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2020 Lexus LC 500 Luggage Test | Hey, why not?

I will admit that I initially did this as a joke. A seemingly endless parade of SUVs had been passing through Autoblog Portland HQ, each of which was subjected to my luggage test. Then the 2020 Lexus LC 500 showed up resplendent in metallic Flare Yellow, a shade that attracted gazes like it was on fire. A couple stopped in front of my house and just chatted about it for a while. A little girl exclaimed, "Look, Mom, a fancy car! The yellow is so pretty!" Indeed, little girl, indeed. So really, I had the car, I had the luggage, I'd been doing the tests every week, so hey, what the hell? Turns out I was about to learn something. First thing's first: Open the trunk. It's a fobless process like nearly everything nowadays, but finding the button can be tricky. It's not adjacent to the license plate, rather, it's encased within the right taillight. Once found, you appreciate that it's both hidden and easily accessible.  Once open, there's 5.4 cubic feet of space in this V8-powered LC 500. The 500h hybrid has 4.7 cubes, which would be the same as a Porsche 911's frunk. However, when talking about such small volumes, the shape of the trunk counts for so much more than it would in trunks of larger numerical value. In fact, it can easily matter more than the cubic-foot total, as we're about to see. As a reminder, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D).  Holy crap! That's the biggest bag and the biggest medium-sized bag. They fit easily and there's some room to spare for some odds and ends. I tried fitting that same big bag in my 1998 BMW Z3, which has a 5.0-cubic-foot trunk. That biggest bag doesn't come close to fitting, going to show the importance of trunk shape, which is particularly deep and wide in the LC, if fairly shallow. It could also fit two of the medium-sized bags and my wife's fancy bag. Quite frankly, this is exceptional for a two-door GT car like the Lexus LC. I started to wonder at this point how a Porsche 911's frunk would do. Thankfully, as it turns out, I did a variation of this test back in 2013 with the previous-generation 911. And to think I was impressed by that.

Lexus gets new boss, and he's a designer

A reshuffle in the uppermost ranks of Lexus could see the Japanese luxury brand further energize its recent focus on design. Tokuo Fukuichi, Toyota's global design boss, is the new head of Lexus International.
Fukuichi will retain his role as the overall head of design for Toyota, Lexus and Scion, and will assume his new position at the head of Lexus and on its board on April 1 (no fooling). This is going to be an interesting move for fans of design to watch, as Fukuichi has repeatedly been mentioned as a designer that enjoys pushing the edge of the envelope and experimenting. He is, after all, the man responsible for designing the most awesomely odd minivan of the 1990s, the mid-engined, rear-drive Toyota Previa, and more recently, he signed off on the controversial Lexus LF-NX concept, which is said to presage a new production small crossover.
"Regarding changes in design, no one has 100 percent confidence," Fukuichi told Forbes back in January 2013. "No one can really say with pure certainty that, 'In two years, this will sell well.'" As Akio Toyoda continues to demand more assertive, edgier designs, it's that point of view that should make Fukuichi a valuable addition to Lexus, as it continues to challenge the competition from Germany.

Lexus to display turbocharged LF-NX Concept at Tokyo Motor Show

Concept cars typically have a short lifespan. They debut at a major international auto show, then make the rounds of the lesser local shows, and that's pretty much it. They might be loaned out for test drives or put on display in a museum, but by and large they've had their fifteen minutes of fame by that point. That said, Japan's automakers have found a way to keep these show cars going and keep them in the news. They're modifying them and giving them a fresh lease on life.
That's what Subaru is doing with the Viziv concept for the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, and what Lexus is doing as well with the LF-NX concept. Having already unveiled the crossover concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Lexus is fitting the LF-NX with a new 2.0-liter turbo engine. (But then, as far as we could tell, Lexus never revealed engine specs for the concept in the first place.)
To go with the turbo engine, Lexus has also fitted the concept with a new front splitter, but otherwise it's the same - and even appears to be wearing the same liquid-metal paint, unlike the LF-LC concept that got repainted from red to blue when its limelight was starting to fade.