And it's well deserved. For all those detractors of the design (current and recent past/post-reveal), lest they forget many of them were the same individuals that said the LF-LC concept was "great", but "they'll never build it" or will "water it down" too much. Clearly that didn't happen, as most OEMs only make concepts directly off of the production body, so they can trot it as "true to concept" without much effort, since an internally finalized design isn't going to change much. That is not what happened here and it shows very much.
I don't think I can respect any criticisms for this car's design, as it's very much "a concept car made for the road" and not some run-of-the-mill offering. If Lexus wanted to introduce a more sedate design for 950A's Z100 LC, we would have heard endless complaints about how, "they watered down the LF-LC" or "knew they couldn't do it".
The S Coupe Concept from 2013 was disappointingly less shark nose in the series production model, because MB cleverly thought they could take an almost ready to be launched design (styled in 2010), redo a few things, and then trot it out as an "unfinished" design study 3 years later, when they knew very well the actual car was more sedate. I commend TMC for committing to making this car happen, as it is needed no matter what any detractors say as a brand image booster. Both internal (griping over CUV) and external forces can get over it.
Comparison:
2013 "Concept" C217 design vs C217 production design (frozen 2011)
The actual S Coupe (C217) concept sketch from 2010, unlike that sexier, yet fake design study made much later and shown in 2013 for marketing purposes.: unamused:
LF-LC and LC, a genuine gestation from the designer's pen into the engineer's tools and company's machinery. That right there, is what happens when engineers cave into the demands of the designers and not what is so typical at other OEMs. I will at least give MB credit, for trying to step their designs since 2008. However unlike Lexus, MB had the benefit of knowing what their production car would look like for years and thus not deviating too much, while Lexus wouldn't know until crossing that bridge in development.
2011 Photo of LF-LC Concept and November 2015 Photo of 2018 LC500
2010 Sketch of LF-LC by Edward Lee
Can a moderator resize the MB photos, as I do not want them to be superimposed.