Lexus is not known for making particularly interesting vehicles to people who value driving involvment and aesthetics. Which isn’t to say that Lexuses have no value; their vehicles certainly appeal to people who value comfort, luxury, and status symbols, of that there is no question. Lexus teased us with the IS-F by showing the automotive public that they can make vehicles that stir the soul.
So when Lexus was set to redesign the popular RX model, they first showed us a rather staggering concept called the LF-Xh (pictured above). Looks good doesn’t it? I think it looks phenomenal actually, especially for an SUV. Very aggressive, very bold, very sleek. It looks like it was injected with straight testosterone. When was the last time I, or anyone else, said that about any Lexus product? Now compare this to the last gen RX, and you would think that there was hope for Lexus afterall. Errr… no. You only have to look at the final product of the redesign (that Lexus will actually sell to the public for 2010) to see how far they still have to come. See what I mean after the jump.
See what I mean? Virtually indistinguishable from the previous gen RX except now the back end looks more like a Mazda CX-9, which is to say, still completely bland. We know that Lexus has people working for them somewhere that are capable of proper design, interesting design. I mean, just look at the freakin’ LF-Xh! Instead they come out with something that won’t offend the hoochies when they could have come out with something that would intrigue you and me, maybe even set out hearts aflutter. I guess I’m getting tired of beautiful and brilliant concept vehicles being diluted by the PR department.
Dear Lexus, if you don’t want to use your good designers, please let them go somewhere where they will be able to see their ideas come to fruition, like Honda. If you would like to keep them, please tell PR to let the designers do their jobs. If not, you may keep your poor designers and your PR department. I hope that this will prevent you from making interesting concepts in the future. Thank you.
I think that should just about solve the problem. No more interesting concepts, no more let-downs.
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