Sexy Luxury

The gorgeous and luxurious Lexus LC coupe is available in two delicious flavours – spicy wasabi V6 hybrid LC500h and peppery V8 LC500.

THE LC is not the belated replacement for the LFA, Lexus’ 4.8-litre V10 carbon fibre supercar, even though it’s assembled in the same area of the Motomachi Plant which used to build the LFA.

Lexus’ greatest-ever product was a special model limited to just 500 units, produced between 2010 and 2012. Six LFAs made it to Singapore. The LC, on the other hand, is a regular production model and Lexus will build as many as it can sell.

When it comes to Singapore in June, the LC is expected to be considerably less expensive than the LFA, which cost about $1.3 million.

Provisional pricing (without COE) will be in the region of $500,000 for the 5-litre V8 petrol LC500 and about 10-15 per cent more for the 3.5-litre V6 petrol-electric hybrid LC500h. The V8 LC is likely to arrive first, followed by the V6 LC a few months later.

At that price level, the LC provides outstanding value before even turning a wheel, because its spectacular exterior looks like a million dollars, yet its price tag will be much closer to half a million.

When I first saw the LC in the metal, I thought of a samurai sword – sharp, shiny, refined.

With its low-slung bodywork, even lower-slung bonnet and sweeping roofline, the coupe can probably slice through the air like a sword, too.

Eye-catching exterior details include the chrome-finished mesh spindle grille, “arrowhead” LED headlights and L-shaped taillamp clusters. The door handles, recessed within the doors (which have an aluminium skin mounted on a carbon fibre structure), pop out in a V-shape for your hand to grab when the car is unlocked.

Three different wheel-sets are available for the vehicle: 20-inch cast alloy, 20-inch forged alloy and 21-inch forged alloy. The choice of 12 body colours include a bold yellow, an unusual blue, two intensities of red and two shades of black.