Lexus LF-CC Concept First Look

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Now that's what we call a spindle! The Lexus LF-CC concept is the most radical take yet on the brand's new corporate face, and while many of its most expressive design cues won't make it onto any Lexus production car, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what this concept will eventually become.

Ahead of the LF-CC's public disrobing at the 2012 Paris auto show,Motor Trendhad an opportunity to talk turkey with its key designers. There's no coyness as to what it's all about. It previews a new compact coupe, and by extension a sedan. "It's near-future D-segment premium," says exterior designer Hideaki Iida. So does this concept preview next year's new IS, we ask? "You can guess that," he nods.

Iida sweeps his arm over the car, showing the proportions, the long hood, and short overhang characteristic of a rear-drive car. The roof appears to gain depth as your eye moves rearward, flowing into a broad D-pillar above the rear fenders. "I wanted a strong volume in that region," Iida says, "to give [visual] traction to the rear wheel."

The concept's powertrain is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder bolstered by a take on the Toyota/Lexus hybrid system that's been developed as more of a power/torque booster. It's planned for a production intro soon. The engine is said to be all-new (we're not sure how an existing engine can be all-new, but OK), and like other Toyota and Lexus hybrid engines, it runs on the Atkinson cycle for best economy at mid revs. Performance and efficiency gains come from the addition of a direct-injection system.

Unlike other Lexus hybrids, the body design doesn't aim to make explicit the hybrid powertrain or fuel-economy potential. "We used to show the cars were hybrid, but now this is more emotional and sporty," says Lexus Design group manager Takeshi Tanabe. The long nose will also house gasoline engines, which at present consist of a version of the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter V-6 (IS 250), 3.5-liter V-6 (IS 350), and the 5.0-liter V-8 in the IS F in the U.S. This would be the first IS hybrid.

Tanabe explains, "In the past, Lexus was about reliability, quality, comfort, and silence. We still have that, but we are adding emotion through the design to attract younger buyers. From now, from the new GS and this CC Concept, we're adding excitement."

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As for rivals in this segment, he openly talks about the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes C-Class. "We have to challenge them." Those cars work as distinctively German designs that have over the generations set what has become a global template. Tanabe acknowledges his car has to fit the market while not being a copycat. "In category and price, it has competition. But it's a Lexus." And being a Lexus means an interpretation of Japanese design onto the Euro template. "It uses contrasts between the J factor and the Euro factor."

While some might see that contrast as a conflict, Lexus doesn't. Lexus calls its design language L-Finesse, and it's all about contrasts. Uninterrupted surfaces are set against sharp detailing. Acute angles highlight smooth curves. Surprisingly placid areas are juxtaposed with areas of busy detailing. It's not too far-fetched to say this goes beyond automotive styling to reflect Japanese culture and the Tokyo aesthetic. While it values peacefulness, tranquility, and Zen tradition, if you turn your eyes the other way they'll be assailed by busy graphics and the hectic bleeps and flashing lights of high-tech buzz.

When walkingMTaround the car, the designers start at the front, pointing out (not that we'd have missed it) the bold iteration of the new Lexus spindle grille. It's gapingly big, and edged in polished chrome. Its effect is magnified because almost every line and shape all the way back to the windshield either begins at, or echoes, a facet of the grille.

On either side of the lower part of the grille are curtains that deflect airflow into brake cooling ducts, though we're struggling to see why a 2.5-liter hybrid would need this much cooling. We expect those ducts will be toned down and the grille partially blanked off to reduce aero drag in a production car.

Contrasting with the plain surface of the hood and the comparatively unornamented (if bold) graphics of the grille and front bumper are the jewel-like headlamp clusters. Each side has a bank of three multi-LED circular main lamps, each with little tower-shaped markers below, and a swoosh lamp forming the DRL and blinker. Distinctively, the main lamps sit in individual metal plinths that are finned to act as heat sinks. Tanabe admits parts of this cluster aren't production feasible yet. "Sometimes we get inspired by engineering, but here we hope we've inspired the engineers."

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The car wears the requisite, concept-style 20-inch wheels, with 245/35 tires at the front and 285/30 behind. No wonder the stance is good, but you've got to hope it doesn't look puny when we see a production version on, say, 17s. The wheels themselves have a beautiful design: Each satin-finished spoke weaves between the halves of one of the bifurcated polished spokes. Again, while they're too difficult for current production, Iito says one day a three-dimensional printing apparatus may be able to achieve the effect.

Along the sides, we again see exceptionally calm surfacing in the door, but below that in the rocker is a deep channel, its upward flick continuing in the cutline of the rear bumper. That cutline is interesting: Lexus usually strives to get the gaps between panels reduced to the absolute minimum. Instead, this one carries emphasis, broadening out to give a gap -- almost a wound -- through which we see the taillamp emerge. That lamp cluster carries a characteristic swooshing L motif, like the rear of the side window, the air vents in the hood, the door mirror surround and many other parts.

Just as the taillamp seems to emerge through a gap in the bodywork, in the cabin we see air vents breaking through the leather of the dash. The center stack is made almost entirely of display screens, one of them a touch controller replacing the leather pad Lexus currently uses. The HVAC display looks like concept-car glitz, but at least the main gauge cluster is similar to what's in the LF-A, so there's hope we'll see something like that on the road version.

The LF-CC has given us an appetite for the showroom car. Lexus was a byword for bland inoffensiveness, but not anymore. This LF-CC, the even more future-oriented LF-LC concept at the 2012 Detroit show, the new GS, and the LFA all show the direction of travel. "Maybe some will like this car; maybe some won't," says Tanabe. "I don't want to say we'll offend people who don't like it, but I do want to be distinctive."