By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(January 21, 2016) DETROIT — When Lexus showed the LC-LF at the 2012 Detroit auto show, no one suspected that in four years the production version of that concept would be rolled out on stage at the 2016 show. Now known as the LC 500, the high-performance grand tourer takes the lines originally penned at Toyota’s Calty design studio and brings them from concept to production.

Every panel and dimension is different from the concept, but you would only know if you placed them side-by-side. It is a stunning, dramatic design that is narrower than a Jaguar F-Type, longer than a Mercedes SL550, shorter than a BMW 650, and lower than Lexus’s own RC F.

This was a fast program for Lexus. The LC 500 sits on a new rear-drive platform that, in modified form, will be used by the next LS and GS sedans and RC coupe. Usually a new platform takes Toyota six years to bring to production, and finds the designers and engineers working separately much of the time.

This time they, like their counterparts at most automakers, had to work together and find solutions on the fly. This collaboration resulted in a low heel-to-hip point located just over five inches behind the car’s static center of gravity (nine inches closer than on a Jaguar F-Type), and a multi-link front suspension design that can produce an optimal geometry under the low aluminum hood.

The 468 horsepower V8 (shared with the RC F) is mated to a lightweight 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Lexus estimates a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds, but this number seems a bit conservative.

Weight is estimated at 4,300 pounds; a bit of a disappointment when you consider that transmission uses numerous heat-treated aluminum pieces, the inner doors and roof are made from carbon fiber (a glass roof panel is standard), and the trunk uses a composite structure with a plastic lid.

Then again, a high-performance F version with a twin-turbo V8 producing north of 550 horsepower is in the works.

The Virtual Driver