British luxury is in demand

Four of the top 10 most in-demand luxury cars are manufactured in the UK.

British-made cars are pulling away from German, Italian and Japanese models according to vehicle finance firm JBR Capital.

Top of the list is the 204mph McLaren 570S, built at their oroduction centre in Woking, Surrey. In second place is the Range Rover Vogue produced at Land Rover’s plant in Solihull, Warwickshire.

Bentley’s Continental GT makes sixth place. It is handfinished at the firm’s factory in Crewe while the McLaren 720S comes in at No8 ahead of the Lamborghini Huracan and Ferrari 458 Spider.

The Porsche 911 GT3 is the first foreign car.

Back then, it offered the lap of luxury in what was then pretty much a fledgling sector.

Now, with sales of the model approaching 2.75million throughout their four generations, the Japanese manufacturers have extended their RX range even further.

They had added a stretched version to gain a foothold into the growing seven- seater marketplace, currently dominated by the likes of the Land-Rover Discovery, Audi Q7, Volvo XC90 and BMW X5.

The great news for the Lexus is that its chunky yet stylish exterior looks remain.

By stretching the body of the large RX by just a shade over four inches, the designers have managed to create a third row housing two individual seats into the big machine.

The wheelbase on the newcomer remains the same as its standard RX sibling, as the added length has been reserved for the extra overhang at the rear.

To add extra headroom for row three, the rear window angle has been set more upright.

However, it’s important to remember member that most seven- seater SUV crossovers are best to be considered as five-seaters with the added convenience of two extra seats for occasional use rather than being full- blown seven-seaters.

The RX 450hL sits neatly in n that category, a lthough in n fairness, the second row can slide e forward to create a little extra a legroom for those travelling in n the back.

Getting in and out of the he third row also poses little problems ms for passengers, with a one-touch uch lever control on the second row tipping the seatback forward while also sliding the seats towards the front for easy access.

Under the bonnet, the RX 450hL sticks to the same 259bhp 3.5-litre V6 petrol power plant combined with a pair of electric motors pumping out a maximum 165bhp for the front wheels and a smaller 68bhp unit for the rear.

Overall, this combined hybrid system delivers a total of 308bhp, which can