Despite a few significant foibles, the Lexus LC has proved a very easy car to like. A corking engine, combined with spectacular looks and a finely honed chassis, has ensured the big Lex has found plenty of fans. Sure, it doesn't ride all that well, but Lexus deserves to be commended for creating something different. And actually quite good.
These spy pics would imply the LC's lot is about to become more appealing still. The news of a more performance focused big Lexus has been around for a while now, though this must be our first look at a car we'll safely assume will be the LC F.
What's new? That front end, most notably, now made even more dramatic than standard with a pair of huge new intakes. This car has news wheels with a clear hint of LFA to their design (it had to be mentioned at some point) and, at the rear, the trademark fast Lexus stacked exhausts feature. An LC isn't going to be made subtle by any measure short of throwing a blanket over the whole thing, so it's pleasing to see a nicely aggressive visual overhaul.
What's unknown at this stage is whether the LC F will be based on the 500's 5.0-litre V8, or the 500h's hybrid powertrain using a V6 combustion engine. As part of an Autocar interview, Lexus chief engineer Koji Sato said "maybe the LC 500h is the car that would satisfy the requirement for a faster car." Obviously we're hoping that the 500 is instead the donor car, that honking V8 taken beyond 500hp and a truly memorable Lexus F being the result. But that wouldn't be very Lexus. Still, neither was the LFA - let's wait and see.
Also spotted in our photographer's latest batch was an RC F, caught with a fixed rear spoiler, new wheels and a carbon bonnet. The 'GT' moniker is being suggested for this car, hopefully a more potent RC to rival cars like the BMW M4 CS. That 500hp+ variant of the V8 would work well here, too...
It looks like there's some exciting stuff coming from Lexus in the next few months, then. Both are expected to arrive at some point in 2019; a Paris motor show debut, or perhaps one of the big North American shows in the winter, seems likely. More news as we have it!
[Images: S. Baldauf/S.B. Medien]
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