Four insights why the new Lexus LS deserves the 'Best-in-Class' title
07 Nov 2017|9,810 views
At this moment, Japan is experiencing one of the biggest crisis. She is facing an inevitable aging society, plunging birth rate and radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
But as its place in the world, something else must be acknowledged: The Japanese's strong ability to create a perfect luxurious sedan.
From the LS500 Hybrid and the LS500 Turbo to the honest and down-to-earth naturally aspirated LS350, we find out just how far the luxury Japanese marque went to create a car like the Lexus LS.
1. Looks that kill
The signature spindle grille isn't just another grille. This unique rendition grille mesh has a texture that seemingly changes when viewed under different lightings and angles. It clearly shows a greater intricacy in the design, and the carmaker's impeccable attention to details.
This is a result of an intense Computer-Aided Design (CAD) development and hand adjusting thousands of individual surfaces.
Flanking the unique grille, the narrow slit-like three-projector lamp merges with an L-shaped LED lamp that to give the front of the LS a resolute gaze.
As a matter of fact, to ensure that the Lexus LS stood out amongst its peers in its segment, CAD operators spent as long as five months developing the F Sport grille and adjusted as many as 7,100 individual surfaces to achieve the desired look and texture (5,000 for the standard model's grille).
2. Perfecting an already perfect inner beauty
Already synonymous with perfection in its cars' cabins, the Lexus LS is no exception. In fact, Lexus went the extra mile to make the LS stand out even further in terms of Japanese craftmanship and impeccable attention to details, all without losing its traditions.
A classic example is the Kiriko Glass ornamentation and hand-folded pleats on the door trim that perfectly illustrate the brand's capabilities in innovation and elegance.
This striking cut glass adornment - a world first in a production vehicle - is created using a technique that involves hand-cutting clear colours and delicate lines in a piece of glass.
The hand-folded pleats, on the other hand, is produced manually using a process that took four years to develop. A single cloth sheet is folded like an origami paper, with each fold carefully overlapping the next. This helps to create an intense effect that's nothing short of amazing.
3. The stiffest yet most versatile platform ever used
Lexus took advantage of the new premium rear-wheel drive GA-L platform to create a car that could have greater agility and performance without having the need to sacrifice comfort. Being the stiffest platform in Lexus history also helps in enhanced handling as well as ride smoothness.
More impressively, the GA-L vehicle architecture is the result of a completely new approach to engineering, materials and loads of the vehicle structure.
Rather than starting from existing vehicle platform and then figuring out how to modify it to fit the LS, Lexus engineers literally started with a clean sheet of paper in designing the new structure.
Key to its driving performance, this new platform lowers the vehicle's centre of gravity by placing most of its mass - including the engine and the occupants in positions more centralised and lower in the chassis - which allows the sizeable sedan to feel and handle like a compact car when driven fast and furious around exciting switchbacks of San Francisco.
4. Technology that drivers actually use
While many other flagship sedans from different carmakers boasts technologies that are advanced and mind-blowing, most drivers don't have use for them in their daily lives. The Lexus LS, however, intelligently integrates technolgies that are useful to drivers.
The LS comes with the next generation Remote Touch Interface, designed to mimic smartphone operation and supporting handwritten input, which is nice to have.
But it's the 12.3-inch wide navigation display and the larger-than-life 24-inch colour head-up display (standard in Singapore) that will awe you.
Projecting a variety of information onto the driver's forward view, the said head-up display is a very useful tool to utilise when you need to follow directions on the navigations. This would mean not having to squint your eyes or having to shift your view from the road ahead to the screen on the centre console or at the instrument cluster.
At this moment, Japan is experiencing one of the biggest crisis. She is facing an inevitable aging society, plunging birth rate and radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
But as its place in the world, something else must be acknowledged: The Japanese's strong ability to create a perfect luxurious sedan.
From the LS500 Hybrid and the LS500 Turbo to the honest and down-to-earth naturally aspirated LS350, we find out just how far the luxury Japanese marque went to create a car like the Lexus LS.
1. Looks that kill
The signature spindle grille isn't just another grille. This unique rendition grille mesh has a texture that seemingly changes when viewed under different lightings and angles. It clearly shows a greater intricacy in the design, and the carmaker's impeccable attention to details.
This is a result of an intense Computer-Aided Design (CAD) development and hand adjusting thousands of individual surfaces.
Flanking the unique grille, the narrow slit-like three-projector lamp merges with an L-shaped LED lamp that to give the front of the LS a resolute gaze.
As a matter of fact, to ensure that the Lexus LS stood out amongst its peers in its segment, CAD operators spent as long as five months developing the F Sport grille and adjusted as many as 7,100 individual surfaces to achieve the desired look and texture (5,000 for the standard model's grille).
2. Perfecting an already perfect inner beauty
Already synonymous with perfection in its cars' cabins, the Lexus LS is no exception. In fact, Lexus went the extra mile to make the LS stand out even further in terms of Japanese craftmanship and impeccable attention to details, all without losing its traditions.
A classic example is the Kiriko Glass ornamentation and hand-folded pleats on the door trim that perfectly illustrate the brand's capabilities in innovation and elegance.
This striking cut glass adornment - a world first in a production vehicle - is created using a technique that involves hand-cutting clear colours and delicate lines in a piece of glass.
The hand-folded pleats, on the other hand, is produced manually using a process that took four years to develop. A single cloth sheet is folded like an origami paper, with each fold carefully overlapping the next. This helps to create an intense effect that's nothing short of amazing.
3. The stiffest yet most versatile platform ever used
Lexus took advantage of the new premium rear-wheel drive GA-L platform to create a car that could have greater agility and performance without having the need to sacrifice comfort. Being the stiffest platform in Lexus history also helps in enhanced handling as well as ride smoothness.
More impressively, the GA-L vehicle architecture is the result of a completely new approach to engineering, materials and loads of the vehicle structure.
Rather than starting from existing vehicle platform and then figuring out how to modify it to fit the LS, Lexus engineers literally started with a clean sheet of paper in designing the new structure.
Key to its driving performance, this new platform lowers the vehicle's centre of gravity by placing most of its mass - including the engine and the occupants in positions more centralised and lower in the chassis - which allows the sizeable sedan to feel and handle like a compact car when driven fast and furious around exciting switchbacks of San Francisco.
4. Technology that drivers actually use
While many other flagship sedans from different carmakers boasts technologies that are advanced and mind-blowing, most drivers don't have use for them in their daily lives. The Lexus LS, however, intelligently integrates technolgies that are useful to drivers.
The LS comes with the next generation Remote Touch Interface, designed to mimic smartphone operation and supporting handwritten input, which is nice to have.
But it's the 12.3-inch wide navigation display and the larger-than-life 24-inch colour head-up display (standard in Singapore) that will awe you.
Projecting a variety of information onto the driver's forward view, the said head-up display is a very useful tool to utilise when you need to follow directions on the navigations. This would mean not having to squint your eyes or having to shift your view from the road ahead to the screen on the centre console or at the instrument cluster.
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