If you were waiting to see what Lexus would do with the 2022 UX before committing to buy, the answer is “make tiny cosmetic changes.” Outside, the biggest addition is that shoppers have a choice of new colors, although we can’t tell yet what those colors are. Between the Lexus press release and images, the new colors mentioned are Grecian Water, Cadmium Orange, Cloudburst Gray, Sonic Chrome, and Silver Lining Metallic. Cadmium Orange is available now on the 2021 UX. Grecian Water is the rich blue hue that appeared on the 2021 UX Black Line special edition toward the end of last year — very pretty, but there’d be signs to avoid the beach if the Aegean ever turned this color. Sonic Chrome and Cloudburst Gray are two of the colors that featured on the 2021 Lexus IS and could be migrating to the UX. Sonic Chrome is a shimmery silver that Lexus says “exhibits a metallic quality in a high-gloss finish,” the other looks like an overcast day. The UX in the gallery above is dressed in Silver Lining Metallic, which was available in 2019, but we don’t see it on the current UX configurator so it could be making a return.
And also as on the UX Black Series, buyers who opt for the Premium, Luxury, or F Sport packages can choose to have the UX body color extended to the normally black wheel arches.
Inside the cabin, Grecian Water comes with a choice of either Black, Birch NuLuxe, or Birch NuLuxe with a Lapis washi dash. The only other change is a new tilt and telescoping steering column available on the top-tier Luxury trim.
The UX received a refresh for this year consisting of a minor nip and tuck and some safety features being added as standard. The powertrains remain the 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the UX 200 putting out 169 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque, and a more efficient version of the same 2.0-liter assisted by a hybrid system in the UX 250H for 181 system horsepower.
The runt of the Lexus litter is outsold in the U.S. by everything else in the lineup save for the flagship LS sedan and the ancient LX SUV, and we’ll wager that changes when the new LX arrives. Even so, the UX sold fractionally better here last year than it did in 2019, and the numbers so far in 2021 are better than last year.
We’ve asked Lexus for more information about the paints for next year, we’ll update the post if we get a response.
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