Give credit to PhotoShop. It took a bit of effort to pull this image out of the shadows but at least you’ve got the basic silhouette of the new 2012 Lexus GS 350. To get a more complete image of the sporty sedan, however, we’ll all have to wait for the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The annual classic car show has developed something of a split persona, luxury makers like Lexus using the tony setting as a backdrop for launching many of their latest offerings. This year will bring the debut of the Lexus GS 350 – as well as the Infiniti JX and concepts from Cadillac and Lincoln, among others.
If the shadowy image shown here strikes a resonant chord it’s because you might have already seen the GS in concept form – Lexus pulling the wraps on the angular LF-Gh concept at the New York International Auto Show, back in April.
At the time, design chief Kengo Matsumoto hinted that, “Lexus designers studied characteristics that are often considered contradictory and difficult to execute together. The captivating design of the LF-Gh concept examines the possibility of balancing what are normally opposing qualities, such as style and functionality.”
Among the more distinctive design features of the concept were the new spindle-shaped grille, LED headlamps framed by L-shaped LED running lamps — picking up Audi design cues, rather than the familiar Lexus look – and extreme aerodynamic cues that, Lexus emphasized, were meant to enhance both mileage and performance. The image shown here suggests many of those styling elements have, indeed, carried over into the production car.
What we’ll have to wait to see is whether the interior also reflects the LF-Gh’s over-the-top cabin, with what Matsumoto termed its “meticulous reexamination” of current Lexus cockpit design – the “focal point” a new “three-dimensional” analog timepiece.
According to Lexus, the design theme of the new GS 350 will eventually work its way throughout the luxury brand’s line-up.