Autocar is reporting that the Lexus LF-LC concept is being seriously considered as a production model:
“A decision has not been taken [on the LF-LC concept],” [Lexus product planning chief Karl Schlicht] said. “But we’re now up to a 50 per cent chance from a zero per cent one. Every top Toyota Motor Company manager is aware of the great reception it has received and now we’re talking about how we can do it and fit it into the product plan.”
“The only parameter was size. We wanted the designers to create excitement,” he said. “We’d never get it built from a product planning point of view on paper, but people have seen the concept and fallen in love with it. Dealers have gone crazy for it as well.”
In talking with Lexus management at the Detroit Auto Show, it was very clear that the LF-LC’s future would be determined by its reception on the auto show circuit — lucky then that the coupe concept has picked up awards at both of its North American stops (see: Detroit & Chicago).
And if the LF-LC was to reach production, would it be the third-generation SC? This seems like very much a possibility, according to an interview I dug up with Lexus USA General Manager Mark Templin (jump to 3:16):
One other interesting fact I found over on the Lexus UK blog about the LF-LC:
Calty president Kevin Hunter won’t go too deep on the detail right now but reveals a bit more. “It would have 500hp as a hybrid with a battery pack behind the rear seats and a little trunk to be as useful as any car in its class,” he says. “And while this is truly a concept car – it’s where Lexus is moving and symbolises that change – we never build a concept car just to make a car, there’s always some strategic thinking behind it.”
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