In an interview with Australian newspaper The Age, Lexus International executive vice-president Kazuo Ohara talks about the two coupes expected to join the Lexus lineup:
The first, a model based off the all-new IS presaged by the LF-CC concept and considered a likely replacement for the current IS CC hardtop convertible, is expected to make it to production within two or three years.
Kazuo Ohara, executive vice president of Lexus International, says sports cars – including a rival to the upcoming BMW 4-Series and the current Audi A5 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class coupe – is a space he would like to see the brand have more presence.
“I’m not really in a position to be disclosing anything specific for the future products, but for example – a coupe-type, such as [the LF-CC], something like that is something we would like to look at,” Ohara says.
A coupe based on the LF-CC has been all-but-guaranteed, but official discussion of any kind is always worth highlighting — the production LF-LC is also mentioned in the interview:
Ohara says the company is not yet at the stage of building a prototype of the range-topping two-door sports model.
The top-end coupe would be an all-new car, possibly built from a newly developed set of underpinnings. That means it would take around four years to make it to production, and would be extremely costly to establish.
“We probably have to do something new,” Ohara says of the platform of the potential new model. “It’s our job to be able to make it affordable, even if it’s expensive. I cannot disclose anything more at this moment.”
The timeline for the production LF-CC & LF-LC has been a constantly moving target (the latest rumor for the LF-CC is 2015, and the LF-LC could be 3-4 years away based on this interview) — at this point, it’s best to focus on the the fact that both concepts will be manufactured.
[Source: The Age]
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