At Lexus, the chief still defends that spindle grille "Tokuo Fukuichi, who is also the global chief of Lexus, says the design shock-therapy gives the brand -- and conservative Toyota more broadly -- the stand-out face it previously lacked." "Fukuichi, who was brought back to Toyota from a subsidiary in 2011 and as he was recovering from cancer, says Toyota for too long designed cars by committee -- often of several dozen people. "The upshot was styling conservatism which everybody tolerated, but nobody was passionately in love with. We tried to please 10 out of 10 people. Now we're trying to please one of 10 people out there with Lexus." "Even polarizing designs, you get used to them after a while," he says. I'm not necessarily a fan, but I don't hate the bass mouth grill. Lexus/Toyota needed some sort of distinctive design language/motiff, and now they have it.
......"Tokuo Fukuichi, who is also the global chief of Lexus, says the design shock-therapy gives the brand -- and conservative Toyota more broadly -- the stand-out face it previously lacked." Oh Yeah? So do "Truck Nutz." No thanks. It would take an exceedingly ugly design for me to eschew a particular car for an inferior competitor. So far Toyota seems to be struggling to meet that standard.
with the honeycomb grill work it's gonna be really hard to grill block, and look even worse. This is the look? The two "intakes" at bottom left and right corners must play havoc on aerodynamics. I think the look is nuts, really hope it doesn't migrate over to the Prius, but it probably will.
saw a lexus commercial last night. beautiful car until you get to the front. i suppose most people who like everything else will hold their collective noses and buy one anyway. i don't see the point of going from 'design by committee', to going to 'design by guy with really bad taste'. have that many people really been buying other luxury brands because of lexus styling?
I absolutely agree with what Fukuichi is saying about the dangers of committee design teams and the conservatism that can result. I also agree that if you have a strong presence calling THE shots, it can result in a more independent end product. BUT...that one person calling the shots has to be right. And I have to say when looking at that grill, I just don't like it. Whether it was a committee that came up with it during a drunken night of reveling or the vision of one person saying "I want this". I think when your defense of a look is basically "Give It Time...It will grow on you"...then perhaps something is a little too polarizing.
I remember Audi's big grille in the mid 2000's was considered overt, but today it's conservative. There is truth to people growing accustomed to styling direction, but that said, I don't particularly like the Lexus front end - at least for now.
I know I'm in the minority, but I love the spindle grille and sharp creases. I like that they're really committed to such a bold statement and I'm impressed that they have been able to apply it cohesively across several classes of vehicles while keeping them all distinct. The only one that really kills it for me is the IS 250 with those awful headlights. That said, they really shouldn't be screaming for attention until they can beat BMW, Mercedes, and Audi for performance and handling. Superior reliability and value is great but doesn't necessarily deserve outrageous styling.
Nope, no way. I have hated that angry street punk look on the German cars for the last 10-20 years. To me, a car has a face, and that screaming punk look would ruin my day each time I had the misfortune to see it. I would never truly like the car. I would buy an Avelon or other comparable model from Toyota, but not that ugly thing.
