TOKYO: Toyota’s luxury marque is teasing a new concept car for this year’s event that could well be on a par with the best that Mercedes, Audi and BMW have to offer.
The 2015 Tokyo motor show coincides with Lexus’s 25th anniversary and so something special, and crucially, in line with the brand’s origins, is expected, albeit in concept form, when the show gets on the road on October 30.
All Lexus will say officially is that the concept car will be “daring” and that it will express its “future vision of progressive luxury,” all of which suggests the car in question is going to be a new LS luxury sedan that will re-cement the company in the same segment as the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series.
Earlier this month, Lexus gave the first public demonstration of its autonomous car technology. Called Highway Teammate, it can maintain lane discipline and a safe distance on a multi-carriageway road and can negotiate overtaking and exiting maneuvers. The LS concept is expected to offer a glimpse of how a publicly available version of that technology would be presented and executed.
Toyota has always been at the head of the curve in terms of technology but with Lexus it wanted to build a car that could compete on every other level with a Mercedes S-Class.
A quarter of a century later, Lexus is an automotive fixture in the higher echelons of the US as well as China however, it’s the company’s crossovers rather than sedans that are getting all of the attention and attracting sales.
The new concept is an attempt not to redress the balance, but to remind the premium car-buying public of what Lexus stands for and to show that it can design cars that have an emotional as well as ergonomic appeal. Japanese car companies are often criticized for vehicles that are overflowing with features but low on character, and Toyota, Lexus’s parent, is busy examining the relationships and bonds that people form with their cars and will be presenting its findings on its own stand at this year’s Tokyo show.
As for Lexus, alongside the new concept it will be showing 10 other vehicles, including the new GS F sports sedan and RX crossover which, although already revealed at earlier events in the 2015 automotive calendar, will both be making their Japanese debut at the Tokyo motor show, which this year runs until Nov 8.
RX 450h.
Keyword: 2015 Tokyo Motor Show: Lexus bringing in progressive luxury