2018 Lexus LS 500 Executive Package – Longer, Wider and More Exciting. 2018 Lexus LS 500 Executive Package – Drive, Interior and Exterior.
On Executive models, Kiriko Glass ornamentation and available hand-folded pleats on the door trim perfectly illustrate the brand’s “Innovative elegance through Japanese craftsmanship” and exemplify a true handcrafted approach.
The striking cut glass ornamentation – a world first in a production vehicle – draws inspiration from Japanese Kiriko glassware. Traditional Kiriko patterns are created using a technique that involves hand-cutting clear colors and delicate lines in a piece of glass, which are then repeatedly polished to a soft glow. For the 2018 LS, Kiriko master craftsmen worked closely with Lexus designers and engineers to duplicate the hand-carved appearance of Kiriko glass using leading-edge laser data copying and polishing technology. For those not choosing the Executive Package, the look of the Kiriko glass pattern ornamentation has been adopted for the display zone in front of the passenger seat.
While making the new LS even more of a driver’s car, Lexus also optimized the LS as a car to be driven in, lavishing considerable attention to the rear seat. The rear cabin design creates seamless, enveloping continuity between the trim and seatbacks for passenger egress.
Options for heating, and massage make the rear seat a welcoming environment. The available power front and rear seat with Shiatsu massage and a raised ottoman, part of the Executive Package, offers more legroom than any previous-generation LS (3.4 in. more than the outgoing model). In addition, the seat behind the front passenger in this optional package can be reclined up to 48 degrees (largest angle in the segment), and can be raised up to 24 degrees to assist the rear-seat passenger exiting the vehicle.
For high power, scintillating performance and excellent fuel efficiency, Lexus designed an all-new 60-degree 3.5-liter V6 engine specifically for the new LS. This engine has an undersquare design for improved thermal efficiency coupled with twin turbochargers, and has benefitted from the company’s F1 technology. This new LS engine is indicative of the more dynamic approach being taken by Lexus, offering V8-level power in a more compact package with efficiency and refinement.
The new LS engine offers the output one would expect in a flagship sedan: 416 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque, significant gains over the outgoing LS model’s naturally aspirated 4.6-liter V8 (386 hp and 367 lb-ft). The engine’s long stroke, optimized 0.86 bore-to-stroke ratio, increased valve angle, straight intake ports and laser-clad intake valve seats developed using performance simulations based on F1 technology combine to yield world top-level high-speed combustion technology and thermal efficiency.
