Recent Updates

 

11/02/2025 12:00 PM

Autocar at 130: revisiting the 9 issues from our debut year

 

11/02/2025 12:00 AM

‘Audi is in my blood’ - Autocar readers share their Audi stories and electric e-tron driving impressions

 

11/01/2025 12:00 PM

21st century icons: the best car of every year revealed

 

11/01/2025 12:00 PM

Ian Callum: axed Jaguar XJ EV could have used six-cylinder engine

 

11/01/2025 12:00 PM

We tried the UK’s 10 most popular EV fast chargers - which is best?

 

10/31/2025 12:00 PM

The best used electric car bargains to snap up now

 

10/30/2025 12:00 PM

Toyota to use solid-state battery in "high-power" EV in 2027

 

10/30/2025 12:00 PM

Finish it yourself: Toyota leaves new mini-4x4 purposely incomplete

 

10/30/2025 12:00 PM

How VW engineers can beat China – with their bums

 

10/30/2025 12:00 PM

Repmobile royalty: the cars that defined '70s, '80s and '90s office life

<<    129   130   131   132   133   >>

EV, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Solar & more 21st century mobility!

< Prev    of 8446   Next >
Lexus hints at plan to rival Cayenne and iX with LS SUV
Wednesday, Oct 29, 2025 12:00 PM
Lexus LS Coupe front 3 4 Japanese car maker is exploring viability of new LS SUV to rival Porsche and BMW

Lexus has revealed the new LS Coupé concept as one of a number of models – including the single-seat Micro LS and huge, six-wheeled LS MPV – that could form part of an expanded family of LS vehicles inspired by the seminal luxury saloon of the same name.

The Toyota-owned brand is responding to the global drop in demand for large saloons that once formed the bedrock of the luxury car market – including its own LS, which was retired earlier this year, having been originally launched as Lexus's first model in 1989.

While the Micro LS and MPV concept show some of the ways that spirit could be channelled, the LS Coupé concept – unveiled at the Tokyo motor show – looks to be the most production ready.

A rakish, high-riding premium SUV, it would be a natural rival to similarly conceived models from Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, though the firm has given no indication of its performance potential or dimensions.

Ian Cartabiano, who runs Toyota's Californian design studio, said the LS Coupé will "let you do it all, and do it all in style.

"It offers a future luxury experience with the interior space of a luxury sedan, and the engaging experience of a true driver's car."

Irrespective of its likelihood of making production, though, the concept is important for what it shows about the future of Lexus products.

Inside, for example, the Coupé features a trio of widescreen digital displays – two for the driver and another (which folds away) for the passenger – running the next generation of Lexus's infotainment system, while the yoke-style steering wheel hints at plans to keep developing the RZ's steer-by-wire system and the sports-style driver's seat emphasises the ongoing importance of performance.

In the back, passengers can use automatically deploying armrests and large, portrait-format screens integrated into the front seatbacks – and they are said to get the same level of space as in a traditional luxury saloon.

There is also a high-speed drone that can deploy from the rear deck to follow the car around and document a journey "just to make it more fun", said Cartabiano, and rather than a conventional bootlid, the concept features a pull-out drawer "for ease and elegant storage".

Plans for a production version remain under wraps, but no doubt Lexus could relatively easily use Toyota's E-TNGA modular architecture for such a model - and thereby make it a close relation to the smaller RZ.

It is possible that a production version would serve as an electric equivalent to the RX SUV, Lexus's second-longest-running product line and one of its most popular global models today.