Lexus rear-wheel drive platform pushes flexibility to the limit

The all-new front-engine, rear-drive platform that the swooping Lexus LC sits on is so flexible that it doesn't physically exist - it's just a collection of numbers in a computer program, apparently - meaning it is capable of giving birth to an almost limitless number of variants, from even sportier LC versions to convertibles and next-generation IS and GS vehicles.

Lexus International's Paul Williamsen explains that his company doesn't see "platforms" the way other car companies do; as variously over-sized skateboards onto which sheet metal can be dropped.

"For us, the platform has no physical meaning, it's not pieces of metal, it's a software package on our AutoCAD program," he explains.

"It's a series of numbers that defines the basic properties of load and stress for a car with that layout, because that's the hard part.

"From those numbers, with a platform like the new GA L (Global Architecture Luxury) we can spin off a car that's wider, longer, shorter, whatever we need.

It represents the beginning of a "brand transformation" that will see Lexus strike out in "brave" new design directions.

"IS and GS, for example, share a platform but that's not to say there's a single piece of metal that you could pull out from one car and put into another, it's about the theoretical platform.

"It's a very different thing to body-on-frame style cars, like when a Seat (or an Audi A3) is built on a VW Golf platform."

Williamsen says the LC isn't just a strikingly new, high-dollar car for the lucky few, it represents the beginning of a "brand transformation" that will see Lexus strike out in "brave" new design directions.

2017 Lexus LC500

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2017 Lexus LC500

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2017 Lexus LC500

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2017 Lexus LC500

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Koji Sato, the chief engineer of the LC project, was reluctant to talk about future product plans at the car's recent launch in Spain, but acknowledged that an even sportier, LC F version of the V8-powered LC500 would make sense.

This car has an all new platform so there's a lot more capability, a lot of flexibility, to make wider applications.

"We know this segment needs a lot of variation, like a bigger engine, or a  performance variant, or sometimes a convertible, and we need to consider those things," Sato said.

"This car has an all new platform so there's a lot more capability, a lot of flexibility, to make wider applications - more shallow, more narrow - it's a modular kind of concept this platform. 

"A convertible would not be impossible, we can use the same architecture.

"The LC is a door opener to the whole future direction of Lexus. It's not just the coupe, it's the future of Lexus product."

What future Lexus LC variant would you like to see? Tell us what you think in the comments below.