Coupe De Grace

The new Lexus LC500h might run counter to the purist's view of a true sports car, but on the upside, it is one that pretty much anyone can drive.

- Pablo Chaterji

Here's a question for you. If you wanted to buy a sports car, in which direction would you look? Chances are that it would be towards Europe, where companies like Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, McLaren and many others have been reeling off iconic models for decades, cars that have come to define the very nature of performance-oriented motoring. Some among you may look further west towards the USA, which has been home to some legendary models as well. Not many, however, will turn their attention eastward to Japan, a country whose automobile industry has become synonymous with words like reliability, efficiency and value for money, and not so much with thrill-a-minute, adrenaline-pumping cars.

Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll discover that some of the greatest sports cars of *all time* have come from Japan. Petrolheads will find names like the Honda NSX, the Nissan GT-R, the Mazda Miata, the Datsun 250 Z, the Toyota Supra and the Mitsubishi 3000 GTO rolling easily off their tongues - every one of these cars has delighted and astounded the automotive world in its own way. With a legacy like this, it's little wonder that Lexus too has dipped its toes into the world of sports cars, with the LC500h being the latest addition to its range of this kind of model that hasn't (if Lexus were to be honest) exactly set the world afire (other than the insane, limitedrun LFA, which was essentially a Formula 1 car trying to pass off as a road-legal model). The 'h' in the name indicates the fact that this is a V6-based hybrid; the 'regular' LC500 is not, and comes with a V8 engine, but only the hybrid version is coming to India.