The Lexus LS in Japan will be available with one very cool feature — Japanese customers have the option of a digital rearview mirror that uses the backup camera to display a wide-angle image:

The Digital Rear-View Mirror shows the image captured by a rear camera on a built-in display in the rear-view mirror. This provides an unobstructed rear view, and will enhance visibility at night or during rainy weather. A switch can flip modes between the optical mirror and digital mirror.

Lexus Japan has also released images of their LS interior options — availability in other markets is currently unknown, but some of these colors & trim combos are fresh to death:

Artisan Spirits has released a teaser image of their upcoming body kit for the new Lexus LS, and it’s pure VIP. It’s a pretty exciting moment all round — been a while since we’ve featured a modified LS!

The teaser comes just days before the release of Auto Style LS, a magazine that will also showcase LS body kits from AimGain & Wald International. Major Japanese wheel manufacturers will also be featured, along with a history of the LS x VIP.

Continuing on with examples of Japanese craftsmanship in the new Lexus LS, here’s a video detailing the available Alcantara pleated door panels:

[Lexus LS chief designer Koichi] Suga outlined his ideas to a colour designer, who worked with a skilled fabric artisan from Kyoto. Together they produced Hand Pleats, a new fabric pleating technique that creates a three-dimensional pattern that is pleasing to the eye and touch.

It took four years to develop the hand-pleating upholstery process, which can only be carried out by human hand. It mirrors the work of the finest Origami artists, requiring individual lengths of Alcantara cloth to be expertly folded like a sheet of paper, with each fold carefully overlapping the next to create the desired pleating effect.

(It’s worth pointing out that this is an extended version of another LS video.)

A revision to the 2017 Lexus IS hasearned the sedan a Top Safety Pick+ award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Lexus reinforced the IS front end as part of last year’s refresh, but was unable to score higher than Acceptable in the small-overlap front test. A second revision in June 2017 has improved the score to Good, leading to the IIHS top safety honors. See for yourself, here’s video of the crash test:

The IS also received a Superior rating for its collision avoidance systems, which includes both forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking. The Lexus Safety System + is standard on all IS models.

The Chubu Keizai newspaper in Nagoya reports the Lexus ES sedan will go on sale in Japan by Fall of 2018 — here is the Google-translated article:

Toyota Motor Company established its policy to introduce the medium-sized sedan “ES” of the luxury car brand “Lexus” into the Japanese market in the autumn of 2018.

ES is the overseas-only model, it is the first time to sell in Japan.

It’s unlikely Lexus Japan will sell the existing ES model so late in its lifecycle, which could mean an early-2018 auto show debut for the next-generation ES in advance of its dealership arrival by the end of the year.

This leaves Western Europe as the only major region not offering the ES, and this move by Japan could signal a shifting of strategy. The ES could be on its way to becoming a worldwide model, and that leads to a bigger question — what happens to the GS? Will Lexus continue to sell both mid-size sedans together, despite the declining consumer interest in cars over SUVs?

(This is not actually the first time the ES has been on sale in Japan — the mid-size sedan was sold as the Toyota Windom until 2006. 🤓 )