Toyota design boss asks if radical Lexus next-gen EV styling 'is going to be OK?'

TOYOTA CITY — Lexus is gearing up for a big leap in design language, the likes of which it hasn't attempted since famously — or infamously — adopting the controversial spindle grille.

Yes, that spindle grille — the brand's polarizing brace-face introduced more than a decade ago to the derision of critics who berated it as a Darth Vader death mask or Predator homage.

The new looks will be just as big a departure, promises global design boss Simon Humphries.

"It's important to think, 'Is that going to be OK? Is that too far?' " said Humphries, who also is Toyota's chief branding officer. "Challenging is the right thing to do."

The futuristic styling, foreshadowed by the LF-ZC and LF-ZL concepts shown at last year's Japan Mobility Show, will debut around 2026 in a new generation of electric vehicles.

Designers are already crafting the curves at a glitzy new design center in the Japanese premium brand's global headquarters that opened here this year at the Shimoyama technical center.

Outlining the plans from the third-floor studio, Humphries and Lexus design chief Koichi Suga said the new priorities will be a flexible layout, spacious interiors and minimalized components.

New manufacturing technologies such as gigacasting will enable new approaches by combining multiple modules into one, eliminating parts for simplified designs and more creative use of space.

The coming revolution is embodied by the swept-back LF-ZC sedan and LF-ZL flagship concepts. The LF-ZC gets its name from Lexus Future Zero-Emission Catalyst for its role as the leadoff vehicle due to launch in 2026. It will accelerate Lexus' shift to selling only EVs by 2035.

Inside and out, the LF-ZC and LF-ZL push boundaries, pointing the way toward a daring, Tesla-fighting generation of Lexus EVs that arrives on a completely reengineered platform in 2026.

"It's a huge step, yes," Humphries said. "But the whole point of the Lexus brand from the very beginning has always been to challenge what was considered the de facto standard of the time."

Humphries, a 2023 Automotive News All-Star honoree for his achievements in design, said the departure is as dramatic as the 2011 introduction of the spindle grille. Though initially panned by some as an ugly mug, the grille became a successful, defining brand feature, he said.

"We wanted to give Lexus character," Humphries said. "Even on some of the vehicles where we put that on a minor change, the sales almost doubled. So there are a lot of people out there who actually were very like-minded about that sort of thing. They wanted a more expressive car."

With its dramatic wedge silhouette, the LF-ZC has four doors like a sedan. But from its pointy nose to its fastback rear, the car looks as sporty as it does luxurious. The LF-ZL crossover gets a rounded roof flowing into a cut-off rear. The rear-slung cabin sits behind an elongated hood.

Both vehicles get a sculpted front fascia preserving the pinched hourglass contours of the brand's traditional face. But designers eschewed a fake grille motif and kept the front solid.

With air-splitting drag coefficients expected to be as low as 0.2, the vehicles will boast slick aerodynamics to boost driving range and imbue the new Lexus line with a distinct modern profile.

Suga said Lexus buyers welcome edgy looks and are "always open-minded about our design."

The cars' ultralow beltline aims to improve handling and response, courtesy of next-generation lithium ion batteries that pack more power into slimmer modules.

Lexus engineers hope the planted, ground-hugging dynamics will set the vehicles apart from today's EVs, which tend to ride high on stacked-up battery packs.

Both vehicles have heavily creased bodywork and huge canopies for all-round visibility.

Sitting behind the wheel of the LF-ZC, drivers can see clear below the kneecaps of a person standing right in front of the hood. That's how much view the panoramic windshield offers.

To be sure, the concepts present significant engineering challenges, with their airy cabins, short overhangs, low beltlines and ultracompact compartments for motors, inverters and mechanics.

The low stance of the vehicles, for example, requires thinner battery technologies.

But setting new engineering and design expectations is key to the brand's advancement in an industry beset by upheaval, Humphries said.

"The whole purpose of doing something like that car is to set yourself up for the future," Humphries said. "If you set the bar that high, then things happen."