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Lexus LC prototype driven
With the press and photographers at Detroit crowded round the extraordinary new Lexus two-plus-two LC coupé at the lunchtime press conference, this story appears as modern as the hour, but it has antecedents that go back over five years, with one involving Telegraph Cars.
Based on the handsome 2012 LF-LC concept, the LC goes on sale in the US and Japan at beginning of next year, later in 2017 for Europe. It's powered by a 467bhp/389lb ft, 5-litre, quad-cam, 32-valve, all-aluminium V8 which also powers the RC F and GS F, but also debuts a brand-new 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifts.
It uses lightweight carbon fibre in its construction and weighs 1,800kg (3,968lbs), with a 0-60mph time of 4.5sec. It's 4,760mm long, 1,920mm wide and 1,345mm wide, running on a 2,870mm wheelbase and 21-inch wheels.
But much more than its specification, the LC is also a hugely important trail blazer for a new breed of dynamic, fun-to-drive Lexus, with parts of its structure and dynamics slated to go into the replacement LS saloon, but here we need to go back to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2011.
This was when Akio Toyoda, Toyota chief executive and grandson of Toyota's founder introduced the fourth-generation Lexus GS saloon, with its "new face" of spindle grille, gaping intakes and heavy creasing.
Akio wasn't happy, however. He'd battled with his design department over the new Lexus 'look' and his troubles didn't stop there.
Still struggling with the consequences of the Fukushima earthquakeand a series of safety recalls around the world, Akio had also been given the news that Lexus's 11 years of luxury market leadership in the US had come to an end. It had just dawned on the company that merely being reliable and well made, with golf-bag-friendly luggage spaces and specification-adjusted competitive prices was simply not enough.
The Germans had fought back with better-looking, better-driving and more desirable automobiles. Fact was, Lexus was boring. Akio, a racer and driving enthusiast, said so and promised to restore emotion to the Lexus brand.
As Koji Sato, deputy chief engineer on the LC, says: "that Pebble Beach speech was the starting point; we're not just making a coupé, we're creating a new generation of Lexus."
Sato took an unconventional route to engineering the LC. He felt that sometimes development teams can look too much inside themselves to the point of being blinkered, so he went outside the company to recruit another team of outsiders: journalists, racing drivers and dealer principals.
This was sensationally controversial in a secrecy-obsessed company like Lexus and every single outside driver, including me, had to sign strict secrecy agreements. In fact Sato's scheme very nearly came to grief when one of the "advisors" crashed the car on its first run out, though he was allowed a second chance.
In the last year, Sato's small team of "irregulars" has met at test tracks and interesting roads in America to give their opinions. The last of these was just before Christmas at Willow Springs, North of Los Angeles in California, an isolated track, close by Edwards Air Force base.
With the latest changes to the suspension including new geometry and ball joints for the front wishbones, longer uprights and revised air suspension settings, plus the rear steering system, the LC felt much improved.
I thought the rear steering required more programming work at high side forces (the system will be optional) and the front felt too soft, but it compared reasonably well with the benchmark cars: BMW's 6-series,Maserati's GT, Porsche's 911 and Mercedes-Benz's S-class Coupé.
Bridgestone engineers had added the latest generation of run-flat tyres, which will be fitted on production cars. These have a new tread pattern and rubber construction, which has 16 per cent less rubber in the side walls and a single-ply construction instead of two ply. The aim is to reduce the weight and ride quality drawback of the traditional run-flat tyre, while still maintaining the obvious advantages of not having to carry a spare.
I also got a chance to talk to Hideo Tomomatsu, project manager about the car's 10-speed transmission. Why hadn't Lexus used a twin-clutch gearbox, I asked?
"I don't understand why a twin-clutch system is necessary," he said. "They say it is for a sporty feel, but we can achieve that with our 10 speed, and although dry twin-clutch transmissions can be quite efficient, the wet-clutch systems for high-power [applications] introduce a lot of drag and can overheat.
"More to the point, American and Japanese customers expect a degree of low-speed smoothness that a twin-clutch simply can't deliver."
Sato and I discussed the car's dynamics and he agreed with my thoughts on the rear steering system, but not so much with my view that the steering is still too light. What was clear, however, was the LC was beginning to have its own dynamic identity, with a soft but responsive turn in and faithful tracking through a bend. Sato agreed.
"What I am most happy with," he said, "is the precision of the steering and the way the yaw builds up. There's still a gap between where we are and where we want to be and the rear steering [which will be optional] requires work, but we are getting our own 'taste' into the car; it's not a BMW and not a Jaguar, but ours."
In the next few months as the car gets near its late-spring engineering sign off, Sato's prototypes will become more like the production cars, with carbon-fibre body parts which will reduce weight and alter the centre of gravity and the handling.
"We have got the basics right," says Sato, "but it's that last 10 per cent that is so difficult."
Sato's 'irregulars' are now disbanded, which is right and proper, but all of us have amazing memories of our privileged involvement in the creation of a new production car. I've only the faintest notions of how the new LC will drive when I get my hands on it next year, but have grown to like and respect the engineering team which created it.
And before the engineering sign-off they face another important test; Akio drives the car in late February. His peppery dressings-down of his engineering staff are legendary, and for Sato-san and his team's sake, I just hope he likes it. Good luck to them all.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/lexus/lc-prototype-driven/
- Andrew English, motoring correspondent, telegraph cars
With the press and photographers at Detroit crowded round the extraordinary new Lexus two-plus-two LC coupé at the lunchtime press conference, this story appears as modern as the hour, but it has antecedents that go back over five years, with one involving Telegraph Cars.
Based on the handsome 2012 LF-LC concept, the LC goes on sale in the US and Japan at beginning of next year, later in 2017 for Europe. It's powered by a 467bhp/389lb ft, 5-litre, quad-cam, 32-valve, all-aluminium V8 which also powers the RC F and GS F, but also debuts a brand-new 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifts.
It uses lightweight carbon fibre in its construction and weighs 1,800kg (3,968lbs), with a 0-60mph time of 4.5sec. It's 4,760mm long, 1,920mm wide and 1,345mm wide, running on a 2,870mm wheelbase and 21-inch wheels.
But much more than its specification, the LC is also a hugely important trail blazer for a new breed of dynamic, fun-to-drive Lexus, with parts of its structure and dynamics slated to go into the replacement LS saloon, but here we need to go back to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2011.
This was when Akio Toyoda, Toyota chief executive and grandson of Toyota's founder introduced the fourth-generation Lexus GS saloon, with its "new face" of spindle grille, gaping intakes and heavy creasing.
Akio wasn't happy, however. He'd battled with his design department over the new Lexus 'look' and his troubles didn't stop there.
Still struggling with the consequences of the Fukushima earthquakeand a series of safety recalls around the world, Akio had also been given the news that Lexus's 11 years of luxury market leadership in the US had come to an end. It had just dawned on the company that merely being reliable and well made, with golf-bag-friendly luggage spaces and specification-adjusted competitive prices was simply not enough.
The Germans had fought back with better-looking, better-driving and more desirable automobiles. Fact was, Lexus was boring. Akio, a racer and driving enthusiast, said so and promised to restore emotion to the Lexus brand.
As Koji Sato, deputy chief engineer on the LC, says: "that Pebble Beach speech was the starting point; we're not just making a coupé, we're creating a new generation of Lexus."
Sato took an unconventional route to engineering the LC. He felt that sometimes development teams can look too much inside themselves to the point of being blinkered, so he went outside the company to recruit another team of outsiders: journalists, racing drivers and dealer principals.
This was sensationally controversial in a secrecy-obsessed company like Lexus and every single outside driver, including me, had to sign strict secrecy agreements. In fact Sato's scheme very nearly came to grief when one of the "advisors" crashed the car on its first run out, though he was allowed a second chance.
In the last year, Sato's small team of "irregulars" has met at test tracks and interesting roads in America to give their opinions. The last of these was just before Christmas at Willow Springs, North of Los Angeles in California, an isolated track, close by Edwards Air Force base.
With the latest changes to the suspension including new geometry and ball joints for the front wishbones, longer uprights and revised air suspension settings, plus the rear steering system, the LC felt much improved.
I thought the rear steering required more programming work at high side forces (the system will be optional) and the front felt too soft, but it compared reasonably well with the benchmark cars: BMW's 6-series,Maserati's GT, Porsche's 911 and Mercedes-Benz's S-class Coupé.
Bridgestone engineers had added the latest generation of run-flat tyres, which will be fitted on production cars. These have a new tread pattern and rubber construction, which has 16 per cent less rubber in the side walls and a single-ply construction instead of two ply. The aim is to reduce the weight and ride quality drawback of the traditional run-flat tyre, while still maintaining the obvious advantages of not having to carry a spare.
I also got a chance to talk to Hideo Tomomatsu, project manager about the car's 10-speed transmission. Why hadn't Lexus used a twin-clutch gearbox, I asked?
"I don't understand why a twin-clutch system is necessary," he said. "They say it is for a sporty feel, but we can achieve that with our 10 speed, and although dry twin-clutch transmissions can be quite efficient, the wet-clutch systems for high-power [applications] introduce a lot of drag and can overheat.
"More to the point, American and Japanese customers expect a degree of low-speed smoothness that a twin-clutch simply can't deliver."
Sato and I discussed the car's dynamics and he agreed with my thoughts on the rear steering system, but not so much with my view that the steering is still too light. What was clear, however, was the LC was beginning to have its own dynamic identity, with a soft but responsive turn in and faithful tracking through a bend. Sato agreed.
"What I am most happy with," he said, "is the precision of the steering and the way the yaw builds up. There's still a gap between where we are and where we want to be and the rear steering [which will be optional] requires work, but we are getting our own 'taste' into the car; it's not a BMW and not a Jaguar, but ours."
In the next few months as the car gets near its late-spring engineering sign off, Sato's prototypes will become more like the production cars, with carbon-fibre body parts which will reduce weight and alter the centre of gravity and the handling.
"We have got the basics right," says Sato, "but it's that last 10 per cent that is so difficult."
Sato's 'irregulars' are now disbanded, which is right and proper, but all of us have amazing memories of our privileged involvement in the creation of a new production car. I've only the faintest notions of how the new LC will drive when I get my hands on it next year, but have grown to like and respect the engineering team which created it.
And before the engineering sign-off they face another important test; Akio drives the car in late February. His peppery dressings-down of his engineering staff are legendary, and for Sato-san and his team's sake, I just hope he likes it. Good luck to them all.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/lexus/lc-prototype-driven/
