Lexus provides an advance look at its new grand touring concept, the LF-Gh.
It’s going to be a busy week for the motoring scribes heading to New York for the upcoming New York Auto Show, which may be why Lexus has decided to stage an early, online reveal of the all-new LF-Gh hybrid.
Set to replace the aging Lexus GS450h hybrid, the new rear-drive model is expected to see the maker try to balance both performance and fuel economy with the latest version of its hybrid synergy drive system.
Officially described as a “concept” vehicle, the Lexus LF-Gh is nonetheless expected to reappear in a form very similar to that of the prototype formally debuting at the Big Apple’s Jacob Javits convention center.
The name, the Toyota division reveals, is short for Lexus Future Grand Touring Hybrid. Its styling, says the marque’s design chief, Kengo Matsumoto, is an evolution of the Lexus L-Finesse design theme that has been used for such current models as the LS600h and CT200h hybrids.
“For this concept,” he notes, “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.”
The concept's name is short for Lexus Future Grand touring Hybrid.
Among the more distinctive design features are the new spindle-shaped grille. The LED headlamps are framed by L-shaped LED running lamps which seem to pick up Audi design cues, rather than the familiar Lexus look. Much attention has been paid to aerodynamics, Lexus emphasizes, both for mileage and performance reasons.
Unfortunately, Lexus is providing no interior images, so it appears they still hope to give reason to the media to make their private preview, next Tuesday, or the full news conference the following day. The maker’s release hints at a “meticulous reexamination” of current Lexus cockpit design. It also hints of a new “three-dimensional” analog timepiece that will serve as a “focal point” of the concept’s interior.
While most performance cars like to emphasize their exhaust system, the Lexus LF-Gh will minimize the presence of the “sculpted” exhaust tips, “to suggest that the flow of the exhaust gases will be greatly reduced,” the maker explains.
Details of the driveline, however, will also have to wait until we see the new hybrid in New York.