All-new 2018 Lexus LS: Always leading the way

Combining painstaking craftsmanship with Lexus’ expertise and attention to detail, the flagship sedan embodies Lexus’ evolution as a luxury lifestyle brand committed to surprising and delighting its customers

MUSCAT: The flagship Lexus LS sets yet another benchmark in driving dynamics, customer experience, and comfort with the new LS.

Equipped with several worldfirsts and Lexus’ first performance, design, and safety features, the new premium passenger car is set to not only win the hearts of the region’s luxury enthusiasts but also redefine luxury driving in a more stylish manner. Combining painstaking craftsmanship with Lexus’ expertise and attention to detail, the flagship sedan embodies Lexus’ evolution as a luxury lifestyle brand committed to surprising and delighting its customers.

Inside and out, the new LS reflects a strong, uniquely Japanese identity and approach to luxury, and offers innovative technology with a human touch.

The LS is built on the new Lexus Global Architecture for Luxury vehicles (GA-L) platform, which ensures a low centre of gravity and optimum weight distribution, contributing to the car’s essential stability and handling agility, which in turn, deliver increased driver rewards. The high rigidity of the chassis allows the new multilink suspension to be tuned to achieve an excellent handling performance and the supreme comfort for which the LS is renowned.

The new LS is available in three engine options; a newly developed 3.5-litre V6 Multi-Stage Hybrid System that combines the internal combustion engine with the electric traction system to produce 354 hp, a 3.5-litre V6 naturally aspirated Atkinson-cycle producing 311 hp and 380 Nm of torque, and a newly developed 3.5-litre twinturbo V6 engine producing 416 hp and 600 Nm of torque, and all mated to the first-ever 10-speed automatic transmission for a premium passenger car.

A common thread across all the LS models is Omotenashi; the concept of Japanese hospitality and the all-new LS flagship sedan is no exception. In terms of a luxury automobile, it translates into adopting a human-focused approach to the vehicle, taking care of the driver and passengers, anticipating their needs, and attending to their comfort in every way possible. Some of the features through which the new LS achieves this are front and rear seats with multiple power adjustments, heating, cooling and massage functions, rear seat arrangement that includes an extending leg ottoman and the most generous legroom of any LS generation, and a rear seat entertainment system with 11.6-inch screen auto-tilts to the optimum viewing angle.

As a flagship vehicle, pioneering a new age and aiming for the best safety performance in the world, the new LS unstintingly employs the latest safety technologies including the brand’s innovative Lexus Safety System+, in addition to a comprehensive array of safety features to protect its occupants, such as 14 SRS airbags, Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), and Brake Assist (BA), among many others.

The LS is available in 13 distinctive exterior colours, including two new developed colours; Manganese Luster and Sonic Agate, which represent boldness, luminosity, and sophistication, to let customers express their individu- ality. On the other hand, the interior comes in nine colour schemes with nine choices in interior trim.

Furthermore, the 2018 LS debuts two new 19-inch wheel designs and three 20-inch wheel designs, two of which are also new, and feature run-flat tyres designed to elevate vehicle and ride comfort. The 20-inch premium wheels employ a brilliant appearance created using an electroplating technique known as sputtering.

All the new wheel designs feature a hollow rim structure that helps reduce resonant sounds generated by the tyres.

While making the new LS even more of a driver’s car, Lexus also optimised the LS as a car to be driven in, lavishing considerable attention to the rear seat. The rear cabin design creates seamless, enveloping continuity between the trim and seatbacks for passenger egress. The ‘Relaxation Seats’ in the rear with a warming function, use air bladders integrated into the seatback and seat cushion. These are inflated to strategically apply pressure to the occupant’s body, while also relaxing the shoulder and lower back areas by utilising dedicated heaters to boost comfort through repeated warming and cooling. The occupant can select from three full-body programmes; ‘Refresh,’ ‘Stretch,’ and ‘Simple,’ and four others that target specific areas; ‘Upper Body,’ ‘Lower Body,’ ‘Shoulder,’ and ‘Lumbar.’

The organically shaped dash design clusters information displays at a uniform height to support the ‘seat-in-control’ layout that emphasises the driver’s ability to operate all systems without changing body posture. In addition to a 12.3inch navigation display, the LS can be fitted with an optional 24-inch colour head-up display (HUD) – the largest in the world – that projects a variety of key vehicle information and performance data into the driver’s forward line of vision. The infotainment system has a more inviting graphic user interface and is controlled using the next generation of Lexus’ Remote Touch control system.

The intuitive operation is designed to mirror the way a smartphone is used; it can also recognise ‘handwritten’ commands - outline letters traced using a finger on the touchpad. Lexus has designed the LS cabin for utterly quiet cruising, with new sound suppression methods used to further hush the environment compared to previous LS models.

Active Noise Control quiets the cabin by detecting the sound of the engine coming into the vehicle and cancelling specific frequencies, using antiphase sound from the audio speakers. Another new feature of the flagship sedan is the stateof-the-art Cabin Climate Control System. The Lexus Climate Concierge is capable of intelligent automatic control by detecting the body temperatures of vehicle occupants. Additionally, the LS adds the convenience of a hands-free power backdoor – a foot-operated system that can be used when the user’s hands or arms are full, such as when carrying goods.

The flagship LS is available in LS500, LS500 Hybrid and LS350 variants. Customers desiring an experience of this benchmark model are invited to visit any Lexus showroom.

In Oman, every Lexus vehicle comes with special benefits and privileges such as 4 years/100,000km (whichever is earlier) manufacturer’s warranty and 24 hours on-road assistance from AAA.