Luxury brand Lexus has taken a minor deviation from its usual product line by launching an off-road buggy, powered by a hydrogen engine.

Dubbed the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle (ROV), it’s essentially a Utility Terrain Vehicle with a bit of Lexus styling, although it’s unclear if Toyota’s luxury brand will make the concept a reality.

Unlike other hydrogen vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai, the ROV doesn’t use a fuel-cell and electric motor to deliver its power, rather an internal combustion engine which has been modified to run on hydrogen instead of fossil fuels.

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Toyota has used this technology before, modifying the GR Yaris’s three-cylinder turbo engine and fitting it to a Corolla, raced in a 24-hour event at the Toyota-owned Fuji Speedway.

While it’s unlikely the full-fat GR Yaris engine and all-wheel drive underpinnings would be utilised in the ROV, we can only imagine the kind of off-road madness which could be achieved in a buggy with the 225kW three-pot.

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Featuring LED headlights at the front and a similar design at the rear, the ROV has all the hallmarks of an off-road vehicle with its exposed suspension and lack of a windscreen, completed with knobbly tyres to dig into the dirt.

Finished in a dark matte bronze, it would be cool to see this make it into production – although whether Lexus owners would be interested in such a vehicle remains to be seen.

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