These days, like never before, Milan Design Week finds itself as a creative focal point for a number of different industries, not just furniture and interiors. The irresistible draw of pure, concentrated creativity – and the eyes, lenses and social media accounts of the world’s media and content creators – ensure that making a Milanese splash is a PR no-brainer, bolstering the connection between creativity and commerce in as direct a way as possible.

Activations varied wildly, from traditional car reveals through to immersive experiences, bespoke commissions and the welcome opportunity for car makers to spread their reach and showcase some real cultural clout. Big names were in evidence – Audi enlisted Zaha Hadid Architects and Mini continued its long-running partnership with Sir Paul Smith.

Chinese brands were also in evidence, including Nio with its firefly city car, and Lepas, which used Milan Design Week as the backdrop for its European launch of the forthcoming Lepas 6, a sister car to the Jaecoo 7.

Admittedly, some of these displays could have taken place anywhere, demonstrating how Milan Design Week has effectively become a handy waypoint on the international exhibition trail, bolstering the role of a traditional auto show with way more buzzy, creative surroundings and attendees. Other brands chose to dig deeper into the context, playing up the Italian connection and the city’s rich backdrop.

We’re biased, of course, but the real automotive stars of Milan Design Week 2026 were Wallpaper’s quartet of Fiat Topolinos (see our editors’ Milan blog for more, and Fiat’s small car-focused exhibition), resplendent in the liveries of our recently relaunched Wallpaper* Travel Guides. Aside from these delightful four-wheeled tchotchkes, read on to find out what else made mobility news this year in Milan.

Range Rover ‘Traces’

Range Rover’s Milan installation at Galleria Meravigli was a comprehensive assemblage of the art and craft component of the British manufacturer’s more luxurious offerings. Overseen by Storey Studio, the ‘Traces’ exhibition starred the newly released Bespoke Pearl of Tay edition Range Rover, alongside a selection of contemporary Scottish crafts curated by Bard, the Edinburgh store and gallery founded by James Stevens and our very own Hugo Macdonald.

Bard’s selection of sparkling, earthy and authentic crafts was billed under the heading ‘Memory and Material'. The pieces on display mirrored the attention to detail and materiality used in the Pearl of Tay car, a demonstration of Range Rover’s ability to move freely in the same rarefied circles traditionally occupied by Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

These were joined by two more galleries, or chapters, ‘Memory and Colour’ and ‘Memory and Motif’. The former incorporated a film and projection by Felipe Sanguinetti, reflected across a series of mirrors, to trace the inspiration and emotion behind colour choices (one of the big USPs for clients using Range Rover’s Bespoke service).

‘Memory and Motif’ featured works by four artists, Hvass & Hannibal, Lisa Rampilli, Petra Börner and Jules Julien, transformed into embroidered pieces by the Range Rover Bespoke Materiality. These were then presented in a series of champagne-gold mirrored vitrines, connected to the first chapter by a continuous soundscape composed by sound designers Father.

The final space, ‘Memory and Material’, culminated in the Pearl of Tay car, alongside the 14 objects chosen by Bard. With black gravel underfoot and a rippling installation above, the space was both geometric and nature-inspired. This is the second consecutive year Range Rover has gone big in Milan. ‘Traces’ also included a café space, furnished with icons from Gubi’s collection of contemporary design.

RangeRover.com, @RangeRover

‘Origin’ by Audi x Zaha Hadid Architects

Are we living in a post-pavilion age? Audi clearly thinks not, enlisting well-established pavilion-wielding provocateurs Zaha Hadid Architects to create its installation, the ‘Audi Origin Pavilion’. Described as a portal to the company’s new design era, ‘Origin by Audi x Zaha Hadid Architects’ marked the German manufacturer’s 13th year of participation at Milan Design Week and celebrated not just the introduction of a new design language but also the company’s debut in Formula 1.

The structure was a classic slice of ZHA parametric whimsy – the practice uses the pavilion form as a testbed for software, design and structure. Located in the courtyard of the former Archiepiscopal Seminary on Corso Venezia, ‘Origin’ was a silvery spaceship of a structure, flanked by the Audi R26 F1 car and the new Audi RS 5. The structure’s matte metallic skin was very ‘Audi’ in its referencing of industrial processes, cutting-edge materials and sober perfectionism.

Audi.com, @Audi

‘Mini: A Garden of Curiosity with Paul Smith’

Moving away its focus on urban and domestic design prototypes, Mini dived straight into its most warm and welcoming collaboration of recent years, a partnership with Paul Smith. The venue was a ‘Garden of Curiosity’, hosted in the grounds on the Palazzo Borromeo d’Adda.

Not just a welcome contemplative spot to duck into away from the Milan madness, the ‘Garden of Curiosity’ was a spot of British whimsy, with delectable design presented by way of Lewis Carroll, Gertrude Jekyll and impeccable tailoring.

The House of Mini on Via A Manzoni was built around the latest Paul Smith Edition of the evergreen city car. Colour was, of course, preeminent, with a dedicated Colour Theory Room inviting visitors to compose their own Smith-style panoply of stripes.

There was also a listening room, replete with recordings of Sir Paul’s thoughts on colour theory, both set among the verdant surroundings alongside a Mini Cooper Convertible Paul Smith Edition. In the main courtyard, the automotive display consisted of three cars, starting with the original Paul Smith 40th Anniversary Mini classic from 1998, the pared-back Mini Strip and another contemporary Paul Smith Edition.

Mini.co.uk, @Mini

PaulSmith.com, @PaulSmithDesign

Lexus ‘Space’

Another Milan stalwart, Lexus presented a clutch of installations, including its own ‘Space’ and ‘Discover Together’ presentations at Superstudio Più. The automotive centrepiece of ‘Space’ was the six-wheeled Lexus LS Concept, set before a 360-degree screen that animated the car and its sumptuous interior.

This cinematic experience was paired with a group exhibition under the banner ‘Discover Together’. Included was the ‘Visible Invisible’ tearoom by Kyotaro Hayashi and Yumi Kurotani, ‘Wearable Space’, a coat emblazoned with fibre optics shaped by Guardini Ciuffreda Studio and ‘A Moving Sanctuary’, Random Studio’s reimagining of the automotive space as a serene, relaxing retreat.

Working with its own design team, the company also exhibited ‘The Crafted Cosmos’, a precision piece of crafted woodwork overseen by Shingo Yamashita, the company’s wooden model craftsman.

On display in the same space was another concept, the LS Micro 1 personal mobility machine, and the Lexus Catamaran autonomous luxury yacht concept first shown at last year’s Japan Mobility Show.

DiscoverLexus.com, @DiscoverLexus

Kia Vision Meta Turismo

Kia’s installation involved a collaboration with Bcomp, a Swiss company working in renewable, bio-based fibre composite material. Bcomp has contributed its ampliTex material to the interior and exterior of the Kia Vision Meta Turismo concept car, on show for the first time in Europe as part of the ‘Resonance of Opposites’ exhibition in Milan.

The Vision Meta Turismo was originally unveiled as part of Kia's 80th anniversary celebrations last December, an all-electric GT Crossover with an airy, lounge-inspired cabin replete augmented-reality windscreen. The concept foreshadows the evolution of the company’s already very distinctive design language.

The work with Bcomp is part of Kia’s ongoing search for sustainably sourced materials that can work just as well on exterior forms as well as interiors, conforming to all necessary safety and strength requirements.

According to Bcomp’s Nicolas Samson, senior sales manager of automotive interior, the project ‘shows that natural fibre composites are not only a design statement, but also a realistic solution for both interior and exterior applications’.

Kia.com, @KiaUK

Bcomp.com, @BcompLtd

Škoda’s ‘Sculptural Space’

Working with Spanish architect designer Ricardo Orts of Ulises Studio, Škoda went all out on playfulness with an exhibition entitled ‘Ooooh, that’s EpiQ!’. Rather than channelling the spirit of 1970s British sex comedies, the theme was colour, form and family-friendly entertainment.

Cars on display included the new Epiq EV (in bold camouflage) alongside a soft-bodied counterpart, the Epiq Sculpt – modelling clay was one of the key stylistic themes. The entire courtyard of the Palazzo del Senato was filled with illuminated inflatable forms that spilled out through the colonnades to create space for meeting, coffee, talks and even yoga classes and a soft play area.

Škoda-Storyboard.com, Škoda.co.uk, @SkodaUK

Ulises.Studio, @Ulises.Studio

Pininfarina at ‘10 Years of Open-Air Motor Shows’

Two of the centrepieces on the ‘10 Years of Open-Air Motor Shows’ exhibition on Via Tortona came from the studios of Pininfarina SpA. The event, which celebrated a decade of Andrea Levy’s urban motor show format in Italy, featured the Battista Nino Farina from Pininfarina Automobili and the one-off Honda HP X, originally shown at the 1984 Turin Auto Show in 1984. Restored and updated by Pininfarina itself, the HP-X resurfaced in all its 1980s glory at the 2024 Monterey Car Week.

The show also featured a presentation on the new JAS Tensei project, one of many automotive commissions being undertaken by the Italian design consultancy.

Pininfarina.it, @Pininfarina_official

500 Spiaggina by Garage Italia Customs

Away from the ‘Ciao Futuro! show at Magna Pars’, another facet of the Fiat empire showcased its latest venture into restomod design. Founded by Fiat family scion Lapo Elkann, Garage Italia Customs ventures into uncharted creative territory, transforming the company’s compact models into bespoke objets d’art.

For 2026, Garage Italia is showcasing its Icon project series, which focuses on the classic Fiat 500. In the company’s hands, the original 500 becomes the all-electric 500 Spiaggina. Shown in Milan in the context of the immersive Urbano Mediterraneo installation, the Spiaggina was represented in two editions. The first was inspired by the pink walls of the Palazzo Avino hotel on the Amalfi Coast, a one-off EV completed with custom fabric Pergola roof by Mariaflora.

A second Spiaggina was out on the streets for the duration of Design Week to celebrate the work of Milanese creative consultancy 10 Corso Como. The logo-spotted bodywork evokes the organisation’s branding and HQ, with jacquard fabric interiors by Mariaflora. Finally, Garage Italia also showed a 500 Spiaggina with a livery that embodied the diversity and colour of Design Week, with a white striped exterior and an interior featuring red Bonacina rattan seats.

Garage-Italia.com, @GarageItalia

The question of whether or not Lexus is going to build a next-generation LFA sports car took one more step towards an answer today with the unveiling of the Lexus LFA Concept BEV sports car. The original LFA broke cover two decades ago as an outlandish design study, a preview of the company’s then new ‘L-Finesse’ design language.

Two years later, another LFA concept was revealed, this time with much more under-the-skin engineering completed, suggested a production version was imminent. The Lexus LFA duly arrived in October 2009 in time to celebrate the brand’s 20th anniversary.

It proved a modest sensation, with 500 examples hand-built at a specialist facility Toyota’s Motomachi factory in Aichi (the same line was later used to hand-build the first-generation hydrogen fuel cell powered Toyota Miraj).

The successor is taking a similarly roundabout route to production. Initially shown as the Lexus Sport Concept at Monterey Car Week in summer 2025, the car also appeared at this year’s Japan Mobility Show.

Finally, the Sport Concept has taken on the LFA name, strongly implying that production is on the way. Whereas the original had a howling V10 engine, the new LFA will be a pure EV. That won’t diminish its sporting qualities, however, as the car is being developed alongside Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR GT and GR GT3 and overseen by Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) Chairman and keen racer Akio Toyoda (who styles himself as ‘Master Driver Morizo Kinoshita’ on his regular jaunts to the track).

An elegant two-seater, the new LFA’s aesthetic lineage is clear and can be traced all the back to the original Toyota 2000GT via the first generation LFA. In addition, the ethos of the car will be to emphasise the transfer of mechanical and craft skills from an older generation to younger team members. This strongly suggests any new LFA will follow the path of the earlier car and be built to order in very limited numbers.

A light aluminium frame and body should help offset the weight of the battery, whilst the interior wraps around the driver to create an immersive experience. Whether the yoke-style steering wheel will make it to production remains to be seen, but Lexus should be applauded for creating ergonomic switchgear that’s design for ‘blind-touch operation’.

There’s no word on performance or range just yet, nor has production been officially confirmed. Fingers crossed we don’t have to wait too long.

Lexus.com, @DiscoverLexus

Lexus is now a mainstay at Milan Design Week with a major presence that demonstrates the Japanese luxury brand synthesis of traditional, human-centric design with technology and innovation. Since 2012, it has combined the presentation of the Lexus Design Award, a survey of emerging young talent, with bold, kinetic installations. These have included works by Philippe Nigro in 2015, Formafantasma in 2016, and Sota Ichikawa in 2018. There have been some vivid and memorable works, such as 2019’s light-filled displays and 2024’s installation, ‘Beyond the Horizon’ by Hideki Yoshimoto. Although the last Lexus Design Award was held in 2023, there’s still a focus on next-generation designers in this year’s presentation.

At the heart of Lexus’ Milan Design Week 2025 installation is the relationship between car and driver, as exemplified in the ‘Black Butterfly’ next-generation cockpit control device that was previewed in the 2023 Lexus LF-ZC concept car. The headline installation is called A-Un and it was created in collaboration with creative agency SIX and design studio STUDEO. Housed in a pitch-black room, the installation consists of a vast screen shaped like the LF-ZC’s driver display.

Only this isn’t a conventional display, but a lattice of bamboo fibre thread – over 35km in all – wound around a huge 3m x 10m structure to form the shape. Onto this lattice is projected a series of CGI animations that conjure up real locations – a forest, a waterfall, a mountain range – as well as abstract animations based on real-world data. The name comes from the Japanese concept of A-Un no Kokyū (harmonised breath), meaning the synchronisation of movement and emotion between two bodies.

‘The greatest challenge was turning the product into an artwork, something that inspired whoever sees it,’ says Tatsuki Ikezawa, creative director of STUDEO. ‘We chose the threads because we wanted to demonstrate that the installation was a living, organic thing – as if blood was flowing through it.’

Only when you get up close do you sense the physicality of the intricate structure; from a distance, the threads give the projections a strange, jagged texture that adds to an otherworldly sense. Coupled with ambient noise and music, A-Un is a truly immersive experience, especially when the projections are synched with the heartbeats of the viewers.

‘The concept behind the installation is connectivity,’ explains Takeshi Nozoe, the creative director who set up SIX Inc in 2013. ‘The idea is to convey breathing in total harmony. The intertwined threads express social connections, like synapses in the brain.’

Although the installation requires a hefty dose of backroom technology in the form of CGI and projectors, both creators don’t believe in tech for tech’s sake. ‘My personal opinion is that technology is a tool – just like a brush for a painter,’ says Ikezawa. ‘We use it to create something that people haven’t seen before.’

A-Un doesn’t tally precisely with what’s shown on the LF-ZC’s screens, of course, although Ikezawa acknowledges that ‘some of what we show might be possible [in the future], such as bringing difference senses and scenes to your experience of driving in the city or in nature’.

‘One philosophy of Lexus that we very much agree with is humancentric design,’ adds Nozoe. ‘Lexus considers technology to be transparent so they can focus on the future of mobility. For me what’s important is that we’ve used 35km of thread to create something that’s not a flat 2D screen, but something you can experience at all angles. There are too many screens these days. People want something else.’

In addition to the vast A-Un installation, Lexus has also commissioned three data-based presentations, Discover Together, in what it describes as a ‘legacy project from the Lexus Design Award.’ The three teams are Bascule Inc, Northeastern University, and Lexus’s in-house design team, and together they’ve explored different ways of social interaction, all using the Black Butterfly console as the starting point.

Bascule’s Earthspective is all about creating the ‘overview’ effect, giving viewers a complete perspective of the world and inviting them to speak their comments into ‘satellites’ that orbit this 3D representation of the planet. The team from Boston’s Northeastern University created a display titled ‘Our Energy Nexus’, using real-time pollution data drawn from the streets of Milan. The clearer the air, the brighter the stars on the display shine.

Lexus’ Japanese design team also took part in Discover Together with an interactive project called ‘Discover your Butterfly’. A rather literal interpretation of the Black Butterfly console, it also plays on the trope of the Butterfly Effect. Visitors can use the console to create and release their own virtual butterfly, creating a kaleidoscope of pixelated wings that add up to something much greater than its individual parts. Finally, the company also announced that the Lexus Design Award will be relaunched this summer, with a new showcase scheduled for Milan Design Week 2026.

For Takashi Watanabe, president of Lexus International, the role of the company’s ongoing presence in Milan is all about emphasising its connection to human-centric design. ‘We’re still relatively young compared to other big scale brands,’ he tells Wallpaper*, stressing that when Lexus began, with the 1989 LS model, part of the reason it made such a big impact on the market was its inherently Japanese approach to craftsmanship. ‘As a young brand we have established a unique identity,’ Watanabe explains. ‘It’s not just about the cars, but about collaborations, especially with young designers. These give birth to new values, and that’s what we’re after.’

Watanbe was previously the company’s chief engineer, and he stresses that these high-profile creative collaborations benefit his own knowledge as much as they bolster the image of the wider brand. ‘For us to keep fighting in this long-established luxury segment is a big challenge,’ he says, ‘I believe that from day one, Lexus has always had a connection with passion – it’s part of our DNA. We try and apply Japanese-bred craftsmanship to all our cars.’

‘We’re moving into an era where luxury is no longer defined by a physical object,’ Watanabe continues. ‘It could be comfort, time or space. We believe there’s a trend where future-minded people value things like Sustainable Development Goals, new customers who are more open to change. I see examples of this at Design Week, so I’m confident we are moving in the right direction.’

As chief engineer on the Lexus RZ, the company’s first full-electric SUV, Watanabe says he cherished the challenge of not building a conventional battery electric vehicle. Other recent cars, such as the compact Lexus LBX, take on other pieces of received wisdom about luxury design. ‘We want to keep creating cars that feel like a Lexus regardless of their size,’ he says. ‘It’s not about working with conventional luxury tropes like scale.’

The future promises more connectivity, not less. The ongoing rise of the SDV, or software-defined vehicle, demonstrates the importance of data in shaping our relationship with our cars. ‘These vehicles are inviting interactions with their owners, and we’re in a race with other manufacturers to figure out ways of ensuring our vehicles can understand their owner’s values,’ Watanabe says, ‘because we’re focused on human-centric design, the ultimate question is how we can become closer and closer with our customers.’

A-Un and Discover Together, Lexus at Design Week Milan, Superstudio Più, Tortona, Milan, from 8 - 13 April 2025

Studeo.co.jp, SixInc.jp, Bascule.co.jp, CAMD.northeastern.edu, Lexus.com

Lexus has compressed its long-held reputation for build quality and supreme reliability into this, the new LBX. As the smallest Lexus model built to date, the LBX is a distillation of all the things that make the Japanese luxury brand great, rather than a concentrate, and as a result some aspects of essential Lexus-ness have been lost in the process.

That’s not to say it’s not a likeable and competent car. Barely larger than a Mini Cooper, the LBX (which stands for ‘Lexus Breakthrough Crossover’) takes the near-ubiquitous compact SUV format and runs with it, attempting to cram as much into the cabin as possible.

The company did have an earlier foray into smaller vehicles with the long-running CT200h, an early hybrid that used Toyota underpinnings beneath a relatively ungainly hatchback body. The CT (‘Creative Touring’) lasted from 2011 all the way to 2022, and was the first Lexus to feature the much maligned (in some quarters) Lexus ‘spindle grille’.

Even though the LBX is a small SUV, it’s shorter still than the CT (4.19m to 4.35m), although it sits 10cm higher and 5cm wider than the earlier car. It also highlights changing aspects of car design fashion. For example, the old CT was usually found on 16” wheels, which always looked a bit small for the bodywork. The LBX is usually depicted on 18” wheels and as any car designer will tell you, bigger wheels look better. Not only do improve a car’s stance, but by filling up the wheelarches, they appear to shrink the bodywork around it.

As any engineer will counter, bigger wheels usually mean worse ride quality and poorer economy, as well as being way more prone to nicks and dings in everyday encounters with curbs and potholes. The high-riding stance implies a bit of off-road agility, but the car is front wheel drive only and the hybridised 1.5-litre, 3-cylinder engine doesn’t have much pulling power. The upside is that economy is pretty good, with a promised average of 62.7mpg, even if the entry price for the higher-specification model is serious money.

The top-end LBX is the Takumi Design model which adds some exclusive trim, along with a 13-speaker Mark Levinson sound system, heated and powered front seats and the largest 18” wheels. At £41,475, you don’t want to be reminded that this car shares a platform – and many other characteristics – with the humble Toyota Yaris Cross. In a head to head, the Toyota might not cosset, but it is certainly more spirited, with an angular body that feels less conservative than the LBX.

The LBX is slightly bigger all round than the Toyota, and the combination of long wheelbase and short overhang give it a purposeful appearance, robust and solid-looking. Admittedly from some angles it looks a little stout, which is no doubt the combination of the blacked-out pillars and glasshouse contrasting with the high shoulder line and large expanse of bodywork below.

There are a few tech foibles, like a rather slow responding 9.8” touchscreen display. While Apple CarPlay can be wired or wireless, Android Auto is wired only. The quirky e-latch doors also take some getting used to, with buttons rather than physical handles, and a corresponding lack of engagement with opening and closing the doors. On top of all this, the LBX feels a little underpowered, with progress not as effortless as a true luxury car should be.

So can true luxury be presented in such a small package? For downsizers who don’t want to ditch the creative comforts they’ve become accustomed to, the LBX doesn’t really have any competition. Or do we need a new definition of luxury for a world that desperately needs LBX-scale cars to be the norm, and not the exception?

Lexus LBX, from £29,995, Lexus.co.uk, @LexusUK

‘In Japan, we are surrounded by sea, ocean and horizon,’ says designer Hideki Yoshimoto as we walk through Beyond the Horizon, his vast installation for Lexus which occupies Art Point at the Superstudio Più in Milan. Polished floor mirrors simulate a serene water vista and a row of ten towering black sculptures – ‘soldiers’ as Yoshimoto calls them – guard the installation, all of which is set against a large projection screen illustrating the horizon’s evolving panoramas from dawn to dusk. 

The image recalls Hiroshi Sugimoto’s seascape photography, a reference that clearly delights Yoshimoto, who happens to be a fan of the Japanese artist. Later on the day of our visit, Beyond the Horizon came to life in a theatrical ten-minute sequence showing life from sunrise to sunset performed live to a soundtrack composed by the musician Keiichiro Shibuya.

Exhibited at Fuorisalone during Milan Design Week 2024, Beyond the Horizon forms one part of the Lexus exhibition entitled ‘Time’. Inspired by the marque’s LF-ZC (Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst) – the study car sits at the centre of Yoshimoto’s installation – the work visualises a future where hard tech can evolve alongside tactile craft, in this case Echizen washi paper, for a vehicle experience that is personal and tailored to the individual. The idea is that through digital dialogue, the car will evolve to be not only a means of transport but a companion for its user, a friend that adjusts its behaviour to the user.

Lexus is a regular at Fuorisalone. For almost 20 years, the Japanese marque has been staging a range of vibrant exhibitions – projects involving emerging designers as well as collaborations with established creatives from outside the auto world. Sou Fujimoto, Neri Oxman, Philippe Nigro, Formafantasma, Rhizomatiks, Germane Barnes and Suchi Reddy have all partnered with Lexus in Milan. In fact, Yoshimoto won the inaugural 2013 Lexus Design Award while studying at the Royal College of Art, with his lighting design, ‘Inaho’, developed as a commercial product.

Yoshimoto’s studio practice Tangent (also behind a 2019 installation for La Montre Hermès) is focused on humanising technology, and for the Lexus project he set out to visualise the infinite possibilities that tech can offer if it is given a human touch. ‘With the theme of horizon, I wanted to show the challenge and opportunities of exploration, of diving into a new world. The horizon here is a simple landscape with one line blending between sea and sky. The idea is for the LF-ZC to go beyond this horizon and into a new world.’

Meanwhile, the ten vertical sculptures represent the future interface. They have the same ‘hardware’, as in shape, yet boast an ever-changing ‘software’, visualised through washi paper and lighting, that makes each one unique. For the project, Yoshimoto worked directly with the Echizen crafts people whose forbears have been handmaking the prized washi paper for some 1,500 years. ‘I try to connect Japanese traditional culture and craft with contemporary design and technology. My installation takes you from sunlight to sunset, and from ancient to the future.’

To complete the immersive experience, Keiichiro Shibuya composed the ten-minute ‘Abstract Music’ by utilising extensive sound data – sound images that are dynamically generated in real-time through programmed algorithms, then dispersed across 31 strategically positioned speakers throughout the venue. ‘The sound keeps changing so no two moments are ever the same, with every sound synchronised with the visual project,’ he says, noting that composing the piece gave him ‘a new sense of time and space’.

Elsewhere, installed outdoors in Superstudio’s Art Garden is Dutch solar designer Marjan van Aubel’s 8 Minutes and 20 Seconds, the second installation in the Lexus Milan exhibition and named ‘Best Solar Roller’ by Wallpaper*, back when it appeared in Miami in December 2023. The project title refers to the time it takes a light particle from the sun to reach the Earth. ‘The aim of my work is to change the perception of solar energy,’ says van Aubel. ‘My hope is that you will see solar with a new perspective.’

The installation is physically based on the LF-ZC to be true to size and made of 11 sheets that are ‘slices of the car’, as van Aubel puts it, designed to change our perspective of time. The transparent material also helps create an element of abstraction and offers an ethereal quality to the installation. Energy comes from solar power captured by organic photovoltaic cells and stored in built-in batteries. Meanwhile, colour changes as the sun charges the battery, all to the natural sounds of rustling bamboo and the sun, based on sounds collected by Nasa.

8 Minutes and 20 Seconds invites viewers to get involved, and to use their touch to create their own unique sunrise. Formed with a circle of 16 of van Aubel’s ‘Sunne’ solar lamps, one installation sees the sun change colour when visitors touch a sensor, which then sends a signal to trigger a personalised sunrise.

‘In my ideal world, every object, every building will generate its own energy, and I feel in the future, we will consider something that doesn’t produce its own energy, broken. Solar power is weather dependent, and it should therefore change our behaviour, encouraging us to respond to the rhythms of the day, and be more aware of the movement of day and night,’ van Aubel says. She adds, ‘The message here is about a future that is carbon neutral, positive and hopeful.’

‘Time’ by Lexus was on from 16 to 20 April 2024 at Superstudio Più as part of Fuorisalone during Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week.

Long-wheelbase luxury is no longer confined to the limousine. The past year has seen several challengers in the field of monarch-grade minivans, from the Lexus LM to the forthcoming China-only Volvo EM90 and closely related Zeekr 009. Now Zeekr and Volvo’s parent company, Geely, has unveiled a competing machine from another brand in its portfolio, LEVC.

Also known as the London Electric Vehicle Company, LEVC’s best-known model is the current London Taxi, the TX. Overseen by LEVC’s global chief design officer Brett Boydell (formerly Bentley’s head of interior design), the LEVC L380 is the start of the company’s transition to a manufacturer of a wide range of electric vehicles.

LEVC L380 goes to great lengths for luxury

The L380 is undoubtedly a flagship, one that makes great use of LEVC’s Space Oriented Architecture (SOA), a platform that maximises the amount of space available for occupants. Hence the car has six substantial first class-style chairs, with the potential for up to eight passengers if everyone forgoes the ability to recline individually.

All that seating space is lavishly upholstered in semi-aniline leather, with the middle row getting its own in-arm tablet controls and big screen displays, whilst the dashboard also goes big on screens. All this is set beneath a huge panoramic glass roof with the capability to dim automatically depending on how it’s set.

Those big chairs can recline all the way back for exhausted executives to take a nap, while the cabin is awash with premium touches, including Alcantara, chrome and crystal finishes and air vents inspired by the form of the traditional Chinese Ruyi ceremonial sceptre. Finally, there’s the rather dubious sounding ‘meteor shower cabin lighting effect’, which is said to ‘integrate London icons such as Tower Bridge and Big Ben’. One for the tourists, perhaps, when they choose an L380 as a premium taxicab.

That said, China will get first dibs at this new level of executive luxury, as the L380 won’t appear on UK roads until at least 2026.

LEVC, LEVC.com, @LondonEVcompany

All eyes are on the Toyota bz4X – the marque’s first all-new electric vehicle (there is no hybrid or ICE alternative) – to see how this most innovative of brands has tackled the issues around electrification. The short answer is that it hasn’t really done anything different to its rivals. Unlike with hybrid powertrains, a category Toyota created and ruled for decades, it’s late to the EV game. The Japanese manufacturer’s vast portfolio is subtly chopped and changed depending on local market conditions (much like McDonald’s), and although it seems a bit lumbering at times, once it’s got the basics right it swiftly moves to create a category killer.

That’s not to say the bz4X is bad or even sub-standard. By any metric, it’s as good a mid-sized electric SUV as you can get these days – a sector that’s oversubscribed and aesthetically unambitious. Under the skin it’s closely related to the Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ – the economies of scale must work hard to keep EV costs down. 

Toyota bz4X electric SUV: a solid first step

The Toyota also shares the Subaru’s chunky plastic wheelarches, a visual element that’s also common with the two smaller Toyota models it has the most affinity with, the new C-HR and the Aygo X (a hybrid and combustion-powered car respectively). This trio represents a perfect expression of the modern small to medium-sized SUV, practical family cars with no airs and graces, good levels of kit and durable, dependable engineering. 

As the largest of the three, the bz4X also has the best claim to off-roading ability. It’s available with two- or four-wheel drive, but the latter sacrifices a bit of range (up to 318 miles versus 286 miles). As ranges go, it’s decent but not outstanding, and you’ll spend most time in ‘Eco’ mode, trying to eke out the maximum. The electric platform is Toyota’s new eTNGA modular architecture, which we’ll see crop up more and more as moves to full electrification gather pace.

The other thing that sets the bz4X apart is its long anteater-like nose, sculpted sides and animalistic rear haunches. Whilst it’s never been renowned for the visual elegance of its vehicles, Toyota is often capable of being wilfully different, and this is one of those times. Inside, the bz4X is very similar to the Solterra, right down to the driver’s instrument binnacle and the steering wheel, whilst the Lexus is a little bit more premium (and can be had with a yoke, not a wheel). 

It's also a very easy car to live with, practically sized, ergonomically unthreatening and very well put together. Toyota’s quality control is still legendary, and it has pitched itself headfirst into the debate about EV longevity by offering a guarantee that the battery will hold at least 70 per cent of its capacity after ten years or a million kilometres.

The Toyota bz4X is effectively a blank slate in terms of image. If you want a Toyota with character, go for something like a Land Cruiser, a new version of which was previewed at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show. On the other hand, many people are more than happy to trade self-conscious quirks for no-nonsense reliability. 

Perhaps what Toyota really needs to make is the EV equivalent of the Prius, a model that has sold over six million examples across five generations. Toyota has set 2035 as its target year for a 100 per cent Zero Emission fleet. We think the bz4X is a solid first step on a long journey.

Toyota bz4X, from £42,860, Toyota.co.uk, @ToyotaUK

Luxury MPVs are a new(ish) sector in Europe, even though the idea of a monobox multi-purpose vehicle can trace its origins to cars like the 1984 Renault Espace (which had its origins in Fergus Pollock’s work for Matra in the late 1970s) and even Mario Bellini’s 1972 Kar-a-Sutra concept. 

While Bellini’s counter-cultural vision suggested we switch to sprawling, well-upholstered living rooms on wheels, the MPV really came into its own as a family car. People movers and minivans ensured a journey was a shared experience, for good and for bad, all wrapped up in a form factor that allowed multiple offspring, luggage, pets and broken biscuits to inhabit the same space. 

MPVs gave way to SUVs, with their added layer of apparent impregnability luring families away from the far more practical body type. Although monobox car designs were left to minicab owners, it didn’t stop the development of a micro-niche, the luxury MPV. Mercedes continues to offer its V-Class in a range of different guises, while Volvo is soon to launch the China-only EM90. 

In fact, Asia is where minivans still rule the streets. As well as countless mass-market models for the Japanese, Chinese and Korean markets, you’ll also find luxury-spec models, including the Hongqi HQ9, the Zeekr 009 (the Volvo’s sister car), the Denza D9, the remarkably named Trumpchi M8 and the Buick GL8 Century. All the latter are very much China-only and reflect a cultural focus on the importance of the passenger, rather than the driver. 

Lexus is therefore making a bold statement by bringing the LM to Europe. Based on the hugely successful Toyota Alphard, the LM takes inspiration from classic limousines of old, as well as last decade’s official Alphard ‘Royal Lounge’ model. Tall, broad, slab-sided and not exactly handsome, the LM is certainly an imposing vehicle. A conventional two-seater cab is placed close to the front axle, with a rakish windscreen set far from the driver, below which is a baleen-esque example Lexus’s already bountiful front grille: ‘Darth Vader’ was one of the kindlier comparisons. The front seats offer excellent visibility, a superb navigation system, as well remote door operation for the rear and certainly won’t leave your chauffeur in any discomfort.

Whether the styling ticks your boxes or not is irrelevant, for all the action is in the back seat, accessed via twin sliding electric doors. All LMs come with just four seats, with space in the rear for two independent fully-reclining, first-class airliner-style chairs. 

Lexus LM is all about the back-seat experience

In this top-of-the-range LM LM350H Takumi model you also get an electrically operated, dimmable glass partition between front and rear, as well as full massage functions on the electric rear seats, a fridge, plus a 23-speaker stereo and 48-inch rear entertainment display. Armrests contain folding tray tables, each seat gets its own touchscreen controller, and there are enough blinds and lighting options to keep you busy for hours.

For the businessperson on the move, the LM is without direct equal. Throw in the company’s ruthless quality control, reliability and all-round efficiency (helped here by a hybrid 2.5-litre petrol engine and four-wheel-drive), and you have an unrivalled mobile office (and/or mobile relaxation pod). The downsides? It’s a lot of space to give over to two seats, regardless of how special they are. And can a minivan really hold its own alongside the LM’s equivalents?

Here's where the power of branding comes in. A long wheelbase Range Rover SV with the optional SV Signature Suite two-seat rear configuration is £207,260, around about the same price as a Bentley Flying Spur hybrid. The Mercedes S580 will seat an extra passenger and costs from £123,105. If the big screen is the big draw, your only other option is BMW’s all-electric i7, with its 31-inch Theatre Screen (£127,495).

In its most fully-laden specification, the Lexus is cheaper than all of them. It’s also decidedly different, even though it lacks the various USPs of these rivals (off-road ability, craftsmanship, heritage, performance, driving dynamics, elegance, etc, etc). As a cossetting corporate carapace, the LM’s form factor makes total sense, but it doesn’t speak to the emotions like the others, for better and for worse. However, if you tone down the styling a touch, perhaps the LM represents the true future of stealth wealth mobility. 

Lexus LM LM350H TAKUMI, from £112,955, Lexus.co.uk

With such grand-scale projects as last year’s Solar Biennale and the widely celebrated Sunne lamp, designer Marjan van Aubel has taken the industry by storm. The polymath has worked tirelessly to push solar energy generation in new directions with her own work while also surveying the potential of its expanded application. It comes as no surprise that when Japanese luxury car manufacturer Lexus tapped the Dutch talent to develop its Miami Art & Design Week 2023 installation (on view last December), she chose to develop a display not only inspired – but also powered – by this ever-evolving technology. The project wins Best Solar Roller in the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024.

Named for the time it takes sun rays to reach Earth, 8 Minutes and 20 Seconds comprises a visually informative representation of the company’s zero-emission Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst (LF-ZC) concept car – a version of which is set to hit the market in 2026. Ten translucent scrims line up to mark out the to-scale contour of the sculptural, performance-forward vehicle.

‘When speaking to Lexus’ colour and sensory designer Viviana Hohenstein about how she imagined it would be like to sit inside the vehicle, she described there being a lot of glass and the driver being positioned a bit lower, like in a sports car,’ says van Aubel. ‘I thought about creating something life-size that would be an illusion; a 2D representation of a 3D car sliced into many parts.’

During the day, the installation takes on graphical qualities while becoming more performative as dusk falls. Third-generation OPV (Organic Photovoltaic) solar cells, embedded in the front and rear, bring in ample amounts of energy to power a fully immersive showcase at night. Various lights enliven the ‘cross section’ sheets as visitors activate different sensors.

Below, an outline of the LF-ZC’s thin, full chassis EV battery illuminates through different intervals. If that weren’t enough, the ephemeral experience is topped off by a sound installation; an ambient melody accentuated with birdsong and bamboo notes. The car’s interior is set to be outfitted with precision-engineered material almost purely derived from the regenerative wood.

The designer worked closely with Amsterdam-based spatial and experience design firm Random Studio to realise her concept. While the road version of this vehicle will not necessarily run on integrated solar cell technology directly, van Aubel is hopeful that operating entirely self-powered cars will soon become a possibility. ‘What’s great about this installation is that it shows how solar technology can also be attractive and applied to an aesthetically pleasing form, a high-concept Lexus car for example,’ says van Aubel. 

MarjanvanAubel.com, Lexus.com, Lexus.co.uk, Random.Studio

A version of this article appears in the February 2024 issue of Wallpaper* – dedicated to the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2024 – available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Previously known as the biennial Tokyo Motor Show, the newly re-branded Japan Mobility Show is making a fresh start after the cancellation of the 2021 event due to the pandemic. Wallpaper* has been reporting on this most esoteric of auto events since 2009 (you can read our past coverage here: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019). 

With mobility now understood to embrace everything from flying taxis to high-tech wheelchairs and self-driving hypercars, there was not so much as a single focus to the JMS. If anything, the most vocal trend was the embrace of video game culture and aesthetics, spearheaded by Nissan. The manufacturer not only gave its five concepts their own Manga-style avatar, but announced they’d be parachuted into the online world of Fortnite as player-operated vehicles. 

With the new decade well underway, what’s changed in the approach and what was there to look out for? Read on for the first part of our show report, covering concepts from Lexus, Toyota, Honda and Nissan.

Lexus: a new way of building cars

Lexus revealed two concepts that showed near-future models, both using a similar design language and overall feel. The Lexus LF-ZC is a battery electric saloon concept which gives strong clues of the 2026 production equivalent. It was joined by the Lexus LF-ZL, an electric SUV that would become the luxury carmaker’s new flagship model.

Lexus.co.uk

Lexus LF-ZC

Of the two concepts, the Lexus LF-ZC is lower and more sporting, demonstrating the company’s new “Provocative Simplicity” design theme, with a large cabin enveloped with sleek, creased bodywork. Inside, there’s the first iteration of the new Arene OS, a digital portal that is designed to evolve with the owner and adapt to their driving style.

Lexus LF-ZL

In comparison, the higher-riding Lexus LF-ZL focuses more acutely on the back seat experience, with a sliding rear door giving access into a cocooning, split-material environment that embodies the Japanese concept of Omotenashi, or mindful hospitality. 

Both cars also represent a shift in how Lexus plans to make its next generation Battery Electric Cars, dividing each vehicle body into three parts: front, centre and rear, with the battery pack housed in the centre. Part of this innovation is the ‘self-driving assembly line’, in which cars drive themselves through the production process, eliminating the need for conveyors. 

Toyota: mobility at every scale

Toyota’s clutch of concepts ranged from vast to micro-sized, with an electric bike and the JUU electric wheelchair concept joining an electric iteration of the iconic Land Cruiser, a new pick-up truck concept and a folding tricycle. 

Global.Toyota

Toyota Land Cruiser Se

Pick of the lot was the Land Cruiser Se, an inevitable evolution of the company’s legendarily robust off-roader. The Land Cruiser model has stalked the earth since 1951, and this newest iteration retains the rugged characteristics, adds in seating for seven and is a viable challenger for the most capable electric SUV on the planet.

Toyota Land Hopper

At the other end of the scale is the Land Hopper, an electric three-wheeler that folds up for storage in a car or pick-up. Pitched at last mile mobility and intended to be driven without a license in markets like Japan, the Land Hopper is designed to cater for all ages to maximise independence across society.

Toyota FT-Se and Toyota FT-3e

Future passenger cars were previewed by two other new concepts, the Toyota FT-Se and Toyota FT-3e. The latter is a crossover-style SUV, with raked rear screen, simple external graphics and the capability to be a portable power plant, whilst the FT-Se sports car concept got enthusiasts’ pulses racing.

This dramatic, low-slung two-seater implies that Toyota - like its rivals - still sees a valid future in electric performance vehicles.

Honda: marking 75 years of mobility design

Honda is marking its 75th anniversary in 2023 and unveiled a of new mobility products and concepts in celebration. These ranged from e-VTOL aircraft to autonomous mobility solutions for the elderly, taking in robotic assistants, micro-trucks and pocket-sized bikes. It also opened an AI-driven forum to invite visitors to the show to create their own visions of the future. Our five favourite reveals are listed below. 

Global.Honda

Honda Motorcompacto

First up, a delightfully minimal motorbike aimed at short urban journeys. With a top speed of around 15mph, this is the epitome of small footprint mobility, and a callback to Honda’s origins as a motorbike manufacturer.

Honda SUSTAINA-C Concept / Pocket Concept

A visual evolution of the ideas and ethos of the earlier Honda e, the SUSTAINA-C Concept explores manufacturing using removable panels made from sustainable materials.

The SUSTAINA-C was paired with the Pocket Concept, another micromobility machine that’s intended to be carried onboard a larger vehicle and then removed for that all important last mile journey. 

Honda Prelude Concept

The Prelude Concept looks practically production ready. As Honda’s first foray into the electric sports car arena, the company isn’t willing to overlook the fact that driving is still a pleasurable experience for many.

Honda Cruise Origin

The road to driverless cars is still peppered with obstacles, not least those that the cars themselves somehow keep missing. Honda isn’t daunted however, and has developed the Origin in collaboration with Cruise, the American autonomous car. 

A classic ‘box on wheels’, the Origin is dominated by the four hefty sensor packages at each corner, evoking the carriage lanterns of traditional horse-drawn coaches. Inside, there’s space for work and play, with a flexible interior that can be fully cocooned from the outside world. The company also announced a driverless ride-hail service in Japan for 2026, working together with GM and Cruise.

Honda eVTOL

Finally, an even more conceptual approach is taken with this eVTOL concept, which attempts to predict the form of urban mobility in the Thirties. Building on the experience the company garnered in building its own business aircraft, the HondaJet, this eVTOL machine is designed to integrate with other mobility systems, big and small.

Nissan goes Hyper

Nissan went to town at the Japan Mobility Show, exhibiting five related concept cars that attempted to splice the fast-paced world of online culture with the rather more placid realm of car design and manufacture. None of the five ‘Hyper’ projects shown here are scheduled for production, but they all make a nod to existing Nissans, past and present. Unified by a striking faceted design language, as well as dense information-laden interiors, each car is explicitly pitched at a certain demographic. 

Nissan.co.jp

Nissan Hyper Punk concept

The Nissan Hyper Punk is perhaps the most explicitly ‘trendy’ of the quintet, a small all-electric crossover that Nissan hope will appeal to ‘content creators, influencers, artists, and those who embrace style and innovation’ (its words). The design is described as being origami-styled, with screens everywhere, with a footprint that’s roughly analogous to the Nissan Juke. 

The internal screens can display manga-style imagery, generated by AI using footage captured by the onboard cameras. This ‘mobile creative studio’ is intended as a mobile riposte to the fast-moving world of graphics, gaming and modern culture.

Nissan Hyper Urban concept

The Hyper Urban concept is perhaps the most realistic of the five cars shown at JMS. This mid-size electric crossover evolves the company’s new Ariya EV and gives it an even more distinctive design. The kaleidoscopic interior is accessed via a quartet of butterfly doors, with seats inspired by sofas and easy chairs. Nissan suggests that it could even be used as an extension of your interior space. 

Nissan Hyper Tourer

The Hyper Tourer is another concept that cites the influence of omotenashi. Essentially a modern upgrade of the minivan – a hugely popular niche in Japan – the Hyper Tourer is a wedge-shaped living room on wheels, with fully autonomous capabilities and an interior inspired by traditional Japanese lattice woodworking. Swivelling front seats transform the interior into a meeting space or living room, while an AI-powered infotainment system serves up music and lighting according to your mood. 

Nissan Hyper Adventure concept

The Hyper Adventure is a conceptual vision of a traditional SUV like the current Nissan X-Trail. Like all the Hyper concepts, it has what Nissan is calling ‘V2X capability’, a power supply system that not only wirelessly charges devices but can also provide power to homes, businesses or even the local grid. 

Off-roading is made easier by the dashboard that doubles up as a visual display of the terrain ahead, and the landscape can be taken in in comfort from the rear bench, which swivels through 180 degrees to provide a seat in the wilderness.

Nissan Hyperforce Concept

Finally, there’s Nissan Hyper Force, a modern update of the company’s famed GT-R, often cited as one of the most high-tech and advanced performance road cars ever made. Described as a ‘hyper EV’, the Hyper Force certainly shares elements of the GT-R’s distinctive silhouette. 

All-wheel drive, with up to 1,000 kW of power, the intention is clearly to create a machine that honours the original, complete with two driving modes, ‘GT’ and ‘R’. Interior graphics were created in collaboration with Polyphony Digital Inc., the Japanese video game developer behind the Gran Turismo series.

Japan-Mobility-Show.com

Luxury is shrinking. The new Lexus LBX is a very similar width and height to a rival such as the Mini Countryman but is considerably shorter, at 4,190mm, resulting in pleasingly compact proportions. The Lexus front face sees significant change on the LBX too, with slim front headlights joined together by a thin aperture under the bonnet, while the spindle-shaped grille below is no longer clearly framed by chrome, but instead appears to merge into the coloured bodywork. 

It’s probably the car’s most distinctive feature and is set to be used on other new Lexus models in time. ‘This is the step towards the next step,’ global head of Lexus design Simon Humphries explains. ‘We’re going to make the body equal the spindle. So even if that graphic is lost in terms of its holes, you will still feel it.’

From the side, the exterior surfacing is smooth, clean and simple – in contrast to the brand’s previous decade of dramatic origami-style angular cuts and curves – and its window line is high to accentuate the car body’s visual chunkiness. This move translates to slimmer windows – especially at the back – but that aesthetic proportion is functionally offset by a higher rear seating position, relative to the front, so passengers in the back can still have a good view outward. 

Inside the cabin, Lexus designers have sought to create a premium-feeling interior using pared-back shapes covered in high-quality materials. You won’t find much chrome, but many of the trim levels feature suede, leather – either real or synthetic and Vegan – and subtle and different use of contrast stitching. 

Depending on the market, more customer personalisation will be offered on the LBX than is normal for the vehicle segment size too, from stitch style to seatbelt colour. New electric push-button door openers replace conventional handles and the square 9.8in centre screen is activated by touch – no more fiddly trackpads or computer mouse-like controls.

A few physical buttons remain for key features like aircon, windscreen de-mist and volume, plus a few more that are clustered around the steering wheel hub, adding to the LBX’s ergonomic ease of use. 

A new, more powerful, compact and lightweight bi-polar nickel-metal hydride battery promises EV-like acceleration, despite the powertrain’s overall petrol-electric full hybrid status. Lexus top management say no all-electric LBX is in the plan yet, but such a vehicle has not been ruled out either. The Europe-focused model – LBX won’t go on sale in China or the US – will be orderable from October 2023, with prices set to start from around £35,000.

Lexus LBX, Lexus.co.uk

In partnership with Lexus

There were over 2,000 entries to the Lexus Design Award 2023, which was based on the theme of ‘Design for a Better Tomorrow’. The four winners were selected by a judging panel including MoMA curator Paola Antonelli, designer Karim Rashid, and chief branding officer, Toyota Motor Corporation, Simon Humphries. Chosen for the originality of their ideas, the winning designs demonstrated a shared concern for social and environmental issues, with their seemingly modest solutions executed with great imagination and skill.

The annual international award was founded a decade ago to nurture emerging designers and help them realise their vision through funding from Lexus and mentorship with industry professionals. This year, they included the solar artist Marjan van Aubel, multidisciplinary designer Joe Doucet, sound artist Yuri Suzuki and architect Sumayya Vally who, in the months leading up to the final reveal, worked with the winners to evolve the original design concepts.

Involved as part of the judging panel since the award’s inception, Paola Antonelli told us that she ‘continued to note the design field’s evolution. These designers take an increasingly visionary and yet realistic view that encompasses not only humanity but also all the rest of nature.’ We asked her if she had discerned any general theme amongst the 2023 entries. 

‘Much to my delight, most projects – almost all, actually, also among those that did not make the cut – shied away from decoration and formal study,’ says Antonelli. ‘Instead, they dealt with real issues related to individuals, communities, and the environment.’ 

The judges approached the selection process with a true openness. ‘We tend to privilege projects that have the potential to be impactful, that have the goal to change behaviours, that consider consequences, and that will benefit from the opportunity to be developed further with a mentor,’ Antonelli says, noting that there’s an ongoing shift in the role and perception of the designer. ‘Design comes in many forms, but this award and this jury appreciate the elegance that comes from considering a systemic approach, which sometimes also means transformation and reuse,’ she adds. 

One of the key aspects of the Lexus Design Award is the way in which the winners refine their work in collaboration with the mentors. ‘The powerful chemical reaction between winners and mentors is what makes these awards unique, and I feel that it was particularly crucial this year,’ she explains. ‘The winners were able to fine-tune their already brilliant ideas and make them into poetic objects that are also ready for prime time. The mentors did a great job; I could see the progress very clearly. ‘

The winners of the Lexus Design Award 2023

Fog-X by Pavels Hedström

Fog-X is a jacket that transforms into a tent-like shelter of mesh fabric which collects water particles from fog and mist, then stores up to ten litres of drinking water a day. The initiative of the Swedish architect Pavels Hedström, what began life as a heavy backpack, following many iterations and a trip to Chile’s Atacama Desert for a test run, evolved into a skilfully executed self-contained garment. 

Made in collaboration with a textile engineer, everything needed to capture fog – the shelter, water pipe, bottle – are integrated seamlessly into the jacket. Meanwhile, the kit has a mobile app to help locate foggy areas and detect optimum times to collect the particles.

As a designer, Hedström explores how holistic approaches can be applied to existing ecosystems. Ancient cultures used similar fog-catching techniques by manipulating seal skin or natural materials such as stone. Fog-X also works with a low-tech fabric – a simple mesh weave that allows through enough air to catch the droplets perfectly. ‘The material is optimised to catch fog, which means it has huge potential in how it could be integrated into buildings or other structures,’ he says, acknowledging that this will have its own design challenges.

Hedström knows that his design is not accessible to the vulnerable people in need of clean water for whom the concept was initially imagined. For now, Fog-X is a tool to shift our mindset, change how we view nature, resources and ecosystems. ‘If it changes our thinking, then that’s the true value of how it can become accessible to people in need. You don’t need anything fancy, only the material. For me, this is the direction of the concept.’

Print Clay Humidifier by Jiaming Liu

Industrial designer Jiaming Liu’s Print Clay Humidifier is a simple 3D-printed humidifier made with recycled ceramic waste. Based in China, Liu wanted to find an alternative solution to the high energy air conditioning that is used in the average home. His initial thought was triggered by memories of his grandfather’s concrete house in a remote village in south China, where water, generously splashed on the floor and walls, naturally cooled the air in the heat of the summer. 

After rounds of testing and prototyping with different materials and techniques, Jiaming Liu settled on a 3D printing method using recycled ceramic powder. The powder positively alters the property of the material to be more porous and therefore allows better water absorption. The shape also helps with the water immersion for an energy-efficient, recycled and recyclable version of a typical household humidifier.

Touch the Valley by Temporary Office

Touch the Valley is a 3D topographic game puzzle designed to help the visually impaired navigate landscapes and nature through their sense of touch. The collaborative work of Temporary Office, US-based architects Vincent Lai and Douglas Lee, the idea came from their experience in making demountable architecture models for clients that needed to be transported. It also stems from their concern for how flat screens and technology rob us of the training our full senses needed to navigate without sight and sound. 

In addition, Lai says it came from watching his grandmother trying to adapt to sight loss. ‘It was quite hard for her to find a knife in a kitchen, cut vegetables properly and figure out where a stove is,’ he says, ‘so I thought that it’s much easier for visually impaired people to recognise stuff through touch.’ 

During the design process, the puzzle pieces evolved with user-testing studies finding that a certain tactility – with raised grooves and smoother edges with varying different elevations, for instance – helps add to the sensory experience. At the same time, magnetic feedback for when the right pieces are placed together helps the user concentrate more on understanding the textures and game playing without too much cognitive load. 

Lai and Lee have experience working at the architectural practices of David Adjaye and Bjarke Ingels Group on projects crossing the boundaries of architecture, public space, preservation and product design. The gaming theme for Touch the Valley is born out of their love of board games and puzzles, and the journey involved in solving them. ‘That was our inspiration, to create something of bitesize fun that educates you about the world we live in, which is full of texture and interesting contours,’ says Lee.

Zero Bag by Kyeongho Park and Yejin Heo

Kyeongho Park and Yejin Heo’s Zero Bag is an eco-friendly package with a paper detergent or baking soda film attached to a water-soluble alginate bag. Industrial design students at Hanyang University in the Republic of Korea, the duo’s initial concept was born out of unnecessary packaging waste when purchasing clothes, and clothes buying is linked to the process of washing chemicals off of clothes before wearing them for the first time.

Initially focused primarily on the retail clothing market, the idea is to seal garments in these single-unit eco-bags, which come replete with a paper detergent that can be popped into the wash on purchase. Through the Lexus Design Award’s mentorship programme, the Zero Bag concept evolved to include other retail items, such as food, whereby the detergent is replaced with baking soda to clean away unwanted pesticides from fruits and vegetables.

As Paola Antonelli explains, the Lexus Design Award brings together projects that are both ‘realistic and idealistic at the same time’. 

She adds, ‘The winners are elegant in their attempt to add something meaningful and useful to the world. They all stress the fact that design is not just about making things, but also and especially about envisioning new processes of making – and sometimes unmaking.’

For more details of the Lexus Design Award 2023, visit DiscoverLexus.com

In partnership with Lexus

Launched in 2013 by the Japanese luxury carmaker Lexus, the annual Lexus Design Award has become a vital part of the annual design calendar. Combining supportive mentorship and judging from leading figures in the creative industries, with a consistent vision of change and innovation, the Lexus Design Award follows the company’s belief of ‘Design for a Better Tomorrow’. 

This year, the programme incorporates a new Your Choice Award for the first time. the Your Choice Award gives online audiences as well as visitors at Milan Design Week a chance to vote for their favourite of the four winning works that best represents ‘Design for a Better Tomorrow’. 

The winning works were chosen by the judging panel, MoMA curator Paola Antonelli, designer Karim Rashid, and Simon Humphries, chief branding officer, Toyota Motor Corporation. 

Designer Joe Doucet is one of this year’s Lexus Design Award mentors, alongside solar designer Marjan van Aubel, architect Sumayya Vally, and Pentagram partner Yuri Suzuki. Over a three-month period, the mentoring team helped each winner through a series of workshops and prototype development sessions, bringing their wealth of real-world experience to the conceptual designs to refine and enhance each idea. 

Lexus Design Award 2023: the four winners

This year’s four winners include the Swedish designer Pavels Hedström, whose proposal for a transforming high-performance jacket, Fog-X, is intended to harvest drinking water from the atmosphere in arid environments. 

Jiaming Liu’s Print Clay Humidifier uses recycled ceramic waste to create a non-electric domestic device that is both functional and beautiful. 

The US-based duo Temporary Office has created a unique 3D topographic puzzle, ‘Touch the Valley’. It is designed to give the visually impaired a sensory and immersive experience, paving the way for future types of navigational tool.

Finally, there is the Zero Bag, the work of Kyeongho Park and Yejin Heo. This eco-friendly alternative packaging is water-soluble and incorporates substances for washing the bag’s contents before use – immerse packaged fruit or vegetables, for example, and the plastic’s coating of baking soda will help to clean the food, while the plastic itself dissolves, cutting down on excessive waste.

Joe Doucet on the Lexus Design Award

‘I think one thing that can be taken away from the Lexus Design Award is that design is in a position to contribute better solutions rather than just more objects,’ says Doucet. ‘In the last century, it was enough for a designer to create a beautiful chair. The challenges we face in this century cannot be solved by aesthetics and ergonomics.’ Doucet’s agency has offices in London and New York and works across branding and product design, from traditional to high-tech. ‘I think the Lexus Design Award embodies the refocusing of the design skill set towards the loftier issues,’ he says. 

Mentoring is a core part of the award experience. ‘Without execution, ideas remain ideas, however brilliant they are,’ says Doucet, explaining how he and his fellow mentors bring practical skills, forged through experience, to the winners’ ideas. ‘Bringing next-generation talent into proximity with those who work in the space of ideas turned into executions can only benefit all the parties involved,’ he says. ‘It really is a beautiful hack for rapid change.’ 

Throughout its decade-long history, the Lexus Design Award has tracked emerging trends and preoccupations amongst the next generation of design talent. ‘I think young designers really feel the weight of the world they are designing in and for,’ Doucet says. ‘These days you see far less of “Let me design this object and use some eco-material for it” and more questioning about “Should this object exist in the first place?”’ 

As design professionals, the four mentors are ideally placed to encourage and direct this refocused approach. ‘Young designers have an inherent understanding of the weight of putting new things in the world,’ he says. ‘That couldn’t be a better starting place for a career.’

Doucet, van Aubel, Vally and Suzuki represent a diverse swathe of contemporary design practice, working in a world where the word ‘design’ is laden with a multiplicity of meanings. 

As Doucet puts it, ‘“designer” is a term almost without concrete meaning in today’s society. In the past it had as clear a meaning as “artist” or “architect”. The core purpose of a designer is to create things that can be produced at scale, but what those things actually are have never been more expansive. Today’s designers might be responsible for a vase, a website, a dress, a phone, an energy system, a new material, a business model; in a way, it is the Wild West of the creative professions and there has never been a more exciting time to be in it.’

This year’s four winners were selected from 2,068 entries from 63 countries and regions. ‘It really is one of the most inspiring of contemporary awards,’ Doucet says. ‘The winning entries have such a high threshold of innovation, boldness and aesthetics that it is hard to find a parallel anywhere else. This year’s winners were certainly no exception. I’m proud of each and every one.’

How to vote for the Your Choice Award

For the first time, Lexus invites you to participate in the Your Choice Award (until 23 April 2023), and help shape the Lexus Design Award’s unique and perceptive insight into contemporary design culture. 

Visit the Lexus Design Award Official Website and vote here in the Your Choice Award

Lexus chose to launch its new Lexus RZ 450e crossover at Château La Coste, just outside Aix-en-Provence. Paddy McKillen’s Provençal art playground is scattered with cutting edge architecture, art and sculpture (including a pavilion by the late Oscar Niemeyer) making a more cerebral backdrop than your typical car industry shindig.

But then Lexus has always kept a weather eye on the creative arts, as evidenced by the company’s regular showing at Salone (see its 2018 event), and frequent collaborations (including with Formafantasma). As a result, it gives us great pleasure to confirm that the RZ is one of the better-looking cars produced by the brand in recent years. Aimed squarely at the space between the Lexus NX and RX models, the RZ differentiates itself by going all-electric, joining the first pure EV Lexus, the UX (yes, Lexus names its cars in a very confusing way – even the company's own reps stumbled).

Like its parent company, Lexus was early to hybridisation, starting with the RX model nearly 20 years ago. Since then, hybrids have been an absolute mainstay of almost every Lexus product range, with over 2.4m hybrid light and plug-in hybrids sold to date. It has not, however, been quick to go electric. 

The RZ has a sister car in Toyota's Bz4x, the parent company's first dedicated battery-electric platform. Despite both models sharing substantially the same underpinnings, the Lexus does more than its sibling, with much more equipment and more advanced systems. As the luxury arm of the business, it's unsurprising that it should get these advantages, but there's also an emphasis on driving fun that hasn't featured too heavily in most recent company communiqués.

Admittedly, Lexus has made sports cars before (the epic LFA), as well as sporting grand tourers (the stately LC500), but it could never truthfully be described as a 'performance brand'. Nevertheless, the RZ has arrived with an inescapable focus on power delivery and dynamic ability without compromising what the brand likes to call its three ‘C’s, confidence, control, and comfort. 

Power delivery is as smooth and whooshy as we’ve come to expect from larger electric vehicles; Lexus are quoting a range of between 395 and 440 km (about 245 to 273 miles), depending on specification and road conditions. Purists and hyper-milers should know that the car rides best and drives furthest on the optional 18in wheels. Despite this, Lexus expects 80 per cent of all RVs to come with the bigger spinners fitted.

It is a remarkably quiet vehicle, wafting along silkily and smoothly. The whole package feels weighty and solid. The taut, creased bodywork is a distinct aesthetic step up from Lexuses gone by, which regularly appeared to be over-bodied and ungainly, with proportions and details that often struggled to sympathetically align.  

Lexus has managed to expand its voluminous standard specification with even more optional extras, like a dimmable panoramic roof that lets just the right amount of daylight in, and 64-colour ambient lighting for evening illuminations. Other extras include radiant seat heaters that warm you up using infrared radiation to save on precious battery power. The latter can be conserved with the use of the ‘Range’ setting (in addition to ‘Normal’, ‘Eco’, and ‘Sport’), which throttles performance and minimises all kinds of power use to help the car achieve its absolutely maximum mileage.

The regular steering has a pleasing directness to it as well, although it doesn’t feel as snappy as the yoke. The hefty battery block is set low down in the chassis for a usefully ground-hugging centre of gravity. Coupled with four-wheel drive, all this makes the RV is an easy and predictable car to drive. Approaching the limit, the tyres scrub somewhat against the weight, but ultimately this isn’t really that kind of car. By laying bare the correlation between speed achieved and energy used, EVs are fast rewriting the way performance is perceived. Far better to simply cruise and enjoy the ambience.

The RV’s next upgrade, which we got to sample in Provence, is the One Motion Grip steer-by-wire system, signalled by the replacement of the traditional steering wheel for an airplane-style ‘yoke’. In essence, this means the steering rack has no mechanical linkage to the steering column, only an electronic one to save weight and space. With fewer turns to lock and sharper responses on the road, it takes a bit of getting used to, but the unrestricted view of the instruments and flight-like sensation make it worth the effort. 

The Lexus RZ is exceptionally well put together and supremely refined, while also being uncompromising in its search for maximum efficiency. In all honesty, you really can’t ask for more.

Lexus RZ 450e Premium Plus Pack, from £66,500, Takumi edition from £72,000, Lexus.co.uk

Lexus has been playing the marketing ‘long game’ in its quietly considered collaborative support of artists and designers at non-automotive events from Milan to Miami for almost a decade now.

Its latest was an installation called Shaped by Air by Suchi Reddy, inspired by the Lexus Electrified Sport Concept and exhibited at the ICA Miami’s sculpture garden during the bustling Miami Art Week 2022 and Design Miami 2022 in late November and early December.

Reddy – founder of New York-based Reddymade Architecture and Design – was approached by Lexus for the project and agreed to get involved partly because she was impressed with the brand’s collaborative track record and also because of its ambitious electrification aims. 

After accepting the assignment, she visited Lexus’ Californian design studio, where the Electrified Sport Concept was conceived under the direction of chief designer Alex Shen, to learn more. ‘The car was developed by wind sculpture and inspired by aerobatic planes,’ Shen said. ‘We took her through the processes we use and waited to see what she would come up with.’

‘I wanted to de-materialise it,’ said Reddy, ‘as the car seems like such a physical object and I was putting it between two big stone sculptures. So I started abstracting, tracing all its lines, and thought, “Matisse could have designed this car with his cut-out way of making shapes and putting them together.” So I played with the shapes and they started looking like a jungle. Then I wove the car shapes into this jungle.‘

Reddy was impressed with the Lexus studio’s use of clay in its modelling and wanted an element of that handmade approach in her final piece too. ‘During the fabrication process, it was about taking this object that is made from such sophisticated manufacturing techniques, but making those shapes by hand,’ she continued. 

‘Bending the metal around wood and then working it by hand with a mallet – with copper on one side and leather on the other. Then we put the sculpture out into the sunlight and it did its own thing. I see the leaves, the light and the spiders’ webs – those are the unexpected things – and the turned mesh form gives these really complicated shadows which look almost like Islamic patterns.’

The final sculpture is a striking three-dimensional collage of powder-coated metal mesh elements suspended in the air by stalks attached to green-coloured, abstracted shapes above a mirrored plinth. Lit differently during the day and night and with the atmospheric assistance of some judicious spurts of mist, it really benefits from viewing up close – and from various angles – to be fully appreciated.

Both Shen and Reddy say the collaborative experience has had an impact on how they approach their respective disciplines since. ‘Now I want to make a building out of mesh, mixed in with trees,’ Reddy enthused, while Shen added, ‘It makes me think we should evaluate our vehicles in many more lights, not just perfect conditions. That could be something to develop.’

Judging from the positive responses from the opening event’s attendees – who were almost exclusively of a non-automotive bent – and the apparent comfort with which Shen and Reddy were happy to talk about the project, it would appear Lexus’ aim of mixing its brand authentically beyond the car world has again been met.

‘Design is a really important pillar for our brand to allow conversations with people who don’t think about cars as much as we do,’ Lexus’ global head of marketing, Brian Bolain, said with a wry smile at the post-unveil Q&A. ‘This is our fifth Miami installation but we don’t stipulate. We simply ask that each artist takes inspiration from what we do. We want to keep being engaging and surprising.’

Suchi Reddy, SuchiReddy.com

Lexus, Lexus.co.uk

People often complain about the auto industry’s tendency to imitate, noting that certain styling elements are propagated across brands like Japanese knotweed. However, there’s no mistaking the new Lexus NX for any other brand. 

The shock of the new is a hard thing to sustain. Consider Lexus. Once upon a time, the company’s forward-thinking design direction was considered avant-garde by some (and awkward by others). Regardless of your outlook, it was certainly different. Take a look at the manufacturer’s line-up today, and there’s a slight sense of déjà vu. 

Broadly speaking, Lexus makes saloon cars (the ES and LS), sports cars (the RC and LC), and SUVs (the UX, NX, and RX). The latter trio are scaled small, medium, and large, but there’s not a huge amount of design diversity going on.

All have the gaping Lexus grille, flanked by jagged slashes of vents and headlights, and body surfaces that are constantly disrupted from nose to tail by creases, folds, and crimps that some have likened to automotive origami. 

Whereas origami implies a certain serenity and focus, the current Lexus aesthetic is one of busyness and distraction. It’s very far removed from the studied, sober luxury of the company’s earliest models, way back in the 1990s.

Today, Lexus builds automotive statements, cars that stand out in identikit environments like golf club car parks and proffer more character than the ‘conventional’ choices on offer from Germany’s premium brands. The problem is that everyone is making statements now. ‘Bold design’ is important currency in sectors where traditional signifiers of status – performance, speed, noise – mean less and less and less.

The new version of the NX continues the company’s long tradition of building hybrids. Surprisingly, given its experience, the NX450h+ model is Lexus’s very first plug-in hybrid; the company doesn’t even have an all-electric car just yet (although that will shortly change).

The new NX is a sophisticated machine with a couple of major upgrades from its predecessor. The first is that plug-in hybrid system, which is good for an electric-only range of 40 miles and the ability to self-charge using the combustion engine.

The second is a new infotainment system that does away with the awkward, quasi-mouse-like device that Lexus used to use for driving its screens. The NX has a mix of conventional touch screen and dials, and is all the better for it. 

One thing the company has always excelled at is the breadth of standard options – there’s practically nothing extra to specify, even if you wanted to. Compare this with the mercenary practices of competitors, whose option lists run long and dear. As a result, the cabin is an excellent place to be, with extra zip generated by the battery, and a range of sufficiently different driving modes easily accessible from a dedicated dial.

Attention to detail is superb, as is the build quality – the company has a well-deserved reputation for the long-term reliability of every mechanical switch and electronic system. 

The NX is a very easy car to live with, hushed and refined, with excellent seats, plenty of space, and relaxed dynamics that don’t hurry you along.

Your own preferences will dictate whether or not it’s an easy car to look at, but while it doesn’t really have a single great angle, the overall form is cohesive and coherently ‘Lexus’. 

What next? The upcoming Lexus RZ will be the brand’s first battery electric vehicle. Due in late autumn 2022, the RZ has a lot to live up to, given how well Lexus has managed to associate hybrid with hushed, efficient, and reliable luxury. The RZ shares a platform with Toyota’s forthcoming BZ4X , and a comparison of the two will be a useful insight into the art of creating ‘premium’ experiences from the same raw material.

Further down the line is the stunning Lexus Electrified Sport Concept, a preview of a potential next-generation sports EV, a modern equivalent of the famed LFA model built a decade ago. Electrification will give this experienced company another way to shine.

INFORMATION
Lexus NX, from £41,210, Lexus NX 450h+ from £60,950
Lexus.co.uk

Design schools form an essential part of the car makers’ research pipeline, offering up an inexhaustible source of innovative thinking from bright young minds.

It’s not uncommon for companies to set design briefs that align with their future manufacturing interests and then sponsor the brightest and the best with the lure of a first job after graduation.

Lexus’s new design programme, ‘Lexus 2040: the Soul of Future Premium’, is a collaboration between the Japanese luxury brand and London’s Royal College of Art (RCA).

The programme tasked postgraduate students at the RCA’s Intelligent Mobility Design Centre with exploring ways of making a premium statement about mobility in an uncertain and very different world, 18 years into the future.

‘Lexus 2040: the Soul of Future Premium’: winners and finalists

Six students were shortlisted from the programme, all of whom refined their designs and presented them to a judging panel including Lexus design leaders Ian Cartabiano and Lance Scott, along with course leader Professor Dale Harrow and Dr Chris Thorpe of the RCA, and writer Nargess Banks.

The winner was Richard Newman with his ‘ALTO’ concept, a personal flying machine that the judges reckoned was more 2050 than 2040, but which nevertheless encapsulated the company’s forward-looking spirit.

There were commendations for two runners-up, Ben Miller’s ‘Crucible’ and Zhenyu Kong’s ‘Lexus #Units’.

Newman describes ALTO as a hydrogen-powered VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) craft, shaped like a pendant (and partly inspired by hot air balloons and plant terrariums). Envisioning a future rich with technology, the young designer predicts that premium will be redefined as a ‘celebration of the everyday’. The ALTO is designed to dock with buildings, and swivel from vertical to horizontal for long flights.

Louis Poulsen’s ‘Artichoke’ lamp was another visual inspiration, particularly for the ALTO’s flexible, customisable surfaces. According to Newman, ALTO is ‘jewellery in the sky – like a cloud’s earring. I wanted to create something that is quite challenging, that would raise a few eyebrows, but which would also make people smile’.

Zhenyu Kong’s Lexus #Units project was inspired by the abstract forms of concrete coastal barriers. An adaptable one-person machine with a flexible footprint, the shape can be stacked together with other #Units to create a larger vehicle. Three multi-directional ball wheels give it exceptional flexibility, and the interior can – inevitably – be customised with NFTs.

Think of Kong’s idea as a mobile social media post, intended to lure a young premium audience.

Ben Miller’s Crucible is slightly more conventional, albeit only in that it has four wheels. Miller believes that future luxury mobility design is about ownership of spaces, but not necessarily the mechanisms required to make them move.

The Crucible is therefore a luxury cabin atop a hydrogen-fuelled platform, an ‘escape vehicle’ that can be treated as a piece of high-end furniture when it’s not docked with its spindly, high-performance base.

All six finalists explored how key Lexus design features might evolve over the decades to come, from the quality of the surfaces to the shapes of the company’s logo. The judges were especially impressed by the quality and sophistication of the presentations and visuals.

Of the three other students, Jan Niehus’s NEKO proposal went full sci-fi with its insectoid exoskeleton formed from as-yet non-existent microbots. This autonomous EV is part car, part robot.

Maxime Gauthier’s Lexus UrbanSwarm was another exploration of the personal pod, this time using a tessellating design that can easily link up with other devices to form much larger mass transit vehicles.

Gauthier wanted to explore inclusive transportation, so the UrbanSwarm was developed with wheelchair users in mind from the outset.

Finally, there was 2040 Lexus Vision In-season by Bangning An, intended as a physical expression of the Japanese idiom, ichi-go, ichi-e, the art of savouring a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Designed to encapsulate the changing seasons – often lost to urban dwellers – the In-season changes colour and interior atmosphere over the course of the year, bringing a rare sense of connection to each journey.

INFORMATION

RCA Intelligent Mobility MA, rca.ac.uk

Lexus, lexus.co.uk

It’s taken Lexus a long time to completely cut ties with the internal combustion engine. Toyota’s luxury division was the pioneering high-end hybrid brand, taking the tech that its parent company effectively invented and honed to perfection through models like the Prius, which debuted way back in 1997. The company has sold well over 15 million hybrid models to date, with Lexus chipping in with mixed-power models from 2005 onwards. These days, you can’t buy a non-electrically assisted Lexus in the UK, and the LF-Z concept shown in March heralds the shape of its battery electric future.

For a company that has always made much of its design chops, going electric will be especially beneficial. The UX 300e might be a first, but it’s also a compromise, a car with a visually identical hybrid sibling. We’ve often noted that car design is in a bit of a limbo, with the best and boldest designs coming from manufacturers who have started from scratch and don’t have to accommodate the legacy of the internal combustion engine. This isn’t an engineering quandary – these issues were all carefully planned for years in advance – but a visual one; a glimpse at the Lexus LF-Z shows the company's best-looking model to date, even if it is still only a concept. 

The little UX 300e starts with a struggle, therefore. Added adversity comes with its scale, for at the moment, small cars still equal a relatively small range, due to the lack of space for battery packaging. This isn’t necessarily a problem, provided you’re good at planning ahead and don’t treat a car solely like a spontaneous lifestyle accessory. Fast-charging via the CHAdeMO plug, with 0 per cent to 80 per cent coming up in just under an hour. CHAdeMO is different the CCS plugs used in many German cars, although both systems are usually found together on the same charger. The main problem is finding a free charge point in the first place, a whinge that will hopefully soon feel akin to complaining about dial-up internet speeds.

The projected range of 196 miles feels rather optimistic, and if you avail yourself of accessories like air conditioning or use a bit too much of the swift acceleration, you’ll be lucky to get 75 per cent of that. However, unlike many current EVs, the UX 300e has a very welcome feeling of lightness, a characteristic that so many EVs fail to convey. With a sense off lightness – however artificially contrived – comes a tendency to take things easy, eke out the range and revel in the comfort and accoutrements that Lexus have become famed for. Compact luxury EVs are still thin on the ground, so for now the Lexus has the field to itself. It’s a strong start from a company with the skills to make superior electric cars.

INFORMATION
Lexus UX 300e EV with Premium Plus Pack, £47,400

lexus.co.uk

Masks have become a ubiquitous health necessity. Formerly only commonplace in most Asian cultures and used as a symbol of courtesy, if one should be experiencing a malady, the face mask is now globally recognised as a form of protection, while also signifying civic responsibility.

This multicultural dialogue forms the basis of a conceptual design collaboration between the architect and designer Tosin Oshinowo, textile and furniture designer Chrissa Amuah and Lexus, who have come together to create a collection of masks designed as headpieces, unveiled at Design Miami. Exploring the ideas of protection, ornamentation, functionality and celebration, the headpieces present an artistic alternative to the utilitarian face coverings in a move that celebrates the world’s collective desire to move through the pandemic together. Named ‘Freedom to Move’, the collaboration also draws from a mix of cultural influences, identifying unexpected similarities and dialogues in materials, textures, colours and craftsmanship.

With human movement greatly redefined this year, Oshinowo and Amuah took the opportunity to reconsider the functionality of masks today, against the traditions of protection and adornment across global cultures. ‘As nomadic beings, it is unnatural to stand still, and we wanted to reconfigure how we move in a positive way, in spite of the restrictions of motion the world now finds itself in,’ says Amuah.
 
With Oshinowo based in Lagos, Nigeria and the collaboration taking place for the most part there, the designers put the African context at the fore. Lexus’ key design philosophies, such as the Japanese notions of omotenashi (exceptional hospitality) and takumi (expert craftsmanship), were also integral to the creative process.
 
The collection’s three mark designs, named ‘Egaro’, ‘Pioneer Futures’ and ‘Ògún’, each employ a wide variety of materials, such as bronze, brass, leather and acrylic, with further details such as intricate hand beading, laser etching and embroidery using the traditionally West African tinko method. Featuring aspects crafted by traditional artisans, fused with 3D printed elements, each headpiece is a poetic fusion of past and present. Each mask also features transparent panels, which facilitate communication – a common frustration experienced with most masks today.

‘In the midst of a global pandemic, we all are acutely aware of the head as both hostage to and host of an invisible adversary,’ reads a design statement by the pair. ‘Thinking about the masks that we all now wear for daily protection, we wanted to take a step further and consider how we can not only protect ourselves, but use this opportunity to celebrate our joint humanity. If we must wear masks, then let them be glorious! Let them celebrate our humanity and shared joys, rather than conceal them.’

INFORMATION

shop.designmiami.com

Long known for its conceptual bias, the 46th edition of the Tokyo Motorshow was again filled with Japanese brands showing full-size vehicle prototypes imagining near and far-out futures. With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics just around the corner, most of those makers, especially Toyota as a key sponsor, pulled out all the stops to showcase various eco-improved mobility solutions for all of society’s needs – not just the able-bodied and young – from electric kei cars, to self-driving minivans and large fuel cell limos. Read on for the Top Ten Tokyo 2019 Motor Show concepts, as curated by Wallpaper*.

Lexus LF-30: Pitched as a circa 2030 future electric vision concept – thus the concept’s letters and numbers – the LF-30 is what a limo-sized EV could look like in ten years’ time. With designers seizing the packaging and space opportunities afforded by in-wheel electric motors and a more compact solid-state (as opposed to lithium-ion) battery powertrain, the driver-focused four-seat cabin offers more space than the current Lexus LS. Joystick-style steering controls for the driver resemble those of a horse rider’s reins, symbolically pushing the notion of man and machine in similar harmony, while the front passenger has access to a large infotainment screen set forward and low on their side of the dash. The front seats feature tensioned strips of material across the seat backs to create more light and alongside a black wood floor, white driver’s seat and grey Alcantara passenger seats. Design lead Ian Cartabiano describes the whole ensemble as “warm and inviting but also a bit dark and mysterious too.” We agree.

Mitsubishi Mi-Tech: The 4x4 and EV specialist Mitsubishi showed its skills in both of those departments with its plug-in hybrid SUV Mi-Tech concept. The compact and chunky open-top buggy features a built-in gas turbine generator instead of a conventional petrol engine that can run on various fuels according to local availability – from diesel to kerosene and even alcohol – and a full-width and height augmented reality-enhanced head-up display windscreen aims to keep the driver’s eyes informed while also focused on the road ahead.

Toyota E-Racer (and friends): Toyota had so many electric concepts on its stand it was hard to keep count. They numbered at least a dozen – from robots to delivery pods and people movers – but despite these AI-enabled, on-demand mobility aids, Toyota’s senior management seemed most excited by the single-seater e-Racer pitched as an antidote to the machines taking over completely. As Simon Humphries, Toyota’s global head of design, told Wallpaper*: “If we can harness shared autonomous driving and those things that really give the ultimate freedom in mobility, with all your nine-to-five, Monday-to-Friday needs met by that eco system, then the car you actually buy doesn’t need to be an all-rounder anymore. You can just buy an open, no-doors, no-roof, adrenaline rush.” Sounds good.

Nissan IMk & Ariya: Nissan rarely disappoints at the Tokyo Motor Show and the 2019 expo proved its concept game is still tight. A duo of electric concepts – the Ariya compact SUV and IMk city car – represent the two ‘bookends’ of the brand’s new design vision dubbed ‘Timeless Japanese Futurism’. Each exterior has ultra-slim lights and retains a large shield-like grille but as they no longer need to suck in air to cool a combustion engine, to create depth and interest both feature elaborate LED light displays instead. Flowing body surfacing is punctuated by precise light and metal details to keep the exteriors simple and that theme is continued on the inside with smooth dashboards with embedded controls on the Ariya and a bezel-less holographic driver display projected ‘mid-air’ within the IMk.

Suzuki Hanare & Waku Spo: Suzuki’s twin concepts envisioned a far-future 2040 minivan and mid-future 2030 small car. The Hanare is a perfectly symmetrical MPV that envisages a fully-autonomous electric vehicle where friends and family can relax in private, as denoted by the markedly high window line on both sides. Seating comes in the form of a rear lounger that can face forward or swivel in an arc to watch a big 60-inch screen, while simpler front seats descend into a flat floor when not required. As a car that drives itself, no steering wheel or instrument panel is offered. Also of note was the Suzuki Waku Spo plug-in hybrid, with its non-symmetrical three-box silhouette (longer bonnet, shorter boot). The Waku Spo is also a transformer of sorts, able to morph from sedan to wagon, via a rear wood-effect deck that rises skyward alongside a hidden extra rear glass window. Truly transformational.

Daihatsu TsumuTsumu: Daihatsu offered four concepts on its 2019 Tokyo exhibition stand from a rugged small SUV for outdoor adventures (the WakuWaku) to a mobile people mover for the elderly or holiday makers with lots of luggage (the Icolco). But the one that caught our eye most was the TsumuTsumu (Daihatsu clearly likes to name their concepts twice). The slab-fronted, no-grille green truck channeled Japanese robot helmet-style vibes for its cab while showcasing an interchangeable cargo load box at the rear. The exhibition stand version featured a sizeable drone inside imagined as a crop-spraying tool for farmers but could equally be swapped for a box that acted as a private interior space for humans too.

Toyota Auto Body PMCV: Cool-looking boxy minivans are a very Japanese thing. And arguably the best manufacturer of them all is Toyota Auto Body – the truck division of the massive automotive corporation – which since late 2018 now oversees the two dozen or so commercial vehicle-related minivan and 4x4 passenger cars that Toyota sells, including the Alphard, Voxy, Noah, Hiace and Land Cruiser. Its standout 2019 Tokyo exhibit was the shapely and innovative PMCV (Personal Multi-Compact Vehicle) envisaged as a Level 4-autonomous electric minivan for the year 2030. With configurable seats for up to seven occupants or down to just one via various fold-ups-and-aways, the PMCV can switch from a cabin loaded with people to a transporter of bulky items like surfboards and bicycles. Only 4600mm in length, the PMCV’s massive cabin cleverly fills almost all of that space – its large windscreen extends to the very front of the vehicle and there is no traditional bonnet – and was one of the freshest concepts at the expo.

All GaN For Future: The prize for ‘Most fun car of the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show’ could well be won by the All GaN For Future concept. Information on the electric city car was super-scarce and mainly in Japanese, but that just made the rakishly wedged two-plus-two-seater all the more enigmatic. After some digging and Google-translating what we did glean is that the 3050mm long, 1650mm wide and 1500mm high zero-emission city car has a fold-flat-into-the-floor rear bench seat, features a high-efficiency in-vehicle inverter which can cut CO2 by 20% and has been developed by Nagoya University, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and the Toyota Advanced Power Electronics Research Division. Big-hitters all, suggesting that the eye-catching All GaN’s exterior –which evokes Japanese custom truck designs plus a sprinkling of Giugiaro-familiar design cues – houses some serious future function to go with its striking form.

INFORMATION

tokyo-motorshow.com

It's late afternoon at the Daizaifu Tenmangu Shinto Shrine, just outside Fukuoka in southern Japan. The rainy season has officially begun, but luckily the evening remains dry. One of the meticulously kept traditional Japanese buildings on the shrine grounds has been transformed into a one-night-only restaurant, a stunning bamboo forest populates one of the adjacent small tatami rooms; a magnificent floral installation takes up another. The tables are laid with starched white linens, a selection of stemware and freestyle ikebana displays. The setting alone promises a unique experience, and this is even before chef Goh Fukuyama, from the two-Michelin-starred La Masion de la Nature Goh, doles out a 11-course dinner paired with local wines, Tequonic (Japanese tequila mixed with green yuzu), and Asakura barley shochu.

The evening is the culmination of an immersive Japanese cultural experience hosted by Lexus, which has taken the lucky guests from Nagoya (starting with a tour of the usually off-limits Design Dome at the Toyota HQ) to Tokyo via a unique stay at beautiful Japanese ryokan in Yamaguchi, a tour of Japan’s largest Miyata manufacturing plant in the north of Kyushu, and a modern tea ceremony in Fukuoka.

At the Design Dome, general manager of the Lexus Design Division, Koichi Suga explained the Lexus design philosophy (‘leading edge design and technology applied with finesse’) and introduced us to some of the unique craft traditions incorporated into the making of the cars by master Takumi craftspeople, like the kiriko glass inspired door inserts and hand-pleated silk door panels, both available as add-ons for the Lexus LS sedan. There was also a full-scale clay model of the Lexus LC Convertible (still only a concept car, but rumoured to be coming soon). Yoshitaka Yamamoto, one of Toyota's most experienced clay Takumi, was at hand to show us how he carefully finalises the ideal shape of a car with his array of small trowels and rakes.

At the Lexus manufacturing plant just outside of Fukuoka City, we witnessed the precise choreography of dedicated employees and clever robots as they fit the roughly 30,000 parts that go into a car. The slow, but steady flow of cars on the production line is mesmerising. More than 1,800 cars are made per day, and just contemplating the level of planning and logistics is enough to make your head spin.

En route we got to test-drive a few Lexus models. I struggled hard to stay behind the sensible driver of our leader car as I sat behind the race-ready wheel of a deep blue LC500 hybrid. This car is not meant to be kept at the slow 70-80 km/h limit enforced on most Japanese roads. The more sensible UX250 hybrid is better-suited to a leisurely drive and equally pleasant to steer.

In Fukuoka, the morning after we dined at Daizaifu Tenmangu, we were invited to tea at the understated wabi-sabi Yorozu Tea Salon, where the charming owner, Suguru Tokubuchi gave us an enthusiastic treatise on Japanese green tea. We were treated to a unique kind of local Gyokuro sencha, of which only about 4kgs is produced every year. It’s brewed in gradually warmed water (from 35 to 90 degrees Celsius) to bring out its many unique properties, from almost sweet through astringent to pleasantly bitter.

Understanding the subtleties of a unique culture like Japan’s of course takes longer than a few immaculately planned days like these (I have been here 17 years, and still don’t get it all). But there is no doubt that many of us left with a deeper understanding of Japan, and just how this fascinating culture, with its attention to detail and wonderful hospitality, is integral to Lexus and their continued pursuit of extraordinary experiences.

INFORMATION

lexus.com

‘Lexus is a boring brand.’ These were five words that Akio Toyoda was determined never to hear again when he became president of Toyota. ‘Hearing this made me feel embarrassed and bitter: Toyota is practically my name so I’d feel personally hurt when one of our Lexus cars was hit, hurt or insulted,’ he recalls. Consequently, there has been great change, from the acclaimed annual Lexus Design Event at Milan's Salone, through to airport lounges and even hoverboards, Lexus has transformed from a car brand to a lifestyle brand. The new Lexus LY 650 Luxury Yacht is the ultimate example.

Classed as a ‘sports yacht’, the LY 650 is bigger than a standard speedboat at 65’5”, but with up to 1,350hp available it’s certainly no gin palace more suited to posing at Cannes. Instead, it’s sleek, powerful and comfortable as well as efficient: the boat’s guidance system is programmed to produce optimal – rather than the fastest – performance, and the trim interceptors on the hull keep the boat from pitching when the ocean is squally.

There hasn’t been a literal transference of ‘car to boat’ here, apart from the signature stitching on some door panels. Lexus approached the Italian company Marquis Yachts to manufacture the LY 650; the challenge was to merge Italian and Japanese design philosophies. This wasn’t as discordant as one might assume: Dan Lenard, interior designer at Nuvolari Lenard, felt that the Japanese minimalism married well with the cleaner, subtle approaches in Italian culture (think ‘Armani’ rather than ‘Versace’).

Walking through the yacht is a calming, sumptuous experience. Furnished with soft carpet underfoot, there is a muted palette of neutral whites, creams and greys, plus wooden veneer wall panels. All appliances have been hidden for a neater appearance, yet despite this minimalist approach the overall effect isn’t in the least bit sterile. At the heart of Lexus design lies their philosophy of ‘L-Finesse’, based upon principles of Japanese hospitality and aesthetics. The brief here was ‘movement without movement’, so the curved lines are intended to be welcoming and draw guests in (plus it’s great for those still finding their sea legs).

Unveiled in Miami, the yacht comes in an unusual grey/rose gold combination, although currently there are five colourways available. However, at $3.7 million, if the buyer wants neon green, that can no doubt be accommodated. Going on public sale in the USA on 30 October, the company hopes to make around 6-8 examples each year. As it currently stands, five have been sold, largely to car dealers and real estate developers in the US. However, there has been one buyer over in Japan: Akio Toyoda himself. The ultimate endorsement? Able to find the anonymity when sailing in Miami that he cannot enjoy in his native country, the eagle-eyed out there may spot Toyoda cruising Florida’s motorways. Whether they’ll see him on a hoverboard, however, is another matter.

INFORMATION
Lexus LY 650, from $3.7m. lexus.com/future/LY-650

Lexus has quietly been doing a great job developing the technologies that’ll make tomorrow’s premium motoring less of a burden on us all, with quiet, efficient hybrid powertrains to take the sting out of large, luxury vehicles. In many respects, the newer, larger version of its RX SUV, the RX L, is the perfect car, for it represents the apotheosis of hybrid technology spliced with a flexible interior that can seat up to seven in impressively comfortable surroundings.

Lexus, and parent company Toyota, famously invest in R&D and an attention to design and engineering detail that just can’t be matched. The original Lexus models were slavish re-interpretations of the era’s very best motor cars, right down to the sound of the doors shutting, and those happened to be large, luxury saloons from Germany. The end result was a slightly passionless perfectionism that was hard to criticise but also difficult to love.

Today, Lexus has the history and heritage, exactly 30 years after its first model, the LS, was introduced. As the company has grown up, so has its approach to design. Lexus argues that its models demonstrate a spirited application of ancient Japanese design principles. We say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the RX, like several of its smaller siblings, is a challenging, provocative-looking beast.

It’s hard to ignore aesthetics, but for all its tech brilliance, easy drivability and practicality, the RX seems to have swerved down what looks increasingly like a cul-de-sac of car culture. Electric is where it’s at, and the bold conceptual designs of its rivals are reshaping what a car needs to look like. The RX looks ungainly and out of time, a quirk of evolution. This is all the more ironic when you consider the RX model’s history; for 20 years it has been a pioneering luxury SUV, paving the way for many, many imitators.

Although the company has been a hybrid pioneer for decades, the long-term electric strategy of Toyota/Lexus is rather hard to pin down. The RX L reaps the benefits of seamlessly integrated hybrid technology, gliding silently around the city when needed, or surging forward with some electrically assisted boost when required. The petrol V6 is smooth and near silent in any case and total power output is more than sufficient. It’s not an especially dynamic car, but that’s not its role in life; a Lexus exists to improve life through technology that actually works, with an emphasis on long-term reliability. It's hard not to wonder what an all-electric Lexus would be like.

Inside, the cabin is defined by high quality materials and idiosyncratic details like the quasi-mouse operated infotainment screen. It's quite unlike anything offered by rivals and is easy enough to use, giving the company another quirky point of difference. The RX is positively brimming with technology but it's not a car for the technophile. Instead, it ploughs a furrow of quiet excellence, aimed at those who want their future mobility untroubled by overt complexity.

INFORMATION
Lexus RX L, £61,995 as tested. For more information, visit the Lexus website

More enlightened car makers realise there are other ways to promote their brands beyond simply placing their latest model within a traditional car show on an exhibition stand plinth. In recent years Milan Design Week has become one of the go-to European locations for global vehicle marques to exhibit, especially those who consider the look, feel and function of their vehicles to be among their greatest selling points.

At the 2019 event at least a dozen car makers had a presence, mainly in the Tortona district, many of which mastered the art of being subtle.

Hyundai

Pictured top, developing from a brand that once majored on ‘good value’ to one that can become valued for its design and good taste too, South Korean Hyundai went big in Milan for 2019. The large exhibition space featured a wooden terrace for relaxing outside and a dark interior punctuated by brightly coloured and regularly changing light effects. Some of these lights changed according to when and how visitors touched certain parts of the display, while sound and a patterned protection was aurally and visually affected by participants’ gestures in another area (the visuals were quite interesting but the sound effects too often a little Stylophone). An opaque sculptural silhouette of a futuristic car was subjected to an array of graphic projections too, all of which sent the message that future Hyundais will be more customisable and individual in terms of colour and light, material and shape and sound.

Polestar

Inventing a new car brand in the 21st century, even with a clearly electrified-only message, takes vision, commitment and consistency. Luckily for the premium electric car brand Polestar – and jointly owned by Volvo and Geely Holding – its CEO Thomas Ingenlath, is also a highly experienced designer (and still chief design officer at Volvo). This shows in everything the brand has done so far, including Polestar’s first installation at Milan. Outside is a mock-up of a traditional petrol station but painted plain white, that looks by turns like a Rachel Whiteread sculpture or a preserved museum artefact from a (soon to be) previous age. Seating among the petrol pumps makes the place more social – something Polestar thinks stations will become as EV charging takes longer than filling up with fossil fuel, so drivers will need to stay longer – and inside there is a giant Scalextric-style electric slot car track where visitors can race, and where the speed and colour of each car affects the space’s soundtrack and lights. Fun and with a clear message then: EVs are coming, they can be cool and also change your life (for the better).

Honda

Independent Japanese carmaker Honda also created its first installation space at Milan in 2019. Its first full EV is launching later this year and Honda is targeting a very different sort of customer to those who might want a track-day race in its Civic Type-R. Honda’s new EV will look a lot like the near-production and clearly product-design-infused ePrototype on display in Milan – but due to the small four-seater’s proportions it fitted snugly within the compact indoor space. It was neatly integrated into that temporary space’s design too. Bent wood branches with blue rings at their ends radiated out from a central tree trunk-like column before leaning down to almost touch the car to symbolise electricity transfer. Utilising the space’s existing neutral light terracotta walls (rather than Honda’s usual bold corporate red, black and white) and installing vintage Scandinavian furniture, an exhibition of local Milanese photographers’ work and a friendly barista-manned coffee car, the space felt like a calm oasis in the heart of the city – just what Honda wants its new urban-focused EV to be for its drivers.

Lexus

Lexus has been exhibiting at Milan Design Week since 2013 with a carefully sponsored and judged design competition plus its own installations. This year the overall winning design to the brief set by Lexus to ‘help build a better tomorrow’ was a bra designed using algorithmic lace to help body confidence in women who have undergone mastectomy surgery. Beautiful and functional, it sat alongside five other finalists including designs for a floatable house for typhoon-prone regions, a rapidly-deployable modular oil spill cleaning device and a vehicle mounted with a massive turbine designed to harness energy otherwise lost from an aircraft's take-off jet blast. Beyond the competition winners, Lexus gently suggested its advanced skills in vehicular lighting through an intriguing ‘Lexus Lights Tomorrow’ exhibition and through its showcase ‘Leading with Light’ display featuring human dance and advanced robotics to wow crowds, which created queues stretching around the building of visitors waiting to view it.

Peugeot

French car-making veteran Peugeot is now offering fully-electric production versions of mainstream cars like its 208 supermini. It showed this new city car in Milan alongside the award-winning e-Legend retro-futuristic concept, a range of e-bikes and a pride of stylised lion sculptures. The theme was future electrification, and the installation – in a massive high-ceiling warehouse on via Savona – included light projections that lit up the largest 5m lion while 40 smaller lions were arranged in front of it. The inference was clear; a march towards the new electric Peugeot vehicles displayed the by door, or perhaps metaphorically, towards the future of mobility. As the lion has been Peugeot’s official emblem for 160 years the choice of animal was apposite. A little grandiose in concept maybe, but the personal experience of being up close among these dramatically lit sculptures was surprisingly moving.

Maserati

Following its premiere at this year's Geneva International Motor Show, Maserati proposed a vast and varied programme in Milan, where it paid tribute to Italian ‘products of excellence’. Spread throughout the city (between the Pinacoteca Art Gallery in Brera, Boutique Ermenegildo Zegna in Via Montenapoleone, Giorgetti Atelier in Porta Venezia, the Alcantara Concept Store in Pietro Verri, and the De Castelli flagship in San Babila), the multi-stage journey took visitors through the marque's various new customisation options for its cars. Including new Quattroporte dashboard inserts at renowned Italian woodwork company Giorgetti Atelier, illustrating the central role of wood in Maserati components. The new capsule collection for Spring-Summer 2019 also debuted, including a sophisticated selection of leather goods, travel clothes and accessories.

A decade or so ago, the traditional car industry was still being rather shy in its approach to sustainability. Some of the more progressive designers have long been active behind the scenes, yet it took the fear of strict legislation, and the spark from Tesla’s success in particular, to truly challenge frontiers.

Against this background, Lexus has been leading a quiet ecological revolution. This is a company that tends not to shout too loud. In 1989, when Toyota first introduced its luxury arm, a single consumer complaint led to a special service campaign, marking Lexus as a customer-focused brand. In 2004, the marque became one of the first to invest in hybrid-electric powertrains, debuting the efficient technology in the world’s original luxury hybrid the RX 400h, and then three years later in the first V8 hybrid LS 600hL.

The UX is the latest product to join the Lexus hybrid family to be its smallest SUV. Lexus has been delivering premium sports utilities for some 24 years, and although our roads are congested with crossovers of all shapes and sizes, the genre’s popularity is ever-growing, especially with more compact products like this. Adding a hybrid engine to an SUV, of course, makes perfect marketing sense.

The name is a take on ‘urban crossover’, alluding to the car’s appeal for urbanites and younger buyers. This UX 250h hybrid model pairs a 2.0-litre engine with the fourth-generation Lexus battery hybrid power. The marque refers to the UX as self-charging – referencing the additional conventional engine which eliminates the need for finding a charge mid-travel. It is a clever play on words, since Lexus will continue to concentrate on its hybrid technology with the view of entering the fully electric car market in the near future.

To drive the UX is difficult to fault. You sit a little high, although the ergonomics are sound. The car feels happiest in the city, riding at moderate speeds and quietly. The engine switches smoothly from petrol to electric which you can monitor on the digital display. The car will accelerate to 62mph in 8.5-seconds, while its top speed is electronically controlled at 110mph. There is an electronic CVT transmission, and a choice of front-wheel drive and the optional E-Four system, which diverts some of the drive to the rear wheels when extra traction is needed. Crucially, the car claims an average of 42.8mpg and emissions of 131g/km of CO2, numbers which rise to 35.6mpg and 157g/km with the 18-inch alloyed F-Sport model.

Like the Mercedes GLA, the UX continues the trend in adapting the tall hatchback vernacular. In the past, Lexus struggled to find a distinct visual voice, and there is still a certain earnestness to its current ‘L-finesse’ design theme. In the UX, it manifests in a more subtle take on the distinctive spindle grille with its block-shape mesh pattern, introduced in the LF-Gh concept eight years ago and subsequently the face of all Lexus cars.

The cabin is bright, light and, essential for a hybrid, quiet with the upper deck of the instrument panel appearing to be extending out and beyond the windshield, a take from the architectural concept of ‘engawa’ – blurring the boundary between inside and out. The UX offers a high spec of advanced technology, including the company’s latest navigation and a clear graphic head-up-display as well as Amazon Alexa. On higher trim levels, it is also a gallery of sorts for presenting the intricate Takumi artisan skills of the handful of craftspeople who bring with them over twenty-five years of experience. Whereas the flagship LS saloon we drove last year is treated to all the Takumi delicacies, the UX gets teaser elements – material treatments on the dashboard, washi paper inspired trims, and crafted seats. Finally, the UX can be ordered with a Mark Levinson audio system and a sunroof.

For Lexus, the UX is a crucial product in Europe. In the UK alone, the firm says some 80 per cent of buyers are expected to be new to the marque. With its practical credentials, ecological flavour and quiet presence, this is certainly a possibility. There is also enough unusual styling for the UX to maintain its individuality on the road.

INFORMATION
Lexus UX, from £29,900, available from March. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Designed by Masamichi Katayama of Japanese interior design firm Wonderwall, a new Intersect by Lexus lifestyle hub has opened in the Meatpacking District in New York City, joining its Dubai and Tokyo locations.

Featuring both a private and public gallery, the hub will transform for a multitude of what manager Kirk Edmondson calls ‘culturally relevant programming concepts’, ergo full immersion events, art installations, film screenings, panels, and performances. Design-wise, things can be adapted to serve these different functions, including a 1,200 sq ft ‘white space' to bring to life brand elements of design, entertainment and technology. Adding continuity, each space is unified by its pseudo-auto themed ornamentation; think industrial, garage style flooring, steel wheels for stools, and an oscillating spare parts mural. 

Just around the corner from The Whitney, and among a crowd of design-favoured bars, Intersect by Lexus is in good, but competitive, company. ‘Meatpacking is one of the most diverse and vibrant areas in Manhattan,’ explains Edmondson on the decision to open in this particular spot. ‘It is a destination for shopping, restaurants and nightlife where locals, businesses and tourists want to spend their time. As a lifestyle space, Intersect both fits within, and can add, to this great neighbourhood.’

A highlight of the space is the fine dining restaurant, with food devised by big name French chef Gregory Marchand, who will be on hand from time to time for the next four to six months; after that, another chef-in-residence will be imported. The long-term executive chef is Nickolas Martinez, who worked with Joël Robuchon and at Foragers City Table.

The hub's opening comes at a key time in the Japanese car giant's development. Intersect by Lexus was conceived in 2012 as the brand was transforming into a more design-forward company. The fresh emphasis on dining in the NYC spot ushers in a new era of heightened hospitality – ‘what we call omotenashi', Edmondson explains (a difficult to translate concept that calls for an anticipation of a guest's needs, before the guest has even realised it). As such, expect a smooth journey from café to gallery to cocktail

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Lexus website

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Lexus will celebrate its 30th year as a luxury brand when its latest product, a compact SUV called the UX, goes on sale in early 2019. The upmarket Japanese marque launched by parent company Toyota has come a long way since 1989, first by gaining a reputation for build quality, reliability and customer service in the 90s, then through pioneering eco petrol-electric hybrid technology in the early 00s and latterly, through stand-out design (with the NX, LC and ES).

The new UX develops all of those attributes, as a well-built and very bold design which continues to push the brand’s hybrid approach. The latter is a unique selling point in the currently straight-petrol and diesel-dominated compact premium SUV segment (and the UX’s nearest rival is the more expensive Volvo XC40 T5 plug-in hybrid not due until late 2019). Proportionally, the UX has a much more hatchback/crossover feel than that more boxy and upright Swedish model too. It’s longer than any of its premium compact SUV rivals, lower than all but the Infiniti QX30 and Merc GLA and in the middle of the pack on width; the Audi Q3 is wider, BMW X1 narrower.

Those proportions, alongside a lower seating position than other SUVs, make the UX feel more car-like to manoeuvre. The new 176hp 2.0-litre petrol-electric hybrid powertrain offers brisk acceleration and the direct-shift continuously variable transmission doesn’t whine like the older Lexus CT hatchback (the CT will continue to be sold though, the UX is not, as rumoured, its replacement). The driving experience can be enhanced further through Drive Mode Select – a twistable knob unusually situated on the side of the driver display cowl but easy to access – with three settings. Beyond Normal, throttle responses are tempered in Eco, or quickened in Sport and steering feel is increased in the latter mode as well. On F Sport models there are five modes with Sport S, Sport S+ upping the ante again, although too much vigorous driving will dent the UX hybrid’s estimated economy (65.7-68.9mpg) and emissions (96-103g/km CO2) for the 17- and 18-inch wheel front-wheel drive models. An electric all-wheel drive version is also available but posts worse eco figures and will only suit those who absolutely need it. The F Sport trim’s adaptive variable suspension option – which irons out road surface inequalities brilliantly – is a box well worth ticking though.

The ‘Design Pack’ is also worthwhile. Adding to an already well-considered, generous and ergonomic front cabin space the pack is set to feature original materials and finishes including a subtle dashboard covering that resembles textured Japanese washi paper and triangular pattern perforations on the leather seats with specific stitching styles which reference similar techniques on Kendo martial arts clothing.

Genuinely original and Japanese in inspiration, all are signs that Lexus is finally embracing its brand’s cultural difference. This new-found confidence should bode well for the future of the marque and model. Indeed, Lexus sees the UX quickly becoming its European best-seller with 80 per cent of customers new to the brand. Pricing is not yet fixed before the UX’s April 2019 UK launch, but expect a range from £30,000 to £35,000.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Lexus website

The ‘super coupé’ is a car typology with a long history. Two doors, a long bonnet, big engine and plenty of space for bodywork flourishes makes for a compelling package, and from the 1920s onward, the grand coupé body shape was synonymous with luxury and grace. So much so, that it continues to have old world/old money associations right up to the present day, with cars like the Bentley Continental GT and Mercedes S-Class Coupé epitomising the pace, grace and space of their predecessors, only with all the available cutting-edge technology under the skin.

Lexus doesn’t have this kind of design heritage. Despite being an off-shoot of Toyota (founded in the 1930s), Lexus only dates back to 1989. Yet what the company lacks in volumes of automotive evolution, it more than makes up for in a go-getting, pro-technology, avant-garde attitude. When these were paired with its parent company’s fearsome engineering skills, Lexus entered the world fully formed.

We’ve often marvelled at the quiet perfection of these cars, which do their thing with effortless efficiency (including an admirable commitment to hybrid power). That’s as good a definition of luxury as any, yet Lexus is never content to stay behind the scenes. As a result, the company’s design team has gone to great lengths to ensure its cars are seen.

This doesn’t always work, particularly in the case of Lexus’s SUV range, the NX, RX and RX L, three brutish machines that are great to sit in but not to look at. Launched last year in Ibiza, in amongst a cavalcade of superstar DJs and theatrical distractions, the Lexus LC 500 is the company's new flagship. When it came to cresting the summit of automotive excellence, did Lexus muster the chops to pull off a proper super coupé? We are happy to report they did, because the LC 500 is one of the best-looking Japanese cars of the past few decades. It’s one of the best-looking cars, full stop, with Lexus’s self-conscious angularity finally finding the right proportions in which to do its thing.

Inside and out there’s not a line wrong, with the dashboard doing a good job of conveying the bucket-loads of tech beneath the skin, and the taut, elegant shape concealing the fact that this car has four good sized seats. The rear lights are especially successful, great chromed forms that appear to have carved themselves into the car’s flanks.

Sampling the LC back in British, its attractions are instantly clear. The LC comes in two flavours, a 5.0-litre V8 petrol and a 3.5-litre V6 mated to an electric motor, a system Lexus describes as the world’s ‘first four-stage Multi Stage Hybrid System’. In layman’s terms, that means a car that’ll run on pure electric power up to about 88mph, deliver impressive fuel economy and even allow the car to glide around in near silence when the combustion engine isn’t needed.

A handy dial puts the driving modes close to hand, all the way round to a raucous Sport + setting. Battery-assisted acceleration is a thing to behold in a sporting car, and the big Lexus whooshes impressively off the line. You can of course dial everything down into a timid ‘Eco’ mode, which artificially hobbles the power to save fuel. No bad thing at all, and don’t forget that you’re still sat in that entertainingly futuristic cockpit, with oodles of connectivity and excellent entertainment to keep you amused.

Split character cars like the LC are becoming increasingly popular, as enthusiasts search for machines that can snap between extremes at the push of a button. Lexus’s hybrid system goes head to with BMW’s i8 in the high tech stakes, although each car offers a very different approach to styling and ethos. As the next decade dawns the super coupé typology will celebrate a century of style. You can expect the next generation of beautifully bold machines to follow the LC’s lead and turn technology into their greatest asset.

INFORMATION
Lexus LC 500h, from £80,595. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Slowly but surely, Lexus as a brand is making more sense, from newly consistent design to (finally) coming-of-age hybrid technology, especially so, given the dirty cloud of uncertainty that dieselgate has created and still hangs over that particular choice of fuel.

The new ES executive saloon – aimed at rivals including the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class and Jaguar XF – is Lexus’s latest product to reinforce this theory, boasting curvy and full exterior lines, petrol-electric hybrid-only power in Western Europe plus V6 petrol units elsewhere.

The new ES is the seventh generation of the car. The model has been sold since 1989 but this is the first version to be sold globally. Western Europe is a key new market where it will arrive for the first time in early 2019 and where it effectively replaces the slow-selling rear-wheel drive four-door coupe GS.

The ES is front-wheel drive and shares its underpinnings with sister brand Toyota’s next Camry (which is also due become a global car again). This new platform allows the ES to be made more cost-effectively while also creating the space for better proportions than the old version. Longer (+65 mm), lower (-5 mm) and wider (+45 mm) it also has a lower bonnet line, a stretched wheelbase (+50 mm) and wheels nudged further to the car’s corners. All of which, makes the car look more planted on the road. Cliché maybe, but the changes work. Lexus’s signature spindle grille returns and now with vertical bars inside and a much more dramatic shape and curvature. It’s a sophisticated front face, enhanced again on the F-Sport model through a wider black cross-hatch pattern to those vertical lines.

The cabin is predictably quiet, comfortable and full of high quality materials – Lexus has been renowned for these attributes for decades – but what is more surprising, aside from the still-fiddly touchpad controlling the infotainment screen – is the big step-up in driving experience. The regular 218hp 2.5 litre, four-cylinder, petrol-electric ES 300h accelerates briskly (0-62 mph in 8.9 secs) and sounds good while doing so, steers with precision, plus offers quick gearshifts via the steering wheel-mounted paddles.

In F-Sport trim Eco, Normal and Sport modes enable more responsive engine, transmission and suspension settings and that trim adds adaptive variable suspension to keep the car steady and poised even over poor road surfaces. The petrol-only 350hp ES 350 V6 is also fantastic to drive, in a similarly contrasting way to the Lexus LC 500 V8 and its hybrid LC500h counterpart, but if you want to benefit from excellent economy and emissions figures for tax and fuel savings (early estimates suggest 60.1 mpg and 106g/km of CO2), the hybrid ES 300h is still the one to go for.

Standard kit and pricing are yet to be confirmed as well, given that the car doesn’t go on sale in Europe until early 2019, but expect specification to be high and include the second-generation Lexus Safety System+ with ‘daytime cyclist detection’ and a range between £36,000 - £45,000 in the UK. Even by then, there will be little on the market to match it – its premium European rivals are still dominated by diesel power and few offer straight hybrids – so Lexus, and its smart new ES could carve out a significant niche.

INFORMATION
Lexus ES, released in Europe in early 2019. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Business lounges might offer comfier seating, plenty of plug sockets and free pastries, but beyond these perks they rarely provide a feeling of true luxury. The Loft at Brussels Airport is a perfect example of this, kitted out as it is with functional, IKEA-like furniture that has more than a whiff of a Pret a Manger about it.

Not so the Lounge by Lexus, a brand new space adjoining The Loft. Designed by Fitch, this carefully executed brand extension could so easily have gone the obvious route – think stereotypically ‘masculine’ mahoganies and monogrammed textiles reminiscent of car interiors. Instead, the design team has created a light, luxe and interactive environment inspired by the Japanese concept of ‘omotenashi’ – hospitality catering to your guest’s every need.

The 700 sq m space is delineated by a variety of flooring: wood, marble and grey mosaic, which helps guide people through the various seating sections such as a central bar area where guests can help themselves to food and drink or cosy armchairs to relax in before a flight. The workstation, with its floating desk and high chairs is a clear contrast to the sofas, magazines and surround sound speakers in the homely ‘breakout room’.

For those with a long wait on their hands, there are impressive spa facilities including a huge shower with a ‘hammam’ option and LED lighting to set the mood. The private nap rooms are pretty special: a comfy bed and a ceiling of lights initiating the night sky, with a remote control to select a galaxy colourway. Before this, travellers may want to receive a surprisingly thorough and warming Shiatsu massage in one of the Panasonic ‘Real Pro Hot Stone’ chairs.

Lexus have largely steered clear of too much overt branding: of course there are hints throughout but it’s never overdone. You get the odd framed photographs and car models on shelving, a huge collage of mechanical parts (spray painted white) and the occasional discretely placed logo. These will all no doubt provide ‘Instagrammable’ moments to help spread the company’s lifestyle ethos to a wider audience.

The airport experience is all too often encumbered with boredom and fatigue, decked out with functional furniture that reflects the transient nature of these unavoidable places. The Lounge by Lexus has convenient, fun and welcoming features that will undoubtedly alleviate the stress and ennui of many a business class traveller.

INFORMATION

Lounge by Lexus can be used by business class travellers on Brussels Airlines and Star Alliance Airlines. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Lexus is sitting in a pretty sweet spot right now. The Japanese luxury brand has always promoted itself as a technology-led purveyor of excellence, enthusiastically spelling out the myriad ways in which engineering-led obsessions have honed and refined its products.

It was one of the first car companies to go all-in on hybrid propulsion, and while its design direction has swerved between classical but bland and awkwardly avant-garde, the underlying message is one of technology reigning supreme. In Milan and elsewhere, it curates wide-ranging shows that celebrate all aspects of material culture, presenting itself as true patron of art and industry.

Surprisingly, the company has occasionally deviated from this line. Back in 2012 Lexus launched the devastatingly capable LFA, a hand-built supercar designed to tarry at the heels of Ferrari, Porsche and McLaren. It wasn’t replaced, but did usher in the ‘F’ performance suffix, revealing that the company still had one eye on this most traditional of routes to the high-end consumer: power. Arguably, with the hugely impressive LC500 the company has done just that, creating a compelling alternative to a Mercedes S-Class Coupe or BMW 8-Series.

This, however, is the RC F, the swiftest, lairiest version of Lexus’s mid-range coupe. It is not a thing of subtle beauty. From the distinctive raw carbon fibre bonnet and boot through to the flared wheel-arches and bevvy of electronic trickery, it’s intended as a purposeful riposte to German dominance. It’s certainly a brave manufacturer that decides to go after a class leader and beat it at its own game. For over 30 years, if you wanted a swift and svelte coupe the number one choice was BMW’s M3. Lexus originally built their brand essence on exacting and superlative imitation of what already existed, painstakingly benchmarking every facet of luxury motoring until they were sure they could do it better.

The RC F is an entertaining car to drive, but in its desire to be all things to everyone it loses a bit of that essential Lexus quality. By swapping out hybrid drive for a thumping great V8 it certainly delivers impressive performance, but at the expense of one of Lexus’s key differentiators. It doesn’t best the BMW, or even the Audi and Mercedes, either dynamically or visually. It’s comfortable, certainly, but in-car tech is moving on quick and this car feels a generation behind even though it has a standard equipment list that shames most other brands.

For the diehard Lexus aficionado who doesn’t wish to forsake the brand, the RC F will be a suitable sidekick, rather than a daily driver. For those who want a truer expression of the brand, the LC500 is a true high-tech super coupe. On the track, the RC F would almost certainly be the marque’s quickest car since the LFA; is this really a true reflection of future luxury?

INFORMATION
Lexus RC F, from £69,310. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Lexus has been involved in Salone del Mobile since 2005, committing vast resources to an increasingly spectacular series of installations. From 2013 onwards, the company introduced the Lexus Design Awards, an open competitions that has broadened the debate about what design is and who it is for. 2018’s judging panel of Sir David Adjaye, Alice Rawsthorn, Shigeru Ban, Paola Antonelli, Birgit Lohmann and Lexus President Yoshihiro Sawa had to sift through around 1400 entries all submitted under the broad theme of ‘Co-’, implying some form of collaboration or connection. Proposals were both prosaic and elegant, hypothetical and practical and were whittled down to 12, with four finalists mentored and prototypes developed.

The Event itself was part of the ongoing transformation of this globally significant design fair into an adventure playground for brands, leveraging the connection between creativity, innovation and generous marketing budgets. This year, Lexus’s space was shaped by Sota Ichikawa of Tokyo-based dNA (doubleNegatives Architecture). Located behind the elegant Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Ichikawa and his team transformed a dark room into a shimmering temple of light, using a single laser light source and nearly 12,000 suspended threads to create a breathtaking dynamic experience. The moving laser caught each thread – carefully set out so that none were shadowed – to illuminate a constantly changing landscape above our heads.

Sota Ichikawa for Lexus Design Event

Alongside the Ichikawa room there was an exhibition area dedicated to the finalists, including the four prototypes and a projection-mapping display featuring the company’s newest concept, the L 1 Limitless. As Lexus’s Yoshihiro Sawa explained, the event was about ‘explaining our design philosophy,’ while also acknowledging that Milan has become a competition between car brands. ‘It’s a unique festival – designers and journalists come from all over the world. They’re looking for trends.’

Lexus and its peers might not see it this way, but we’re now in an era where the word ‘design’ has become debased to the point of irrelevance. Instead, Lexus’s involvement at Salone charts our changing relationship with material culture, and how every discipline must now search out new ways of making things to deal with new challenges in our world.

Extrapolation Factory’s kit-like installation ‘Testing Hypotheticals’, developed by Elliott P. Montgomery and Chris Woebken. The design proposed a series of workshops to investigate how we live, right down to the nuts and bolts of how houses, kitchens, bathrooms, can evolve to become more efficient and relevant. The duo were mentored by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Studio Formafantasma


Lexus itself is undergoing the slow but inevitable change into a ‘mobility’ company, as our relationship with desiring, choosing and owning a private car gradually evolves – even at the luxury end of the market (the irony of sitting in choking Milanese traffic during the short trip between hotel and installation was not lost on us).

The Lexus Design Event has evolved into a symbiotic and in-depth relationship with creative culture that Lexus hopes goes beyond just winning or losing. ‘Design is no longer about products, but about thinking,’ David Adjaye told us, ‘this project is about design in a global sense. I’m always looking for ideas beyond what I can imagine, and ways to use technology not for technology’s sake. Design can play a role in helping people navigate the world. It’s not about making more things.’ Ultimately, the car was not the star. For this luxury technology brand, the future can't come fast enough.

Designer Eriko Yokoi was mentored by architect Sou Fujimoto during the development of her elegant recycling solution. The textile design postgraduate created the Recycled Fiber Planter (left) as a way of blending waste clothing with immediate environmental benefits, in this case as a container for greening living spaces

Malaysian studio aesthetid took their Honest Egg idea through to prototype stage. Paul Yong Rit Fui and Jaihar Jailani Bin Ismail’s idea uses an intelligent ink pigment to illustrate when an egg needs to be eaten before it goes bad. The duo hope to cut down on the global problem of food waste and were mentored by Jessica Walsh of NY studio Sagmeister & Walsh

INFORMATION

The Lexus Design Event continues until 22 April 2018 in Milan. For more information, visit the Lexus Design Award website

Geneva used to be a place for imagining wondrous and not-so-real motor cars. The annual motor show was a stage for fictional products and fantastical scenarios. Nowadays realism appears to have taken hold. Most show cars are previewed under embargo weeks in advance; some are intentionally leaked leaving little room for suspense. Walking the soulless Palexpo halls, the setup feels a touch archaic – as if echoing the traditional combustion engine that still powers most of these cars. Maybe it is time to rethink the motor show model.

This is not to say all the products displayed here are to be dismissed. This year’s motor show sends a clear message that electric driving in all forms and shapes, from entry to supercar level, is a reality and it is imminent. It is also refreshing to see a confidence in the design of these sustainable products with some carmakers showing an intellectual, measured approach – finding interesting, visually compelling solutions to help direct an industry tentatively navigating its way to a new era of mobility. This alone makes Geneva worthy of the trip.

Tesla agitated traditional carmakers when Elon Musk showed the possibilities of electric technology – his cars refuse to compromise on design or performance, altering the landscape of electric cars. Now Jaguar’s I-Pace sets out to continue this dialogue. This is the marque’s first pure electric product. It is also an attractive, practical, performance car. It will certainly challenge the publics’ image of electrification.

Check out the seven best concept cars from Geneva Motor Show 2018 here – expect flying vehicals and AI masterpieces...

Speaking with Jaguar’s creative director Ian Callum at the show, while the company will continue with combustion engine cars, he feels there is an opportunity to ‘take a ground on this and become an electric car company,’ he says. ‘With I-Pace, we have made a stance and a declaration, and we should continue on this.’

The performance electric car genre was explored elsewhere too. Porsche showed its intentions with Mission E Cross Turismo while sister company Audi’s E-Tron Prototype is a fully-functioning performance electric car, and Volkswagen’s Vizzion concept joins the progressive I.D. electric car range.

Motor show halls are always a clash of the brutal and aesthetic. The selection of extreme sports cars on display this year didn’t disappoint either. McLaren revealed the Senna GTR concept as the most powerful machine from Woking this side of a Formula One, Ferrari displayed the powerful 488 Pista, and Lamborghini a rather fierce looking Huracán Spyder.

At the adjoining Bentley stand, the Bentayga Hybrid SUV was on display alongside Phillippe Starck’s home battery charging dock. While the Rolls-Royce pavilion performed as a testimony to the marque’s unparalleled bespoke skills with yet more highly-crafted customised products on display. We were particularly drawn to a commissioned Phantom with a textile sculpture by London designer Helen Amy Murray for the interior ‘gallery’, and the Spirit of Ecstasy clad in rose gold.

Here’s our choice of the best in-production and near-production cars…

BMW Concept M8

Ahead of the debuts of the production 8-Series coupé and convertible later in the summer, BMW used the occasion of Geneva to present the exotic Concept M8 Gran Coupé, a performance saloon study car with the fashionable coupé styling, long wheelbase and short overhang. The yellow lights are a tribute to Le Mans. Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group creative director says Concept M8 Gran Coupé ‘embodies the next stage of our vehicle design language.’ It also previews a later, four-door version of the 8 Series due in 2019.

Jaguar I-Pace

Jaguar’s first pure electric vehicle explores a more sustainable design theme for the marque. The I-Pace proportions reflect the battery-electric technology powering the car for this cab-forward profile instead of the typical long Jaguar bonnet. Much of the design is dictated by aerodynamics to achieve a drag coefficient of just 0.29. The low bonnet is therefore curved in a way that allows air to flow seamlessly across; there is a sweeping roofline and squared-off blunt rear, while flush door handles help direct air away from the volume of the car. ‘The electric powertrain offered us unprecedented design freedom,’ says design director Ian Callum. ‘We have produced a concept car for the road.’

The face takes on a more conventional turn to continue the contemporary Jaguar theme. The grille design maximises airflow through the integral bonnet scoop and over the windscreen onto the roofline to reduce drag. Airflow for battery cooling and the climate control system passes through the grille and active vanes in apertures in the front bumper, which open when required. Inside the car, the TFT digital display is joined by a couple of tactile rotary controls to feel more like a fighter-jet cockpit.

The I-Pace is powered by a 90kWh lithium-ion battery promising a range of almost 300 miles, while the combination of all-wheel drive, 400ps and 696Nm of instantaneous torque gives this clean performance car impressive acceleration, reaching zero to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds and with 80 per cent charging promised in just 40 minutes.

Callum says on the next e-project he would be more confident, revealing, ‘the next generation of this car will be a bit more rakish, a bit more radical.’ On sale now, from £63,000.

Lexus UX Urban

Lexus is firmly aiming for younger buyers with the latest UX. Designed for urbanites seeking easy manoeuvrability in the city, this compact crossover is the smallest vehicle in the expanding SUV family, sitting below the NX. It continues the current Lexus design theme including evolving the distinctive spindle grille with a block-shape mesh pattern. The cabin is spacious and airy with the upper deck of the instrument panel appearing to be extending out and beyond the windshield, and an optional material trim inspired by washi paper. A UX 250h hybrid model will also be available, pairing the same 2.0-litre engine as the normal model with battery power. On sale from 2019.

Porsche Mission E Cross Turismo

The pure-electric Mission E Cross Turismo concept study car joins the upcoming Mission E saloon in Porsche’s anticipated electric car family. It has four doors and four seats; the low-cut front bonnet visually relates to the 911, while overall package is inspired by the compact Macan crossover. Elements are translated from the Mission E saloon including the distinctive headlamps with four-spot LED daytime running lights, vents and body creases.

Like the E saloon, the car uses two permanent magnet synchronous motors offering some 600 horsepower, zero to 62 mph in less than 3.5 seconds, and a battery range of around 250 miles. Porsche is gauging public opinion with this ecological crossover saying the car ‘presents a picture as to what a Turismo model with features of a crossover utility vehicle could look in series production’.

McLaren Senna GTR

Following the announcement of the Senna supercar in the Ultimate Series, McLaren Automotive has revealed the Senna GTR concept at Geneva. This offers an extreme take on the road car to be the fastest non-Formula One machine created by the marque. For the GTR, the Senna’s twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 has been reworked so it now produces some 814 horsepower – up from the standard car’s 789. McLaren describes the drive as ‘race-style transmission’.

Ferrari 488 Pista

The track-focused 488 Pista mid-engine supercar is based on the marque’s standard 488 GTB with some modification and re-sculpting to improve aerodynamics and speed. This includes a new bonnet and front splitter, a large air intake sculpted into the bonnet to help air flow and at the rear the car is fitted with a large carbon-fibre diffuser.

This is one of Ferrari’s fastest road cars – power on the 3.9-litre twin-turbocharged V8 of the standard 488 has been boosted from 661 to 710 horsepower which, alongside some weight reduction, means this supercar can go from zero to 62mph in just 2.8 seconds while achieving a top speed of 211mph. On sale now, from £204,000

Range Rover SV Coupé

The Range Rover SV Coupé is the latest product to emerge from Jaguar Land Rover’s bespoke Special Vehicle Operations department in Warwickshire. Based on the Range Rover but with two doors and a swooping coupé roofline car, the SV further explores the marque’s interior craft skills offering novel materials within the automotive world, including bespoke tailored fabrics from Kvadrat.

‘SV allows you to amplify things,’ says Gerry McGovern, creative director at Land Rover. ‘This SV Coupé is very exclusive and very rare. Our Range Rover customers want to put their twist on their cars, although in this case most have opted for our curated design choice.’

Made in limited 999 numbers, the Range Rover SV Coupé celebrates the marque’s 70th anniversary year. It follows another limited-edition special project the Defender Works V8, unveiled earlier this month. Order books are open now, from £230,000.

Hyundai Kona Electric

Hyundai and Kia are offering electric versions of their popular SUVs in the form of this Kona Electric and the Niro Electric – both made in limited numbers to gauge the electric market. Debuting at Geneva the redesigned Santa Fe, the Kona Electric will be available in two versions with ranges of 186 miles or 292 miles per charge. The short-range teams a 39.2 kWh lithium-ion battery pack with an electric motor for 132 horsepower, while the more powerful has a 64.0 kWh battery pack, and makes 201 horsepower with both models promising 291 lbft of torque. On sale July 2018, from £30,000.

BMW X4

By 2020, BMW would like to be the world’s leading premium marque. This was the message delivered at the Geneva Motor Show with the company promising some 20 new and revised models by then starting with the X4, then the X2 and all-new X7 as well as extending the progressive electric i range to include the i4. Categorised as a sports activity vehicle – for it is a hybrid of coupé design with SUV promises – this second-generation X4 production car follows a similar design theme as the smaller X3. ‘We are going to make our design more distinct and focused,’ explains creative brand director Adrian van Hooydonk, ‘to offer clean modern exterior design with slim wide tail-lamps.’ On sale July 2018, from £41,000.

Audi A6

This is the upcoming A6 production car, on show at the Audi pavilion in Geneva alongside the pure-electric E-Tron crossover prototype. This is the executive saloon’s first re-design in six years and it follows the theme set out by the A8 and A7 Sportback to be polished and technical – the grille extending in width and height to take up a good portion of the car's fascia, while the LED tail lights extend the width of the car. All cars come with mild hybrid engines. Audi will reveal full details of the much-anticipated E-Tron in August. On sale June 2018, from £35,000.

Volvo V60

Volvo shared the allocated Geneva pavilion space with Polestar, the marque’s new electric sub-brand – one side designed in classic Scandinavian light natural wood, the other clean, dark and technical exhibiting the brand’s sole model the Polestar 1 hybrid making its European debut here. Volvo’s main exhibit was V60 estate, a roomier, high-tech premium redesign of the previous model. The petrol and diesel options will be joined later in the year by the T6 and T8 plug-in hybrid engines. On sale September 2018, from £31,000.

RM 11-03 McLaren

McLaren Automotive used the occasion of Geneva to reveal the RM 11-03 McLaren automatic flyback chronograph. This advanced technological watch has been created in collaboration with Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille as part of a ten-year relationship between the two companies. Elements on the watch observe some of the styling cues found on the exterior and interior of McLaren cars, while the highly technical and lightweight materials used to build this wristwatch, including carbon-fibre, are reflective of what constructs the high-performance super cars. Only 500 are planned with first refusal given to the 500 McLaren Senna owners. On sale now, from £137,000.

INFORMATION

The Geneva Motor Show 2018 runs from 8 March – 18 March 2018. For more information, visit the website

The cabin is remarkably quiet, bar the gentle hum of the air-con. The electric-hybrid engine powering this latest Lexus LS 500h is also smooth, and so we drive gently and in silence as the world around us echoes with construction work. We are in Oman heading towards Muscat where some major road expansion plans appear to be in order. And what could have been a gruelling nine-hour drive through the Al Hajar mountain range and vast empty lands, dotted with the odd truck and lonely camel, has been particularly gentle.

This is the fifth creation in the Lexus LS executive limousine family. It is the marque’s pinnacle car, and a hugely important model for the company. Though competition here is high, with Mercedes, Audi and BMW dominating the market with the S-Class, A8 and 7 Series respectively. Lexus is positioned here as the seductive alternative.

Design, therefore, is firmly concerned with eschewing perceived conventions for premium cars. Chief designer Koichi Suga says the key was to move away from the typical three-box design to a coupé-style silhouette. He offers this in explanation, ‘our goal was to create a car that is longer, lower and wider with a more powerful presence,’ which was achieved through the latest Lexus Global Architecture of Luxury (GA-L) platform that allows for such dynamic proportions. ‘Our sketches were drawn with an emphasis on a flowing silhouette and large tires,’ these being 20-inch alloys replete with noise-reduction technology.

The LS looks quite edgy due to these sporty proportions, as well as the bold and expressive spindle front grille design here flanked by compact, narrow, slit-shaped triple-LED headlights – a design subtly echoed at the rear. The six window profiles have flush surfaces and a slim panoramic glass roof opens externally to flood our car with a great deal of natural light.

Lexus sees itself as the pioneer of a new visual vocabulary that expresses modern Japan’s advancements and obsession with gadgetry as well as honouring the intricate craftsmanship of old Japan. So, the LS interior is almost a gallery for the marque’s artisan skills.

For instance, it took four years to perfect ‘hand pleat’, the origami-style fabric pleating technique that can be specified for the door panels and on higher-spec models. It requires individual sheets of fabric to be folded so that the finished three-dimensional panel changes appearance from day to night and with ambiance cabin lighting. The process can only be carried out by the expert Lexus Takumi craftspeople who have over 25-years’ experience.

The hand pleat feature appeared in the car we were driven in the previous night. The LS is a car that will typically be chauffeured in certain parts of the world, like here in the Middle East, and so we needed to experience it as rear passengers too. This Premier trim model also comes with an ornamental glasswork panel based on the ancient Japanese ‘kiriko’ glass-making technique which plays with and reflects light. Finally, the ‘art wood’ finishes use a precise technique of working with timber veneers to imagine new patterns. One option works with laser technology to cut through the veneer to expose a sub-layer of metal so the pattern resembles the way the Lexus L-motif is embedded in the signature Lexus spindle grille design.

The grille theme, we also learn, is inspired by the artwork of old Japan as an intricate mesh with 5,000 individual surfaces (7,000 on the pinnacle F-Sport) taking six months to master by skilled Lexus CAD modellers. Chief designer Suga says when we enter the car he hopes that we have ‘an immediate sense that we are looking at an interior that’s unlike any luxury car you’ve seen before.’

The LS cockpit is a driver-focused space with all functions in direct view and reach of the driver which can leave the front passenger a little lonely. A flowing metal structure dominates the dashboard and conceals the air vents. Most trim levels come with soft, comfortable heat-adjustable seats. There is plenty of leg and head room, especially for rear passengers who can adjust height, slide, recline and enjoy fold-down screens and 19-speaker Mark Levinson stereo. In the car we were chauffeured in, my co-passenger also got to experience the ottoman function that lowers the front passenger seat headrest to smoothly move the seat for over a meter of legroom, ideal for when the car is chauffer driven. Finally, there is a menu of specialist shiatsu massage with thumb-like pressure for all occupants to enjoy.

The LS is bursting with technology. The latest Safety System+ A, for instance, offers a host of features such as CoDrive; an invisible co-pilot of sorts that will keep the car in its lane if you just lightly touch the steering wheel, and switches between lanes if the driver holds the indicator in its halfway down position. Lexus also offers a more advanced pedestrian safety system that can swerve and brake to avoid a collision, as well as a reverse monitor that can differentiate between pedestrians and static objects.

The LS 500h mixes a 295bhp 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine with two electric motors. Lexus says the combined output is 354 bhp, economy 39.7 mpg and CO2 emissions around 161g/km. The company’s advanced Multi Stage Hybrid System drives this car. Its advantage over conventional hybrids is that power from the V6 and electric motor can be amplified by the automatic transmission for greater drive power when accelerating allowing 0-62mph on the four-wheel-drive model to be around 5.4 seconds and a second faster on the all-wheel-drive.

The flagship LS is vital to the marque’s perceived value in Europe with the company aiming to increase sales here to reach 100,000 units by 2020 with 99 percent of sales being hybrids. ‘Not only will the LS symbolise the Lexus brand,’ offers LS chief engineer Toshia Asahi, ‘it will become the definitive new generation luxury car, embodying Japanese tradition and culture.’

Lexus is aware that it is competing with heritage brands grounded in strong values. This cannot be easy in old markets like Europe, and in this more conservative of sectors. Yet, Lexus appears to be confident. It certainly isn’t afraid not to iron out eccentricity. Its customers, apparently, are more adventurous; they are actively looking for an alternative drive. So perhaps, LS’s bold design, technological edge, quirky Takumi craft additions, and omotenashi, the sense of Japanese hospitality, makes this LS a worthy alternative.

INFORMATION
Lexus LS 500h, from £72,000

The bi-annual Tokyo Motor Show is a perfect snapshot of the auto industry’s ever-closer relationship to technology. The big three shifts coming down the road are EVs, autonomous driving and connected cars, and it was the latter theme that underpinned this, the 45th Tokyo show. Although usurped by start-ups in China and the US in recent years, the Japanese industry can still lay claim to being the world’s most sophisticated, both in terms of manufacturing superiority and a welcoming attitude towards technology that speeds up innovation and adoption.

The show’s strapline was ‘Beyond the Motor’, and the emphasis was very much on how cars are used and configured and not how they were actually powered; EVs and hybrids are pretty much taken for granted at this point, but connectivity is the final piece in the jigsaw. A futuristic set of interactive displays used video game tech to illustrate the connected future, turning the car from an individual space into a social one, as well as pooling the information gathered by traffic and feeding it back into your individual demands. For example, feedback from cars already stuck in city centre traffic would be sent back to drivers setting out from the suburbs and give them a chance to re-route or even re-consider their journey.

The big car makers showed a huge variety of concepts, from single-person transporters to sleek traditional saloons and cars that docked with private homes, all reinforcing the message that mobility is a holistic, all-encompassing state of mind, and not just about traditional family car ownership. VR presentations were ubiquitous, with simulations offering up ways to experience autonomous driving, information presentation, even facial recognition systems that detected whether a driver was alert or falling asleep at the wheel. The industry’s myriad suppliers were out in force, beavering away turning the prosaic bits of cars into signposts to the future, from lights to seats to in-car entertainment. The occasional quirky outlier – Yamaha’s bike-riding Motorbot, Takayama Cars’ bizarre telescopic mobile kitchen car – add richness to the stew. Here’s our pick of the best of Tokyo Motor Show.

Mazda: Mazda’s Tokyo display was slightly different from its peers, in that the emphasis was on beauty and emotion, not the nuts and bolts of the technology underneath. The company has been ploughing a lonely furrow with this approach in recent years, but all signs point to it paying off; even the lowliest Mazda has a design pizzaz that’s almost utterly absent in its rivals. The company consolidated its grip on ‘elegant’ design – the so-called ‘Kodo’ approach – with the Vision Coupe (pictured), a big, handsome four-door coupe that was lavishly finished and finely detailed, even it wasn’t entirely on brand. Mazda also showed the more credible Kai concept, a beautifully detailed vision of tomorrow’s city car that emphasised the sculptural over the cute. Elsewhere, the company was pushing its new collaboration with Shiseido, the venerable Japanese perfume brand, reasoning that scent was one of the last sensual bastions not conquered by car makers.

Nissan: It’s all about electric mobility for Nissan, currently at the forefront of the company’s EV industry thanks to its long-term investment and experienced garnered with the original Leaf, one of the world’s best-selling electric cars. Leaf Mk2 is now on sale – the company showed a Nismo performance version at Tokyo – but the big news was a new concept, the IMx, yet another crossover concept but one which boasts a range of around 600km, as well as a speculative ProPILOT autonomous system and the capacity to shuffle around the interior to make a more social space – a common theme.

Toyota: This was a big show for Toyota, which has seen its traditional market dominance gradually nibbled away over recent years. Despite being a hybrid pioneer, it was slow to embrace the pure EV and continues to invest heavily in hydrogen, a technology the jury has yet to pass a verdict on. As well as announcing the Drive to Go concept store – aimed at getting young people into car-sharing without committing to buy – the company ran the gamut, from the properly futuristic Concept-i (pictured) and its companion, the Concept-i RIDE, through to the shark-nosed HV sport – a clear play for the heart-strings of the Western driving enthusiast to the ultra-boxy but well-conceived FJ Concept and the incredibly but majestically old-fashioned Century, ‘Japan’s Rolls-Royce’, out of time in terms of style and approach but massively charming nonetheless.

Honda: As part of the Tokyo Connected Lab display, Honda showed a cartoonish but not incredible depiction of tomorrow’s connected suburban home, complete with boxy, dockable people carrier, the le-Mobi, which doubles up as extra living space and a Pixar-like home robot/lawnmower, the Ai-Miimo Concept, pottering about the front yard, picking up parcels and chatting with the neighbours, as well as a myriad number of mobility devices that play to the country’s ageing demographic. On its main stand, Honda showed everything from 1950s style mopeds to the high-tech NSX supercar. Star of the show, however, was the Sports EV Concept (pictured), a companion to the Newson-esque City EV concept, all soft curves and beautifully minimal high-tech interior.

Daihatsu: Not to be outdone, Toyota’s small car subsidiary Daihatsu showed the DN Compagno (pictured), a delightful mini-scale four-door coupe with clear hints of Italian coachbuilding. Japanese retro-modernism at its desirable best. The company also had the DN U Space, a box on wheels, pushing the idea as the car as little more than white goods.

Suzuki: Mobility means many things, and Suzuki showed a proper mobility scooter in amongst its cute mini SUVs, notably the bulbous x-Bee, which continued the country’s tradition of aesthetically similar Tall Vans, offered by almost every manufacturer to squeeze into laws governing certain maximum vehicle sizes. Suzuki also had the e-Survivor (pictured), a push me-pull you styled futuristic small off-roader.

Lexus: Perhaps overshadowed by parent group Toyota’s wide range of cutting-edge concepts, Lexus had a relatively low-key show. Its LS+ Concept previewed the next generation of the company’s mid-range luxury car, complete with comprehensive autonomous driving skills and styling that extended the signature ‘spindle’ grille into a kind of fishnet-style wrapping across the front of the car.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Tokyo Motor Show website

Our twenty-minute drive is scrupulously planned. It involves an elaborate theatre of surprise ‘experiences’ organised by an independent events agency and designed to make catchy and colourful social feeds for the influencers amongst our small group of journalists. So, we join a staged wedding replete with flamingo dancers, are pulled over by an acting policeman; acrobatic dancers posing as road workers almost jump on the car bonnet, as we arrive at what could have been an idyllic Ibizan bay for a crew of aggressive dancers moving to the beat of Uptown Funk, the chart-topping track by Mark Ronson who happens to be the car’s brand ambassador. It feels like an entirely missed opportunity, for the Lexus LC 500 coupé is a fine product with little need for such crude distractions.

This is a pinnacle car for Lexus, representing the Japanese marque’s bold ambitions to be a luxury maker of daring, distinctive, provocative cars that are fun to drive. Only two models of this front-engine, rear-wheel drive car are on offer – a 467bhp V8 and a more ecological hybrid linking a 295bhp 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine to an electric motor for a 354bhp power output. Lexus claims a sub-five second sprint from 0-62 mph on both models which come with ten-speed gearboxes, a first for Lexus, and a choice of three trim levels – Standard, Sport and Sport+ – with the last two swapping the glass panoramic roof with lighter carbonfibre.

The following day we convince the organisers that a car needs to be driven to be reviewed, and so are granted a set of keys for the morning. The previous day’s ride had been the hybrid LC and – as far as it is possible to judge in such a brief and interrupted time – it is fun to drive. Uphill, the V6 kicks in letting out a seductive roar, then on descend towards the coast, easing off the pedals, the engine switches to electric mode and, like a surfer, it glides into corners on clean energy and in sheer silence.

In contrast, today’s V8 model offers a continuous sweet roar as we drive along the island’s twisting hilly roads. Our bright yellow Lexus LC feels less brash in Ibiza, the sun mellowing its tone and the colour blending with the island’s wild and golden landscape as we drive inland and north through pretty villages, pass the dramatic Es Vedra rock formation as it appears and then suddenly vanishes, and onto La Granja, one of many ecological oasis hidden amongst untamed forests with the bright lights of San Antonio Bay in the long distance.

This relatively young company, born in 1989 with the launch of the LS, is generally associated with solid, safe cars – family saloons and SUVs. Yet going forward Lexus wants to be radical; it has ambitions to create exciting products, each model line boasting its own distinctive look with identifiable visual links. Elements such as the spindle grille and the use of the ‘L’ motif in the lights will help form a family bond.

The LC design is based on the LF-LC concept car of 2012. Lexus calls its current design theme ‘L-finesse’ and defines it as the application of edgy design and technology with a touch of, unsurprisingly, finesse. With its rakish looks, and the provocative angular exterior design, the LC is certainly not timid. There is a great deal of visual drama here, with elements of Japanese referencing (such as the Samurai sword) dotted in and around the car.

The marque describes the LC as a sports car with GT leanings – the grand touring element hinting to a car that will drive four in relative comfort over long distances. Perhaps this claim is more attuned to the hybrid model, nevertheless the low set front seats, which we’re told took some years to master, are perfectly comfortable.

The LC is very much driver-focused – it feels like a racing cockpit with the instruments enveloping the driver and the main pedals ergonomically positioned. Much effort has been placed on making the interior luxurious and sporty – tactile leather seats and steering wheel, prominent stitching, an analogue clock – although there are perhaps a few too many buttons on and around the steering wheel which can be distracting to the driver.

Some 6,000 cars will be produced annually with the US representing the main market, and the two models are equally priced from £76,595 to £90,000 depending on spec when they go on sale here in the summer.

Japanese car marques have sometimes struggled with finding their own unique visual voice. Often the visual references can be a little crude – too much of a focus on old or new Japan. Being the pinnacle car for Lexus, the LC has had to be bold to be the highest expression for this new, confident Lexus. It is a brave proposition, but also a welcome addition to the crowded sports car market.

INFORMATION
Lexus LC500, from £76,595. For more information, visit the Lexus website

Hybrid, electric and autonomous technologies promise a revolution in the way cars are shaped and packaged, yet the truth is that the boundaries aren’t yet being pushed. Lexus is one of the few car makers striking out on a path of incorporating hybrid drive systems in all its models, although it will sell you a petrol-only model should you so desire. At the same time, the Japanese luxury brand has attempted to redefine the avant-garde, conjuring up a new design language that satisfies both the traditional high-end car customer and those in search of something a little more cutting-edge.

The new RX450h is where these ambitions collide. A large-size hybrid SUV, the RX series has been a mainstay of the Lexus line-up since the very first model back in 1997. RXs do especially well in the US, where the appetite for big, comfy cars is undiminished, but it’s also an increasingly visible presence on European roads. The marque was famously created from scratch by Toyota, a luxury brand without a heritage but with a fistful of focus groups instead. Meticulous research paid off from the outset, and although the first Lexii (copyright Douglas Coupland) were conventionally styled to the point of anonymity, the past few years has seen a sea change in the corporate approach.

Contemporary Lexus is striving for a third way in automotive design, eschewing convention without casting off the obvious constraints of things like wheels and doors and headlights. In the absence of self-driving pods or building-climbing concepts (witness the company’s Lexus-badged vision for the 2002 film Minority Report), Lexus is making the best of what it’s got, pushing for angles, creases, lines and surfaces that no other manufacturer dares to embrace. Although we suspect Lexus’ team would like nothing better than to sit around making expressionist sculptures all day long, they’re also in the business of transportation design.

As a result, the RX is a bold addition to a genre that was born deeply conventional. It is undeniably different, a rolling barometer of personal taste. For some, the angular front end, dominated by what the company has dubbed the ‘spindle’ grill, is the absolute epitome of automotive modernism. It’s often said that car designers only have a few centimetres of depth to work their magic on a car body surface, as dictated by the fixed and immovable location of engineering hard points below. The RX pushes this maxim further than most with a series of deep creases and kinks that do a good job of concealing the otherwise deeply conservative SUV body shape.

On the road, the benefits of hybrid drive are felt immediately. This is a car that starts and glides away in total silence, with the highly refined engine only cutting in when required. For bursts of speed, the battery pack delivers an extra whoosh to the car’s accelerative powers. The in-car entertainment and navigation falls a little short of class best, relying on Lexus’ brave but ultimately doomed decision to use a cursor-based screen selector, operated by moving a little joystick. It feels and looks wobbly and lacks feedback or user satisfaction.

The RX is still a class leader, although the differentiation of design is starting to give way to those who prioritise tech over form. Tesla’s Model X is an obvious rival, as is the forthcoming Jaguar i-PACE, both all-electric cars that mate innovation with interesting form. At a company as design-driven as Lexus, we expect great things in the years to come, as its many years of experience are leverage to let form be given the free reign its designers so obviously desire.

INFORMATION
Lexus RX450h, from £51,495. For more information, visit the Lexus website

The Lexus RC must be glancing nervously over its shoulder. Waiting in the wing is the new LC500, a much more serious proposition that the company hopes will take it into the big league of luxury coupes offered by Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar. Right now, the more modest RC is the best-looking model Lexus makes by a country mile.

A mid-sized four-seater coupe, it has rakish looks and fluted, angular bodywork that is the best deployment of the company’s current design language to date, especially from the rear. Design inspiration came partly from the LFA supercar, just 500 of which were built at the turn of the decade, and under the skin the company has deployed its full technological arsenal.

The RC competes in the segment that has been dominated for many years by BMW’s 3-Series coupe, which is the default choice of ‘real’ drivers everywhere. That’s not to say the Japanese challenger isn’t worthy of your attention. In 300h spec it offers a convincing performance hybrid mode, with the silent running, smooth, low-emission features that characterise all Lexus’ mixed-powertrain cars.

It’s fast and comfortable and comes with a bucketload of gadgets and screens (Lexus doesn’t believe in making customers tick their way through expensive lists of optional extras), making ownership a truly premium experience. In ‘Premier’ trim you get the multi-speakered Mark Levinson sound system, a long-running collaboration that ensures Lexus interiors are blessed with excellent sounds.

Hybrid systems haven’t really filtered down to the coupe segment just yet, so in that respect the RC stands alone. There’s a much more focused RC F model that uses a 470bhp 5.0 litre V8, or a more modest 200t that does away with the hybrid system. The 300h straddles both worlds, not entirely successfully when it comes to performance and dynamic comparisons with its rivals.

Where it scores highly is in practicality; excellent economy, low emissions and a city-friendly near silent driveline matter more than they ever have done before, future-proofing this model ahead of its more in-your-face siblings. Can the upcoming LC take Lexus style to an even higher level?

INFORMATION

Lexus RC300h Premier, from £41,495. For more information, visit the Lexus website

We're in Switzerland on a road trip of sorts to familiarise ourselves with Lexus. The Japanese marque has organised visits to a handful of companies – brands it feels will subtly express its own identity. It's a somewhat unusual exercise. We visit the interactive new Nestlé 'Nest' museum, the TAG Heuer factory, and Charlie Chaplin’s stunning, if surreal, Swiss residence, Chaplin’s World. We also learn to make origami cats, using our less dominant hand, in under 90 seconds.



The Nest is about customer relations, TAG provides a journey into intricate craftsmanship, in Charlie’s private cinema we are premiered a couple of short films sponsored by Lexus and produced by Harvey Weinstein, and the origami master-class reveals the level of performance expected from Lexus' elite craftspeople.



For a car company, particularly a premium maker, this is an unconventional manner of storytelling. Yet, Lexus is an unusual marque. You could say it is a little bit of a dark horse, not quite as established and polished as its German rivals – BMW, Audi and Mercedes – but nevertheless containing a quiet charm and capable of bold, expressive designs.



As we end our whirlwind of activities and settle into Palafitte, itself an unusual hotel built on stilts over Lake Neuchâtel, we learn that Lexus has bold ambitions to be a luxury maker of daring, distinctive and provocative cars starting with the upcoming pinnacle LC 500 coupé.



Lexus is in the midst of a design evolution that is expanding on the marque’s underlying principle of 'L-finesse' – a term coined to roughly mean the application of edge design and technology, with a touch of panache. This young company, formed in 1989, has ambitions to create exciting products, each model line boasting its own distinctive look, yet with an identifiable visual link. Elements such as the spindle grille, the use of the 'L' motif in the lights and treatments such as the diamond-shape in the NX crossover will help form a family bond.



Behind this daring design thinking is parent company Toyota Motor Corporation's president Akio Toyoda who himself comes from the creative world. Under his direction, every model in the range has been updated in the past few years with new cars being introduced in different segments to attract a wider audience. This includes younger buyers which the company hopes to court through the new F Sport bespoke tailoring service.



The new range is undeniably dramatic in its appearance – somewhat contrasting the softer side of Lexus. The LC high-performance coupé, for instance, maintains so much of the concept car’s drama as to almost look like a show car. Yet, behind these big explosive narratives lies subtler stories of omotenashi and Takumi that echo old Japan.



Omotenashi is the spirit of hospitality which informs the Lexus philosophy of putting the customer, the user, at the centre of everything from design to engineering, sales – even when dealing with the press. Following our visit to the Lexus exhibition at Salone del Mobile earlier this year, we had an email from one of the chief designers enquiring over our observations, in order, he wrote, to help inform his future work. We had similar correspondence on our return from Switzerland. This level of openness and curiosity is highly unusual for a car company.



The Takumi are an elite group of craftspeople who inspect every single car that comes off the production line, detecting the kind of blemishes only visible to the trained eye. They come with at least 25 years’ experience, and one of their qualifying tests is the origami task we were put through in Switzerland.



We were also given the chance to test the range of hybrid cars on Swiss roads. Lexus was one of the first premium carmakers to invest in sustainable technology for production cars, introducing the RX 400h SUV as far back as 2005. Now, almost every line offers a hybrid model. Next year the number will grow to include the radical LC 500h which premiers the firm’s most advanced Multi Stage Hybrid System technology. For 2020, the engineers are planning the zero-emissions LF-FC fuel cell production car.



The products may not appeal to all, but it is refreshing to see such radical statements expressed in the often cautious premium car world. As a company, this is an intriguing one too – at once restrained and radical, old-school conservative and thoroughly modern. Lexus runs numerous programmes to actively support the arts and in particular young creatives, while not necessarily striving for much self publicity in the process.



The two movies from the Lexus Short Films series screened in Charlie’s cinema are of outstanding quality. In particular, French filmmaker Alexis Michalik’s tense Friday Night delivered a compelling story that captures the love of a mother and daughter, staged in Paris on the eve of the 2015 terrorist attacks.



The annual Lexus Design Awards in Milan is also an inspiring programme that sees four of the 12 young international finalists develop their ideas into prototypes. This year’s winner, the Japanese collective AMAM, has had a great deal of interest from companies who will be using its innovative algae based Agar Plasticity concept for ecological packaging.



Recently, Lexus showed that it can let loose a little too, by creating a fully functioning hoverboard, which the company sadly says will remain an experimental prototype.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Lexus website

This year's Salone del Mobile saw a bevy of car brands catch the design bug. Here's our edit of the best.



Setsuna by Toyota: This wooden roadster concept explores the value of a car beyond mere driving. The functioning roadster is conceptualised to explore our relationship with our vehicles, our memories, history and the physical ageing process.



The Setsuna is constructed using 86 handmade wooden panels chosen according to weight, durability and stiffness, and assembled using the traditional Japanese wood joinery method of okuri ari

Car companies are increasingly finding their way to Milan in a bid to absorb the creative spirit of Salone del Mobile; it makes sense to be involved in the wider design world given the car’s ongoing evolution from a vehicle for transport to a multi-functioning product and advanced tech gadget.



This year, Toyota presented an unusual study car as part of Fuorisalone, away from the main trade show in the vibrant Tortona design district. The Setsuna is made of wood, and at first glance it could easily be mistaken for a toy car. Yet this is a fully functioning roadster replete with an engine conceptualised to explore our relationship with our cars, our memories, history and the physical ageing process.



Meanwhile, sister company Lexus took over a former metal factory to exhibit 'Anticipation' with Formafantasma. Here the Italian design studio based its study on the Lexus LF-FC, first seen at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, to create a curious trio of installations that explore the fusion of machine, craft and tradition in the context of this hydrogen powered fuel-cell car.



The Japanese marque also exhibited its Lexus Design Awards, an ambitious annual project to support emerging international talent. Among the 12 finalists chosen from over a thousand entries were some interesting and unusual propositions. They included packaging material made from seaweed, an instinctive children’s toy set, modular clothing and a clock that visualises the present by marking the passing of time.



Also in Tortona, 'Mini Living' explored urban life, with some simple yet intriguing ideas on affordable compact housing for a utopian future. The concept saw four 30 sq m apartments share a residential building to form a micro-neighbourhood where basic assets are shared through a clever wall mechanism of rotating shelves that are pushed out into a communal space.



Elsewhere, 'Cactus Chair' by Italian designer Mario Bellini utilises Airbump, the intelligent protective side shield mounted on the Citroën C4 Cactus, for a lightweight and comfortable seating product.



Land Rover and industrial designer Odo Fioravanti created an installation featuring a surfboard, snowboard and longboard to celebrate the freedom of movement offered by the latest Evoque Convertible SUV, whilst Aston Martin joined forces with Quintessence Yachts to celebrate the imminent launch of its first luxury powerboat, the AM37.



See above for our pick of the most inspiring car-related products in Milan above...

Japanese cedar makes up the exterior, chosen for the refinement of its wood grain and its flexibility; the chassis is made of birch; strong Japanese zelkova constitutes the floor; and the seats are made of smooth Castor-aralia.



The idea is that the material will change colour and texture with time, showing the evolution of the vehicle and thus adding emotional value to the car. The Setsuna has ecological benefits too, since the modular panels can be exchanged when needed, rather than having to replace the whole body.



Meaning ‘moment’ in Japanese, the Setsuna is a romantic study of the car as a living, breathing object that matures, not just visually but spiritually absorbing the aspirations, memories and emotions of its various owners

Lexus x Formafantasma's 'Anticipation': Lexus took over a former metal factory to exhibit a trio of installations by the Italian design duo Formafantasma. Working to the overall theme of ‘anticipation’, the Amsterdam-based studio explores the fusion of machine, craft and tradition. The Lexus LF-FC fuel cell vehicle is the muse here, investigating the possibilities of the lightweight material and sustainable hydrogen energy outside the context of motoring.



For the overall structure, Formafantasma has installed translucent partitions inspired by Japanese shoji – the paper walls and doors are fixed over a lattice frame of wood to allow light to pass through and reveal shadows and shapes in a theatrical way

Visitors enter through a ‘garden’ of multiple wooden gates revealing a series of exhibition areas. The first features a set of metal stools painted, like the LF-FC, using traditional Japanese lacquering techniques that involve layering colours by hand and machine.



In the second room a large metal frame holds 7,200 delicate flowing transparent threads; an homage to early Japanese mechanised textile making, Formafantasma explains. Here a loom-like machine pulls and releases the threads that, once stretched, subtly reveal the three-dimensional outline of the LF-FC vehicle.



In the third and largest space Formafantasma celebrates the advanced hydrogen fuel cell technology in the LF-FC, used here to power a kinetic light installation. The four semi-circular stainless steel sculptures, mounted on a reflective pink platform that hides the power source, move to a choreographed slow dance.



To complete the sense of anticipation, Formafantasma worked closely with Michelin-starred chef Yoji Tokuyoshi, of Milan's Ristorante Tokuyoshi, for a range of surprising tasting experiences (pictured) centred on clear water emitted by the LF-FC hydrogen fuel cell technology as an expression of its sustainable qualities

DADA by Myungsik Jan, for Lexus Design Awards: DADA is inspired by the Korean ceremony doljabi, when on a first birthday a range of objects are placed in front of the child. What they choose is said to reveal their career. This modern rendition uses a range of natural blocks, cylinders and fabrics to pique the child’s curiosity and predict their future path

AM37 by Aston Martin and Quintessence Yachts: The AM37 is a joint project between Aston Martin and Quintessence Yachts, and the car marque’s first venture into nautical design. The name suggests its size; this 37-foot water vessel utilises carbon-fibre in its construction with a clever vacuum infusion technology to build a scalpel-sharp hull that is at the centre of its design.



The marque is promising further advances, such as interactive voice control and activation, a fully HD-integrated touch screen with navigation and multimedia system and remote control functions. The boat is expected to launch later this year

'FreeRide' by Odo Fioravanti, for Land Rover: Industrial designer Odo Fioravanti has worked with Land Rover to create 'FreeRide', an installation featuring a surfboard, snowboard and longboard to celebrate the freedom of movement offered by the latest Evoque Convertible SUV

'Cactus Chair' by Mario Bellini, for Citroën: The 'Cactus Chair' by Italian designer Mario Bellini utilises Airbump, the intelligent protective side shield mounted on the Citroën C4 Cactus, for a lightweight and comfortable seating product.



The supple TPU (thermo-plastic urethane) skin on the Airbump, with its multitude of air capsules, requires no particular maintenance and is designed to protect the car’s bodywork against knocks and scratches. Bellini’s design utilises similar technology to create a lightweight construction that offers the same levels of comfort as a traditional chair

'Shape Shifters' by Angelëne, for Lexus Design Awards: This is a new form of textile cutting for adaptable clothing to promote personalisation and reduce consumption and waste. With an MA in material futures from Central Saint Martins, studio founder Angelene Laura Fenuta looks at how modular principles can help create dynamic garments with embedded silhouette versatility

'Plants-Skin' by Hiroto Yoshizoe, for Lexus Design Awards: This intelligent, moderately permeable flowerpot is made from coloured mortar coated with hydro-chromic ink. When the surface absorbs water the white ink becomes transparent and colour appears, the gradation revealing the level of moisture, so as to indicate when the plant requires feeding

'Mini Living' by Mini, ON and Arup: 'Mini Living' explores new models for urban existence in the form of a modern shared-living concept. This inspired idea sees four 30 sq m apartments on a single floor of a residential building form a micro-neighbourhood with basic assets – kitchen, laundry, utilities – shared through a simple wall concept of folding and rotating shelves that are pushed out into communal spaces.



Here, Mini worked with Yokohama architects ON Design for their expertise in micro-housing and collaborative living, whilst the Berlin office of engineering consultant Arup provided technical support.



'Mini Living' visualises likeminded people residing almost communally without sacrificing privacy in an affordable and rather attractive housing project

'Trace' by Studio Ayaskan, for Lexus Design Awards: The clock visualises the present by marking the passing of time through a liquid that changes colour under ultra-violet rays. Conceptualised by the London-based, Turkish studio Ayaskan, a UV light beam rotates around the face of the clock to mark every second, minute and hour, leaving a trace of colour as time sweeps by, then fading back to transparency

'Agar Plasticity' by AMAM, for Lexus Design Awards: Winner of the Lexus Design Awards, the Japanese studio AMAM worked with Max Lamb as a mentor, to explore sustainable packaging using a gelatinous material made from red marine algae. The flexibility of the material means that it can be used for both cushioning and packaging; it can be ecologically disposed of and won’t harm marine line if it should drift into the sea

INFORMATION

For more information, see our Salone del Mobile live report

Known for their conceptual play on materials, the Dutch duo Formafantasma has geared up to take on the pure physics and alchemical employment of materials of car brand Lexus, for their Salone del Mobile exhibition. Embracing the Japanese stalwart's theme of ‘anticipation’, the Italians created ‘An encounter with anticipation’ – three site specific installations that merge Lexus’ futuristic vision with their poetic elegance.

Of the three individual experiences, the most immersive and experimental space features three kinetic steel pieces, slowly moving in synergy. Fuelled by a similar hydrogen cell technology to that used by Lexus, the rotating pieces hang above a powder pink Perspex floor; yet it is what lies beneath – the hydrogen – that controls the works. The gas is used to power the light in the graphic shapes, creating a surreal aura.

The space is somewhat altered by an added touch. With the same ethos of experimentation, the hydrogen lamps were surrounded by a 'taste' experience. The surprising morsels included something resembling a lily pad floating on water, topped with a red jus; and another, a fish broth with a gelatine burst inside. Both were conceived by Michelin starred Milanese chef Yoji Tokuyoshi. The flavours were totally unusual, set somewhere between sweet and sour, both intensifying the 'power of water'.

For a second installation, Formafantasma take Lexus’ DNA as a car brand and pair this with Japanese textile and architectural traditions. Creating a dramatic illusion of threads lifting a LF-FC concept car in slow motion, the enclosed vehicle is surrounded by light, accentuating a powerful distortion.

The third install shows a full appreciation for the innovation in materials employed by Lexus. Decorated using the same Japanese lacquering technique applied to the LF-FC car, Formafantasma realised 16 geometric chairs, positioned as an entrance or meeting point – a further play, perhaps, on the ‘anticipation’ of what game changing innovation Lexus might reveal yet.

INFORMATION
’Lexus: An encounter with anticipation’ is on view until 12 April. For more information, visit the Lexus website

ADDRESS

Spazio Lexus – Torneria
Via Tortona, 32
Milan

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Since setting up her own architectural practice in 2009, the Madrid- and London-based Parreño has been busy designing buildings around the world, as well as teaching design at the MIT School of Architecture + Planning in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here, we catch up with Parreño...

Wallpaper*: Can you tell us about your installation?
Cristina Parreño: The installation is an attempt to capture movement in a still construction. The project pays homage to Étienne-Jules Marey’s 1882 chronophotographic gun. It could take 12 consecutive frames a second and record the frames on the same picture, which allowed Marey to conduct studies of the movement of living beings and abstract forms. The installation envisions the reconstruction of those images back to reality, the idea being that the movement of an element is represented by the repetition of that same object in different positions.  A series of lines constructed by translucent tubes play with light and space to produce the illusion of movement around the Lexus IS.

W*: Is there a correlation between car design and building design? 
CP: The car industry has always attracted the interest of architects. During the modernist movement, in particular, architects glorified motor vehicles for their functional beauty and modern manufacturing processes. The building industry, which is primarily ‘customised’, started to be thought of in terms of ‘mass production’, a concept that belonged to the car industry and which was espoused by Le Corbusier. There are important correlations between car and building design in that both have to deal with issues of technology, function, structure, efficiency and aesthetics. However, the car industry has been able to adapt faster to the advances of technology because of its relation to mass-market economies. The building industry should learn how to integrate design and technology from the car industry.

W*: What elements of the Lexus ‘amazing control’ concept did you find inspiring?
CP: Power and efficiency in perfect balance speaks about strength and precision, about structure and equilibrium. Those are very architectural ideas that suggest the possibility that structure and performance are integrated.

A wizard with light and shapes, Washington-based Yurukoglu creates mesmerising visuals using Perspex, glass and projections. With an unerring eye for drama, she transforms large spaces into psychedelic, geometric light shows. Here we catch up with Yurukoglu…

Wallpaper*: Can you tell us about your installation?   
Bahar Yurukoglu: It’s in two parts, a video projection and a site-specific installation. The latter is made out of transparent coloured Perspex in various shapes and sizes. The plastic was installed into the walls, floors and ceilings at predetermined coordinates. In the studio I constructed temporary still lifes using coloured translucent plastic and photographed them. These images became the source for the video projection thrown on top of the installation. The projection saturates the space as it reacts to the Perspex and creates a constantly shifting source of light that refracts, reflects and casts its own projections. The concept came from the way cars are often advertised driving through a dramatic landscape. I used the Perspex to create the landscape and approached the car as I would a piece of Perspex, as an object that reacts to light.

W*: Is there a correlation between car design and your installations?
BY: Both are concerned with creating an immersive experience in a space and both share a concern for form, shape, texture, line and colour. A car designer thinks about the movement of the car and how it feels inside. I think about the space around the car and how it feels. Both consider luxury, too. To me luxury means being immersed in something amazing. 

W*: What elements of the Lexus ‘amazing control’ concept did you find inspiring?
BY: For me ‘amazing control’ is about determining the way people experience a space. That’s what I try to achieve, control over a space to create an amazing experience. 

W*: You work a lot with light. Are car lights an inspiration?
BY: I like the movement car lights give to cities at night and also how they act as spotlights to darkness on rural roads.

At the annual Melbourne Cup Carnival in Flemington, Melbourne, the thrill of thoroughbred horse racing ties neck and neck with the spectacle of The Birdcage. It’s the exclusive invitation-only zone where temporary sponsor pavilions assembled and fitted-out over several months vie for design accolades and media attention.

Odds on favourite, The Lexus Design Pavilion, leads the competition with its most sophisticated and challenging creation to date. Inspired by a theme synonymous with Lexus’ 2015 presentation at Milan Design Week – 'Journey of the Senses' – guests are immersed in an all-encompassing sensory experience.

'Each year we work on what we call a pursuit of perfection. We improve, innovate and are bold with the project,' enthuses Adrian Weimers, corporate manager for Lexus Australia.

The exterior of the three-storey pavilion is densely entwined with thousands of metres of recycled wire. Sustainable design expert, Joost Bakker, intricately twisted the material to recreate an enormous bird’s nest of rusted copper-toned roots.

Stepping inside, the nest unravels to showcase drinking, dining and lounge areas furnished by Miriam Fanning, director of Mim Design Studio. She interprets the ‘growth into fruition’ design brief with a palette ranging from soothing pistachio to rich emerald tones for plush velvet upholstery, through to textured floor finishes, and the use of vertical timber framing painted white to create an alpine-fresh, forest-like setting. Bunches of pink tulips with their bulbs attached are suspended throughout. Completing the Arcadian fantasy is artist Georgie Seccull’s wall feature comprising a kaleidoscope of exquisitely detailed white paper butterflies.

The pavilion’s custom-designed wallpaper with abstract green tones printed onto a metallic silver surface plays with the notion of reflection whilst the sheen of the Carrara marble bar and table surfaces add polished elegance. This concept is echoed in the upstairs restaurant where Ben Shewry, from the esteemed Melbourne fine diner Attica, offers four-course lunches with a focus on native ingredients. Here, Bakker’s nest theme is translated in miniature, with circular mirrors suspended from entangled wires over each dining table, reflecting Shewry’s whimsical offerings.

Setting out to 'transport Lexus guests beyond the racetrack, into a world of state-of-the-art design, it’s hard to believe the pavilion is a temporary structure', says Fanning of the carnival, which spans just six days.

The pavilion’s entry showcases the new luxury Lexus New Generation RX vehicle as interpreted by Nicolas Hogios, chief designer at Lexus Australia. A life-size polystyrene foam sculpture chiseled by a 5-Axis machine imitates the sharp angular design of the new model. It subtly changes form towards its rear, morphing into abstraction, and eventually melting into a curved mirror that replicates its body in infinity.

The most prestigious race, the Cup itself, takes place today (3 November). Bets are on that once Lexus guests enter the enchanted pavilion, the event itself may gallop into oblivion.

INFORMATION

The Melbourne Cup Carnival runs until 5 November

There was a time when carmakers came to Milan to observe. A handful of the more advanced designers would visit Salone del Mobile to be inspired by the wider creative community. This, however, is beginning to change, with an increasing number of car manufacturers partaking in the last few years - with mixed results.

Milan acts as a fantastic branding exercise, which is naturally part of the pull. Yet there are certain silent codes when participating here. The Salone is not, for instance, a platform for unveiling a new car and showcasing products and furniture based on the contour of the latest concept perhaps lacks imagination.

Take a tour of all the auto brands' projects at Salone

Surely with the concentration of creative minds gathered here for the week, Milan should be the ideal platform for discussions on contemporary subjects - namely mobility. These are urgent matters that can benefit greatly by involving original minds from outside the insular auto world.

This year BMW, Mini, Lexus, Mazda, Ford and Hyundai participated in Milan, and what they showed with their choice of collaborations provides an insightful window into their philosophy.

The BMW Group took on the theme of future mobility by engaging non-automotive designers in the dialogue. Spanish artist and designer Jaime Hayon embellished Mini's latest Citysurfer with bold colours and textures displaying the foldable scooter concept in a fictional city of marble roads and oversized road lamps.

Zurich-based designer Alfredo Häberli worked closely with the team at BMW to unravel a range of scenarios that address driving in the future. It was an inspiring study of how we could move from place to place - of our relationship with driving once the car becomes an autonomous object. The display here addresses mobility in a much wider context, taking on the vessel, road structures, architecture and city planning.

Others took on a more linear approach. Ford, for example, exhibited a range of objects inspired by its latest GT concept including a boat, chair, chaise lounge and guitar. Elsewhere, Mazda took on a similar scheme with a different objective allowing the non-car products to interpret the marque's Kodo design philosophy in novel ways. Hyundai, on the other hand, looked at how the finance and art world could connect.

Finally, Lexus offered a highly conceptual installation. This was a journey through the 'cycle of life', via designer Philippe Nigro's latticework cocoons and enhanced by unusual tasters created masterfully by chef Hajime Yoneda. The idea was to excite us, to awaken our senses in order to explore the possibilities of design, making the act of driving a more sensory experience.

It's testament to the sophistication of the modern hybrid system that the Lexus IS300h car can be treated just like any other sporting saloon. On paper, perhaps, the overall performance is rather unimpressive, and the class leading economy figures can't even be approached if you treat the IS like some kind of magic-powered BMW M3. It's not. Instead, it's a quirky, very individual machine that packs enormous amounts of technology into its sober silhouette.

Lexus made its name with exceptional quality and high levels of equipment, but in recent years the company has made a massive push into design. It's evolved its own visual language, dubbed 'L-finesse' and produced a series of ultra-sporting concepts and very high end production cars to raise the profile of the brand.

Another big Lexus thing is hybrid drive, the technology pioneered and still dominated by Toyota, Lexus's parent company. Every available Lexus has a hybrid variant, some of which are more subtle than others. The big RX SUV, for example, is well suited to a dollop of discrete electric power. The IS300h, however, attempts to have its cake and eat it by blending a hybrid system with a relatively small petrol engine and, most importantly of all, a sporting designation.

Surprisingly, it makes for a very coherent package. Dial up sport mode and the car does a reasonable job of making progress (although the engine note is conjured up via something called Active Sound Control to give the impression there's more going on under the bonnet). Switch to EV mode and you can potter along in zero emission silence for a couple of miles. Drive it normally and you get under 100g/CO2, making this the cleanest car in its class.

The interior is rather chaotic, with buttons, dials and screens splashed around. If you enjoy in-car electronics, the F Sport is the one to go for, with its dashboard binnacle that slides to one side to reveal another information display, a weird hybrid of digital and analogue interfaces taken directly from the LFA supercar. Saab once had a button that would cut dashboard lighting to everything but the speedometer, and perhaps it's time for modern cars to follow suit, as the panoply of screens, switches, dials and read-outs frequently overwhelms the eye on a dark road at night.

The caveat is one of expectations. Drive too hard and you risk eradicating all the environmental benefits of the technology. Ignore the 'sport' mode and you might as well be in something, well, a little less sporty. But right now there is no Teutonic equivalent to this car, making it a very individual choice. And not a bad one at that.

We asked artist Bahar Yurukoglu and architect Cristina Parreño to each create an installation to complement a series of projects - collectively titled 'Amazing in Motion' - commissioned by Lexus to explore innovation, design and creativity. Using the new Lexus models as canvases, the artists were encouraged to bring the cars' engineered grace to life by creating an art installation around them. Watch their works take shape in this behind-the-scenes film

In recent years, the Salone del Mobile's scope has gone far beyond furniture. In particular, the Milanese buzz and global media presence has been duly noted by the world's major car makers, all of whom are busy pushing design as a central spoke of their brand identity. Where better to showcase their design savvy to the world's media than the halls and exhibition spaces of Milan, where car-influenced design - and increasingly, bespoke commissions from emerging designers - can rub shoulders with the big names in manufacturing and branding? We caught up with Lexus, one of the major players in this year's mini Milanese 'Motor Show', to determine what it hopes to get out of its Salone sojourn, and scoured the city to present a round-up of the best automative exhibits on display.

Japanese luxury carmaker Lexus is a very proactive company. When it decides it wants to do something, it corrals its hefty resources - thanks to parent company Toyota - and simply gets on with it. That was the philosophy behind the brand's birth, back in 1989, when the powers that be at Toyota decided to take on the world's luxury car makers. Now Lexus is a market leader, creator of plush, technology heavy saloons and SUVs, with the occasional random world-beating supercar - the LFA - thrown in to keep things interesting.

In recent years, the company has turned its eye to design. Not just any old car design, mind you, but the nebulous and ill-defined world of emotional design. To this end, Lexus has managed to harness some of the world's leading designers to create a series of installations, using Salone as a platform from which to trumpet its creativity to the world's press.

2012 saw the inaugural Lexus Design Award, the start of a new direction for the brand. Rather than simply seek out and endorse emerging designers, Lexus is seeking to mentor and guide them, helping steer concepts to fruition and in the process add a sprinkling of contemporary vision to the marque's global image. Salone was a natural fit, when it came to presenting the fruits of the competition - the eyes of the world's design media were on hand to ratify the company's choices.

The calibre of talent on display was not in doubt. With a jury helmed by Toyo Ito, fresh from receiving the 2013 Pritzker Prize, and jurors including Aric Chen, Jaime Hayon and Paola Antontelli, the company oversaw a design competition inspired by the concept of 'motion'. Two of the shortlisted entrants - there were over 1,000 - were mentored by Sam Hecht and Junya Ishigami. Hecht is optimistic about the car maker's new found role as patron. 'They're facilitating all this, commissioning things that would once be done by museums and benefactors. No one else is doing it,' he says, 'perhaps it's not as adventurous as it could be, but it's the first year. Hopefully they'll soon have the scale and ambition of what Toyo Ito is doing.'

Hecht is adamant that young design talents needs this kind of platform, a way of converting image-driven design consumption into physical objects that can actually be used.

What do the unlikely trio of David Hockney, Jay-Z and Arsene Wenger have in common? They all drive a Lexus LS. Due to disparate diary commitments Wallpaper* was unable to get them all on a conference call to explain, but we have a hunch that the flagship saloon's historically stealthy leftfield luxury image, mixed with high quality specification, bullet-proof reliability, whisper-quiet cabin refinement and - in at least one of their cases - a sprinkling of hybrid eco dust, could have something to do with their respective choices.

Now there's a new LS to whet their appetites, and indeed other leftfield luxe types. The most obvious visual change is the adoption of Lexus's signature spindle-shaped grille (already on the new GS and RX) but it's far from the only one. Lexus counted 3000 changes in total, including on the inside, cool new lighting that illuminates various parts of the cabin in sequence to guide owners to their seats and on the outside, subtle aerodynamic additions - note the small black fins next to the wing mirrors and extruded from the rear light clusters - that improve airflow, and therefore vehicle stability, at higher speeds.         

In the UK, a more affordable V8 petrol-only LS460 model has been reintroduced for those who missed the option when the previous version went hybrid only. The rear-wheel drive LS 460 Luxury edition gives the range a £71,995 starting price rising to £99,495 for the long wheelbase all-wheel drive hybrid LS 600h L Premier. In between - and for the first time - the LS also gets the dynamic £74,495 F Sport.

F Sport trim brings a zig zag mesh grille, dark 19-inch alloys, Brembo brakes and a lower centre of gravity courtesy of 10mm lower body. At higher speeds you'll notice the better body control and sharper steering due to the F Sport's active stabiliser system too, although all LS models now come with five driving modes - eco, comfort, normal, sport and sport + - with standard Adaptable Variable Suspension.

Inside, black leather seats with contrast stitching and brushed metal accents on the dash and doors look good, but be sure to carefully adjust the headrest height; the F Sport logos protruding from them are so heavily embossed they grate on short-haired passengers' skulls! That gripe aside, the F Sport version is the most modern and best-suited LS interior to date. Good thing too, as many of the other models still wallow in the lazy design clichés of a 1990s VIP jet, with swathes of drab beige leather and lacquered wood highlighting some jarringly integrated switchgear.
 
Unfortunately all LS models suffer from Lexus's less-than-slick central screen, with off-the-pace interface graphics and computer-style mouse controller. The mouse moves erratically so that it's hard to hover over the on-screen button you want to click and activate - it's easy to overshoot - and when you finally do locate the right icon, the electronic 'diddly-bip' confirmation conjures in my head the noise heavily pixellated 1980s video games made when you'd just gained an extra man or the high score - not a good association for a non-ironic 21st century infotainment system.

Still, elsewhere the technology is superb, especially the 19-speaker Mark Levinson stereo that can stream crystal clear music from your iPod with ease. Opt for the hybrid - for better 32.8mpg and 199g/km CO2 emissions figures - and in the UK you'll also get as standard a longer wheelbase for genuinely stretch-out rear legroom, massaging seats, individual body temperature-monitoring sensors that automatically adjust the air-conditioning for each passenger, electric recline seats with ottoman sections and a Blu-Ray player for the first time.   

On sale in January, the regular LS 460 F Sport is the one to take if you want to drive, the LS600h L hybrid better if you prefer to relax in the back. But despite the improvements, we'd choose a top-end BMW 7 Series for driving entertainment, an Audi A8 with all the trimmings for a superior interior design (both are now offering hybrid versions as well) or a Jaguar XJ if you a prefer a mixture of the two. Or indeed wait for the much anticipated all-new Mercedes S-Class in 2013. The heavily facelifted LS - despite some great features - looks set to remain a niche stealth option, for the Hockneys, Zs and Wengers of this world.

Lexus is something of an enigma, a company with a bizarrely broad remit. Book-ending a range of hugely competent but emotively sterile saloons and SUVs are a small luxury hybrid hatchback, the CT (a jazzed up Prius) and the LFA hypercar, a GT racer for the road. Between these twin pillars, the company is trying hard to bolster its design credentials and bring fresh life into its biggest sellers.

Thinking of the Lexus GS – the GS stands for Grand Touring Sedan – memories of the Giugiaro-designed mid-1990s mk1 model, with its big swaggering GT shape, great concave alloys and leather-clad interior, immediately spring to mind. But a lot’s changed since then. The mk2 (1998) and mk3 (2005) models brought softer lines and a face with four distinct round headlights and the mk3 added hybrid-only power. The 2012 mk4 model – on sale this July – returns to simpler twin front light covers again and reintroduces a petrol-only model alongside the large hybrid, due to pent-up customer demand, says Lexus.

The GS mk4 also gets the brand’s so-called ‘spindle grille’ for the first time – where the sides of the radiator grille cut in diagonally before kicking back out at a similar angle. The GS has a distinctive enough front face, although from the side and rear, the BMW 5 Series-rivalling executive saloon looks a little generic.  

The inside is better. There’s still a lot of high quality leather as standard, and all models get perforated leather seats that are heated and ventilated too. Sophisticated details include the centre dashboard’s analogue clock, forged from the same single aluminium billet as its neighbouring twin air vent surrounds – an element close enough to be appreciated by driver or front passenger, by sight and touch.

Along with a high specification equipment list – from 10 airbags to cool ambient interior lighting – the overall impression is refined and luxurious, especially in Premier trim. This top version adds a truly amazing 17-speaker Mark Levinson stereo, packaged with an extremely large 12.3-inch screen so full-colour satellite navigation map and music selection choices can be displayed clearly side by side without resorting to squinty-sized fonts. Both systems are adjustable from a mouse-style shifter and knob on the central transmission tunnel, whose intuitiveness has improved considerably over the previous generation.

The driving display for the GS450h is similar to the smaller CT200h hatchback and can change function and colour according to four driving modes. For instance, choose Sport S or Sport S + mode and a digital rev counter appears where the charging info was once displayed. Drive more economically and a green light comes on to indicate full-electric travel mode – possible at up to 25mph or for 0.62 miles.

With a smooth V6 petrol connected to an electric motor and CVT automatic there’s none of the high pitch noise of the smaller CT200h’s 1.8 at high revs. The GS 450h’s progress is effortless and can be left in full automatic mode or adjusted via paddleshift gears to hold onto your gear selections rather than the car’s brain deciding for you, as some other rivals have it. In Sport S +, the steering and suspension becomes noticeably firmer and the throttle sharper too but there’s still a feeling of detachment from the driving process. Jaguar plus the top German marques still do it better.

Diesel isn’t part of Lexus’s GS engine strategy but it will offer a more economic and lower price hybrid – with a V6 petrol engine to keep things smooth – by mid-2013 to match BMW’s popular 520d diesel model, so expect a lower starting price then of circa £30,000. Meanwhile the 209hp 2.5-litre GS 250 SE petrol unit starts the range at £32,995 with the 345hp 3.5 GS 450h Premier hybrid topping it at £50,995.