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Future Lexus HPX: FX45 fighter??
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New Lexus Concept Takes Luxury SUV to Next Level
New Lexus Concept Takes Luxury SUV to Next Level
NEW YORK — Claiming dominance in the luxury sport utility vehicle world, Denny Clements, Lexus Group vice president and general manager, boasted that Lexus had brought the idea of the luxury utility vehicle to the next level with the HPX concept car. Clements said such a vehicle would be targeted to the over-40 set who have incomes between $150,000 and $200,000.
To delve into the details, Clements brought Kevin Hunter, vice president of Calty Design Research Inc. and a key designer on the HPX, to the podium. Hunter said the inspiration for the design of the HPX came from the executive jet — powerful and luxurious. However, the handling and performance benchmark was the company’s GS 430. The sport sedan lent its platform for the concept.
The SUV-like HPX has a 300-horsepower, 4.3-liter dual-overhead-cam V-8 engine and all-wheel drive. Its dimensions set it in between the automaker’s RX 330 and GX 470 sport utilities in height, but it’s wider and almost as long as the GX 470. Luxurious interior appointments and technological advances such as drive-by-wire steering and rear- and side-view mirrors complete the package.
But the HPX is intended to be more than this supposed new variation on the SUV. According to Hunter, it represents “a new Lexus design philosophy,” which will be seen in future Lexus vehicles.
In execution, the HPX looks like the potential result of Christopher Bangle, designer of the controversial 2003 BMW 7 Series; he was also assigned to design last year’s Mercedes-Benz Vision GST concept car. The proportions, glass, rear-hinged rear doors — even the seating — recall that concept. Hunter calls the HPX design “simple,” but it contains some rather garish details that are anything but. For instance, a curious curved chrome piece containing a superfluous second marker light is hastily applied over the headlight and taillight lenses. The roof has a seemingly unnecessary bulge down the middle that divides the asymmetrical skylights. That bulge is continued into two lines down the otherwise clean hood.
Inside, the display screen on the dash is distractingly huge. The steering inputs are via a videogame-like handgrip setup. Observers may wonder why the drive-by-wire systems can’t just use a good ol’ steering wheel? The floating two rows of bucket seats add to the science fiction look and dwarf the token third row.
Is this a Lexus design philosophy for the future? Perhaps the company saw the Infiniti FX45 and got scared it was falling behind. In my opinion, Lexus then made the all-too-common mistake of trying to go too far forward.
Link:
New Lexus Concept Takes Luxury SUV to Next Level
New Lexus Concept Takes Luxury SUV to Next Level
NEW YORK — Claiming dominance in the luxury sport utility vehicle world, Denny Clements, Lexus Group vice president and general manager, boasted that Lexus had brought the idea of the luxury utility vehicle to the next level with the HPX concept car. Clements said such a vehicle would be targeted to the over-40 set who have incomes between $150,000 and $200,000.
To delve into the details, Clements brought Kevin Hunter, vice president of Calty Design Research Inc. and a key designer on the HPX, to the podium. Hunter said the inspiration for the design of the HPX came from the executive jet — powerful and luxurious. However, the handling and performance benchmark was the company’s GS 430. The sport sedan lent its platform for the concept.
The SUV-like HPX has a 300-horsepower, 4.3-liter dual-overhead-cam V-8 engine and all-wheel drive. Its dimensions set it in between the automaker’s RX 330 and GX 470 sport utilities in height, but it’s wider and almost as long as the GX 470. Luxurious interior appointments and technological advances such as drive-by-wire steering and rear- and side-view mirrors complete the package.
But the HPX is intended to be more than this supposed new variation on the SUV. According to Hunter, it represents “a new Lexus design philosophy,” which will be seen in future Lexus vehicles.
In execution, the HPX looks like the potential result of Christopher Bangle, designer of the controversial 2003 BMW 7 Series; he was also assigned to design last year’s Mercedes-Benz Vision GST concept car. The proportions, glass, rear-hinged rear doors — even the seating — recall that concept. Hunter calls the HPX design “simple,” but it contains some rather garish details that are anything but. For instance, a curious curved chrome piece containing a superfluous second marker light is hastily applied over the headlight and taillight lenses. The roof has a seemingly unnecessary bulge down the middle that divides the asymmetrical skylights. That bulge is continued into two lines down the otherwise clean hood.
Inside, the display screen on the dash is distractingly huge. The steering inputs are via a videogame-like handgrip setup. Observers may wonder why the drive-by-wire systems can’t just use a good ol’ steering wheel? The floating two rows of bucket seats add to the science fiction look and dwarf the token third row.
Is this a Lexus design philosophy for the future? Perhaps the company saw the Infiniti FX45 and got scared it was falling behind. In my opinion, Lexus then made the all-too-common mistake of trying to go too far forward.
