ONCE a curiosity in a sea of conventionality, the hybrid is slowly gaining the confidence of buyers.

But the road is painfully unreceptive and stumbling blocks are numerous, particularly a sliding oil price that relieves motorists’ fears of crippling fuel prices – the window of opportunity for hybrids that boast low fuel consumption as their main party trick.

Lexus parent company Toyota is the world’s biggest hybrid manufacturer and pushes the low-fuel, low-emission message in many of its models.

The concept works well as much in small cars – the Lexus CT – as it does in larger vehicles like the NX and RX SUV range and the LS600h limousine.

But though the new RX range includes a hybrid to appeal to fuel and planet-green conscious buyers, it sits in a hot bed of mid-size to large SUVs in a segment that is constantly introducing new competitors.

Can the RX make it against shiny new SUVs such as Jaguar’s F-Pace and the Mercedes-Benz GLE?

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