Sporty design, increased horsepower aimed at attracting younger drivers

When Lexus — long the sedate, dutiful child of the luxury-auto family — unveiled a bold, sleek redesign of its flagship car on Sunday in Detroit, there was no mistaking the brand is heading someplace new — straight at BMW’s top-of-the-line 7-series.

Ever since the first Lexus LS was introduced in 1989, it has been solid, super-quiet and ultrareliable, but it would never be confused with the BMW.

The new Lexus LS 460 — with a sportier design and increased horsepower — demonstrates the Japanese brand’s shift of competitive focus away from DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes-Benz and toward BMW’s “ultimate driving machine” image.

Bob Carter, Lexus’ general manager, avoids mentioning BMW, but he says the new LS, coupled with a pair of less expensive models introduced last year, is an effort to go after younger buyers and compete more seriously in the performance category, long BMW’s preserve.

“Our performance was always competitive but not viewed by the public as class-leading,” Carter said. “So that’s a segment we wanted to get into.”

The new Lexus LS 460 has the world’s first eight-speed transmission and a 4.6-liter V8 engine with 360 horsepower, compared with the old LS, which has a six-speed transmission and a 4.3-liter V8 engine with 278 horsepower. The BMW 750i has a 4.8 liter V8 engine with 360 horsepower and six-speed transmission.

The new LS also will be more expensive than Toyota’s past Lexus vehicles, surpassing the $70,000 mark, as the company makes a bid to up the ante on luxury and the sticker price that goes along with it.

The current LS has a starting price of $57,220. The company will hit the $100,000 price tag for the first time with a longer, hybrid version of the LS. That vehicle will compete head on with Mercedes’ S600, which is only available in the long wheelbase, and BMW’s 760Li, neither of which are hybrids.

Like other carmakers, such as GM’s Cadillac, Lexus sees growth in the high end of the luxury market in vehicles priced more than $70,000 and into the $100,000 range.
In its relatively short, 17-year history, Lexus has been extremely successful, leading the luxury segment for the past six years. The new LS is part of Lexus’ move that began last year to create more excitement about its vehicles. The first Lexus models to take on the new, sportier attitude were the IS and GS sedans launched in 2005.

The IS competes with the BMW 3-series, while the GS goes against the 5-series. One GS slogan: “The GS is so fast you’ll spend less time in your car.”

Carter says the new vehicles have brought in buyers in their 30s. Lexus is also considering producing the LF-A, a concept vehicle unveiled last year. The vehicle has more than 500 horsepower and could go as fast as 200 miles per hour.

“We have people coming in who have never been in a Lexus dealership before,” Carter said.