Continuing on its relentless path of pitching boring design out the window, Lexus is storming ahead with its styling choices, applying them to its entire model range.
Today in Geneva, Lexus unveiled a hybrid version of its flagship sedan, the LS. The model follows the world premiere of the twin-turbocharged V6-powered LS 500 at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The LS 500h is equipped with the new Lexus Multi Stage Hybrid System, featuring a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine and two electric motors, together delivering maximum system power of 354 hp. A speedometer readout of 60 miles per hour is said to appear in a scant 5.4 seconds. This system is hooked to a trick new transmission, the explanation of which caused my mind to spin out of control, although I will attempt to describe it here.
Although the unit has four speeds, the “D” range has a simulated shift control pattern which delivers the feel of driving a 10-speed gearbox. As vehicle’s speed rises, engine speed should increase in a linear manner, free from the “rubber band” effect witnessed in some continuously variable transmissions. In the 10th gear range, the CVT control is said to allow for high-speed cruising at lower engine revs for quiet, smooth and fuel-efficient performance. It’s officially marketed as a “Multi Stage Hybrid Transmission” and it is sensible to advertise it as such (saying one’s uber-lux hybrid sedan has a four-speed automatic would be an extremely poor idea).
You’ll need spectacles to spot the hybrid’s styling changes: a handful of discreet badges and the typical blue halo around the Lexus badge are the only clues as to the hybrid mission of the LS 500h. The rest of its styling, including the controversial spindle grille, remain intact. The design is purported to marry the virtues of a long-wheelbase sedan with that of a coupe-like profile, though it simply ends up looking like a handsome boulevardier.
Inside, swank materials abound, including an ornamentation panel born of a design that was hewn and handcrafted by artisan craftworkers, because we all know adding the word “artisan” to any product automatically increases price and snob factor by a measure of five. There is an optional rear seat arrangement that includes a fancy leg ottoman and, reportedly, the most leg room of any LS generation. At 123 inches, the wheelbase of the new LS is 1.3-inches longer than the current long wheelbase LS 600h L, despite the new LS losing 100 digits from its trunklid badge.
Lexus launched its assault on the colonies way back in 1989 with the LS, utilizing nary a single existing Toyota part and going on to obliterate many of its competitors. With its reputation long since set as a luxury leader, there’s no reason to imagine Lexus won’t continue its success with this new iteration of the LS.
Available in either rear- or all-wheel drive, the 2018 Lexus LS 500h will undoubtedly be thriftier than its non-hybrid stablemate. Pricing is undisclosed, but this hybrid version should be on sale shortly after the standard LS arrives in Lexus showrooms this autumn.
[Images: Toyota Motor Corporation]
“a 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine and two electric motors, together delivering maximum system power of 354 hp. A speedometer readout of 60 miles per hour is said to appear in a scant 5.4 seconds. This system is hooked to a trick new transmission”
Well, LS is gone. Pour one out for a *legend* :D
The displacement of 3.5L is signaling the end of multiple respected nameplates.
First the Tacoma and now the LS. Will the 4Runner suffer the same hideous fate?
This car looks better leaving than arriving.
And no thanks, I’m not interested in a trick new transmission.
Aside from that grille, I like it. But I’d opt for the non-hybrid version.
Agree. Side view is not bad at all. But that front grill defines FUGLY IMHO.
Agreed. That fish snout should have been gone years ago. Why are they so stubbornly keeping such a hideous feature?!
The door interiors look like Salvador Dali waffles.
Absolutely perfect description. They do look surreal.
–or Spiderman’s spinneret thingy sprung a leak…
Can you imagine trying to keep those door inserts clean?
If you’re buying this you’re not the one cleaning it anyways.
I’ll have to experience this transmission, but it seems wrong for this class of car. I would think they would have done better by just having the usual single planetary gearset “eCVT” for totally smooth power application. In the GS450h and old LS600h it works like a dream.
This _IS_ eCVT like the GS450h. It just has twice the number of gears in the apparently lesser known automatic transmission that is part of the drivetrain. Contrary to populat wisdom, electric motors do not have a completely linear power band. The current GS450h uses a two speed transmission to counteract this, while the new system has 4 speeds. Both systems can make the shifting completely unnoticeable since there still is the planetary gearset acting like a CVT. Lexus has unfortunately chosen to add 10 virtual gears in order to satisfy the need for a sound of non-constant revs, but that is another discussion.
How come people think this configuration is new and are unaware that it already is used in the GS?
Thanks!
I was wondering how a brand whose probably most valuable piece of brand equity is of the “noting we produce ever experience even as much as a tiny hiccup” kind, would jump into something so seemingly over complex and unproven. An extension of already well proven does sound a lot more reassuringly Lexusian.
If they cared enough about the “engine feel” to reify virtual “gears” where none us needed, then why not a little V8 instead of the V6?
I think it looks nice. Perhaps more so against the much more dynamic and rapidly changing backdrops of fast changing emerging markets, than in zoningsclerotic Western markets.
As for real utility/value, this whole class of cars have really become more jewelry, status symbol and hobby than anything pragmatically justifiable. The CamCords were largely perfect at sub Autobahn speeds by the mid 90s. And 15 years later, four corners air suspension and the ZF 8 speed, allowed even a pickup truck to reach that hallowed classification. But wth, why not? I’m sure it’s a nice car.
Thanks. I learned something today. I thought the GS450h system was similar to that used in the FWD RX450h, just turned 90 degrees. Nope — it’s more complicated.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/02/the_lexus_gs_45.html
But you can’t tell at all from behind the wheel that there’s a two-speed gearbox.
I hope the new LS/LC system is capable of being as smooth as the one in the GS.
Dear Automakers, please stop trying to “marry” a sedan to a coupe-like profile!
+interwebz
Was just reading yesterday that when a species goes extinct its last generations are so numerically small that ever-present bad genetics (harmlessly subsumed by larger, healthier populations) come to the fore and, adding insult to extinction, inflict weird mutations upon the final individuals.
So went woolly mammoths, so goeth sedans.
The all new Lexus Endling 500!
Same ugly face, and that interior leaves a lot to be desired.
I’m waiting for the aftermarket to come up with attractive front ends for the entire Lexus line-up.
Then, they can move on to creating attractive front ends for the Toyota lineup, which is moving to Lexus-like styling for humble middle-class cars.
“Artisan” bread is the stuff that arrives half-baked at the big-box store, gets popped in the oven for five minutes, and then sold with a healthy mark-up as “baked fresh daily” to the gullible.
American cars in need of plenty of “dealer prep” before being ready for sale fit the present-day reality of “artisan”. The Lexus probably arrives at the dealership ready for prime time.
This thing is hideous inside and out. The Lexus “spindle” grill motif always looks to me like someone took the jaws of life and pinched the front end of a Chrysler 300. And all that wretched quilting on the interior reminds me of grandma’s bathrobe.
What happened to clean, sleek, elegant, coherent design?
The interior might work without that door card texture but it looks pinched and I think i prefer the older squared off design.
I’m not entirely displeased with the front. I’ve grown to sort of like the Lexus crazy fronts. As long as it doesn’t have the triangles in the side grilles that seem to pop up in some of the new LS shots I think it looks fine.
Those door cards are ghastly!! They look like scales. It seems like Toyota / Lexus are on a quest to make their vehicles look like organic creatures rather than machines. They are really going over the top. The Prius Prime reminds me of the snails from the Disney Main Street Electrical Parade. This LS reminds me of the Mostro the whale from Pinocchio.