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Lexus exec says he still fields complaints about the spindle grille

When Lexus debuted its spindle grille on the GS sedan and trademarked the design back in 2012, it was a sure sign the look was here to stay. It started making its way through the lineup, and now five model years later, it's on all Lexus vehicles. The one thing everyone can all agree on is, it's bold. And Lexus has doubled down on the design with the LF-1 Limitless Concept on display at the Detroit Auto Show. Some people surely think nothing of the grille. Others have equated it to a cartoon character, a beard trimmer, or a baleen whale scooping up krill. In one harsh, perhaps apocryphal criticism, a design professor is said to have likened the spindle to the mouth of the titular hunter-alien in the "Predator" movies. In a much more admiring spacefaring comparison, our Antti Kautonen said the grille of the LF-1 Limited Concept mimics a "Star Wars" ship's shift into hyperspace. That's a fitting analogy for the stunning and futuristic LF-1, which might be the single most dramatically styled vehicle at the North American International Auto Show. A couple of years ago, Toyota chief designer — and head of Lexus — Tokuo Fukuichi defended the spindle in a Reuters interview, saying "sexy" was a goal of the design, and dismissing complaints by saying, "Even polarizing designs, you get used to them after a while." That defense was "a while" — three years — after the new look caused an uproar at a 2012 Toyota stockholders' meeting, where some shareholders complained. Now it has been a while longer, and a Lexus executive says the spindle grille has continued to divide Lexus customers. Jeff Bracken, Lexus group vice president and general manager, told Carbuzz on the sidelines of the Detroit show last week that longtime repeat customers still can't get their heads around whatever it is the car seems to be getting its mouth around. "I'll be very transparent. It's our signature grille. Some of our models have a more expressive signature grille than others. The folks that look at it as somewhat polarizing would be, for the most part, the folks that have been with us since the beginning. In fact I'll take phone calls from some of these owners and will literally spend 45 minutes to an hour on the phone with me just expressing how disappointed they are," Bracken said. Bracken has actually been saying almost the exact same things about the grille for years — both to upset customers and to automotive journalists — for example, to Forbes in 2014.

Super Bowl commercials: Steven Tyler, Emerson Fittipaldi, Keanu Reeves and more

Sunday is Super Bowl LII, which means America will immerse itself in high-calorie potluck fare, garish halftime-show entertainment (Justin Timberlake, bringing sexy back, but not that kind), the most expensive and over-the-top TV ads of the year, and — oh yeah — a football game between two teams connected by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line. What else you gonna do on the first Sunday of February? As usual, automakers plan big, splashy TV spots to reach all those gajillions of eyeballs glued to the teevee, though the list may be shorter than in previous years. Here's a roundup of what we know is coming. Hyundai Hyundai will test the football/futbol divide with a 60-second spot starring a youth-soccer ref who arrives for the game dramatically and just in time in his 2018 Kona. Only it's Super Bowl Sunday, so he — along with the two coaches, and apparently most of the parents — are eager to get on with their game-day plans. Advantage: football, being the message, we guess. The ad does make a quick plug for Hyundai's BlueLink nav system, but this is only nominally about the car. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Hyundai also plans a 60-second ad that recognizes people fighting pediatric cancers and highlights its own nonprofit organization that focuses on the cause, according to Reuters. Kia This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The Korean automaker will put Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler behind the wheel of its new Stinger on an abandoned racetrack. The former " American Idol" host promptly puts it into reverse, going back to his '70s heyday, courtesy of some CGI, to the strains of "Dream On" played backwards. Trotting out an almost-70-year-old to relive some classic rock glory fits the Super Bowl template to a T. Two-time Formula One and Indianapolis 500 champ Emerson Fittipaldi also makes a cameo. It airs in the third quarter. Lexus This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Lexus teams with Marvel Studios to preview its forthcoming movie "Black Panther," which arrives in theaters Feb. 16. In "Long Live The King," the Black Panther, a.k.a. King T'Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, dispatches some bad guys to recover stolen Vibranium after clinging to the roof of a speeding 2018 LS 500 F Sport, driven by co-star Danai Gurira.

Lexus LCs for SEMA inspired by Blue Morpho butterfly, Marvel's Black Panther

Lexus is bringing a pair of LC 500 coupes to this year's SEMA show, and they're thoroughly different vehicles to one another. The first is a production car, the Lexus LC Inspiration Series. It's a highly limited-edition car that is mostly stock except for a unique paint job. The other also has a special paint scheme, but it's a one-off show car designed around the upcoming Marvel movie, " Black Panther," in which an LC 500 will be featured. The LC 500 Inspiration Series, being a production car, should be of the most interest to consumers, but also because of its special paint. Looking at it, it's very clearly blue, but according to Lexus, there are no actual blue pigments in the paint. Instead, the blue hue comes from the way nano-structures buried in the paint reflect blue light. It works similarly to the wings of the Blue Morpho butterfly, which also lack any actual blue coloration, but the structure of the wings' surfaces reflect blue light. This paint is not easy to make, either. Lexus says it takes eight months to produce a batch, and only two cars with the coating can be built each day. So it's easy to understand why this is a limited edition car and color. Only 100 will be sold in the United States. To sweeten the deal, this Inspiration Series edition comes standard with 21-inch forged wheels, exclusive carbon fiber door sill plates, and, for some reason, a Barneys sommelier bar set with a design inspired by the LC. View 11 Photos As subtle as the Lexus LC 500 Inspiration Series is, the Black Panther LC 500 isn't. The car features an extremely widened body. It's a fairly elegant design, except for the stuck-on claws on the side mirrors that are echoed by the silver panted fender vent strakes. The paint scheme is equally absurd. The dark indigo blue paint has an enormous Black Panther mask design on the hood. Under the car is blue underglow, and the interior is finished in black leather with blue Alcantara. Lexus also lists a number of fictional features for the car, since it is meant for the Black Panther superhero. Among them are a bulletproof, self-healing Vibranium body, systems controlled by a "Wakandan B-CPU (Brain/Computer interface) creating a symbiotic relationship between the vehicle and its driver," and side mirrors with "instinctual positioning technology" to automatically move to the right position for the driver.