Lexus is gearing up for a potential entry into the single-seater market – but rather than building an open-wheel track car, it’s exploring ways of making the luxury saloon experience as small as possible.
It has revealed the new Micro LS concept at the Tokyo motor show as a vision of how its trademark design cues and luxury ethos could translate into an urban microcar format to give “a luxury mobility experience for one”.
It is tiny. Lexus has given no technical details, but the three-wheeler is only slightly wider than the single seat within and looks to be around the same length as the Citroën Ami – around 2.5 metres.
Revealed alongside a revolutionary six-wheeled MPV concept that could evolve into a successor to the LS saloon, the Micro LS forms part of a strategy to diversify and expand the Lexus portfolio – the brand having been given new creative freedom by Toyota’s launch of Century as a new dedicated luxury marque to sit at the top of its portfolio.
It is a “completely new kind of mobility”, said Ian Cartabiano, who runs Toyota’s California design studio, designed “to create a luxury mobility experience for one, seamlessly connecting to the last mile”.
“It is designed for point-to-point, intra-city travel where roads are tight or where traditional cars aren’t even allowed at all,” he said.
With a design influenced by urban architecture and a raft of innovative space-saving features (including a canopy-style entrance and slide-out cargo compartment housing a bespoke Lexus luggage set), the Micro LS is effectively a self-driving pod with a business class-style cabin.
It features a leather, armchair-style reclining seat; a huge vertical display and control screen (where a steering wheel would ordinarily be); floors and walls finished in bamboo; and a bespoke glassware set for drinks on the move.
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