When the topic of luxury sportscars come up, we’re quite sure all sorts of German and Italian household names come to mind. But that’s what Toyota’s luxury arm – Lexus – aims to disrupt and with the launch of their new Lexus LC500 sportscar, which costs close to a million ringgit, we think that this Japanese marque may very well be on the right track to do so.
Born of the LF-LC concept car in 2012, the new LC500 was inspired and guided by Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motoring Corporation who also got personally involved in the fine-tuning of the car’s driving dynamics. The result is a stunning example of a sportscar that not only ticked all the boxes (theoretically) in the realms of driving performance, but also came wrapped in an immensely luxurious package.
The design of this LC500 is practically futuristic; it has 3-beam LED headlights with arrowhead inspired daytime running lights and even the roof and rear pillar have been blacked out to create this floating effect that visually separates the roof from the real spoiler. The inside of the Lexus is packed with technology (no surprise there, being Japanese and all) where the latest thin film transistor (TFT) display technology accentuates the instrument panel. The seats are Alcantara leather and even the safety belts have been wrapped with silk webbing for extra comfort.
Giving the car its credibility as a speed machine is the combination of a naturally aspirated 5-litre V8 engine (no pesky turbos here) and the first ever 10-speed automatic gearbox in a premium car. The LC500 will take you from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.4 seconds and sound fantastic doing so. With the responsiveness of a non-turbo engine and an electronic steering system that has been tweaked to feel responsive make the car (again theoretically) something that will definitely be a pleasure to drive.
The Lexus LC500 is already available for booking in Malaysia at MYR 940,000 and rumour has it there are only 10 units for our market.
