-horsepower powertrain is EPA-estimated to get 31 mpg in combined driving and includes standard all-wheel drive.

Lexus says the 2021 NX is on sale now, with prices starting at $37,510.

The information in this article is from Lexus. It was accurate on July 28, 2020 but may have changed since that date.