Photo: Lexus
Lexus made a name of itself with LS, and to this day, the Luxury Sedan serves as the flagship of the brand. The fifth generation rolled out in 2017, but 2020 marks the mid-cycle refresh of the Japanese interloper as a 2021 model.
Scheduled to arrive on the Old Continent by the end of the year, the LS will be exclusively offered as a hybrid in Western Europe while the U.S. gets the 500 as the standard powertrain. Care to guess why Lexus took this decision?
Emissions regulations, of course! Starting next year, the EU will enforce a fleet average target of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. Anything over that will be fined 95 euros multiplied by the number of vehicles a manufacturer sells in the European Union, hence the hybrid-only approach to the new LS.
Mind you, the LS 500 will be available in a handful of Eastern European markets such as Ukraine. The ICE-only powertrain has been treated to a new lip design on the upper surface of the pistons, adjustments to the fuel injection, as well as a revised shifting schedule for the 10-speed automatic transmission.
The LS 500h received a little more attention, promising “less effort to move faster.” Lexus makes a case for smoother, more linear acceleration, but that’s not all. The hybrid system has been revised to assist the internal combustion engine more than before, translating to lower RPM and improved NVH.
Like its American counterpart, the Euro specification of the LS benefits from more comfortable seats, stiffer anti-roll bars, and a more comfortable setup for the Adaptive Variable Suspension. Not even the tires have been forgotten, now boasting reduced sidewall stiffness for a more comfortable ride.
One of the party pieces of the Luxury Sedan is Advanced Park, a fully-automated system that controls steering, throttle, braking, and gear selection and operates “regardless of whether the parking space is marked out with lines or if there are no adjacent vehicles.”
Last, but not least, the multimedia system with an improved human-machine interface features Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto, giving access to popular mobile apps on the car’s touchscreen.
Emissions regulations, of course! Starting next year, the EU will enforce a fleet average target of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. Anything over that will be fined 95 euros multiplied by the number of vehicles a manufacturer sells in the European Union, hence the hybrid-only approach to the new LS.
Mind you, the LS 500 will be available in a handful of Eastern European markets such as Ukraine. The ICE-only powertrain has been treated to a new lip design on the upper surface of the pistons, adjustments to the fuel injection, as well as a revised shifting schedule for the 10-speed automatic transmission.
The LS 500h received a little more attention, promising “less effort to move faster.” Lexus makes a case for smoother, more linear acceleration, but that’s not all. The hybrid system has been revised to assist the internal combustion engine more than before, translating to lower RPM and improved NVH.
Like its American counterpart, the Euro specification of the LS benefits from more comfortable seats, stiffer anti-roll bars, and a more comfortable setup for the Adaptive Variable Suspension. Not even the tires have been forgotten, now boasting reduced sidewall stiffness for a more comfortable ride.
One of the party pieces of the Luxury Sedan is Advanced Park, a fully-automated system that controls steering, throttle, braking, and gear selection and operates “regardless of whether the parking space is marked out with lines or if there are no adjacent vehicles.”
Last, but not least, the multimedia system with an improved human-machine interface features Apple CarPlay as well as Android Auto, giving access to popular mobile apps on the car’s touchscreen.
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