Lexus 2008 Sc430, Convertible Hard Top. on 2040-cars

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6 luxury car brands to watch in 2024

2023 was a healthy year for the auto industry, and even with incentives returning and dealer lots filling up, there's plenty to like about the market if you build luxury automobiles, and we expect 2024 to be more of the same, which makes luxury-segment rivalries all the more interesting. Top luxury car brand rivalries? Well, that sounds downright uncivilized. But we know better, don't we? And when every quarterly sales update is an opportunity to remind somebody else that they bought the wrong status symbol, well, who can resist? Certainly not the diehard customers who fly their favorite brands' banners high.  Read more: Auto sales: Industry records best year since 2019 Read more: 2023 auto sales and 2024 preview: Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler This is a tricky segment to define, but essentially, we're looking at luxury car brands with depth to their portfolios and dealerships that exist to attract real-world customers. The Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and McLarens of the world are luxury cars, certainly, but we're more concerned with brands that have a bit more mass appeal — manufacturers who treat supply constraints as fiascos rather than features. If you disagree with our selections, feel free to let us know in the comments.  And since we're mostly concerned with finishing order, the luxury brands and totals featured here may change as new data come in throughout 2024. Due to the wild swings of the past several years, we're treating 2023 as the baseline by which we'll measure sales performance. And rather than rank brands vs. their finishing order in 2022, when supply-chain and inflationary issues still played havoc with sales figures, we're starting 2024 off with a clean slate.  The mainstream luxury segment is always a dogfight, but with their varied approaches to electrification all of the major luxury brands are in the midst of reshaping the premium landscape. Who is doing it right? Well, according to U.S. shoppers, the usual suspects are up to their old tricks.

Lexus RC F glows with your heartbeat

It's not uncommon to see all manner of sensors being installed inside new cars these days, monitoring everything from ambient noise to our levels of alertness. The question is what the automakers will do with the information gathered by those sensors, and we've seen some fairly novel innovations. This latest solution from Lexus may not be the most useful, but it's definitely one of the most interesting we've seen to date. The Japanese luxury automaker's Australian division cooked up this special RC F show car with a heart-rate monitor and a special electroluminescent paint job. The sensors detect how fast the driver's heart is beating, and displays it accordingly down the side of the car's flanks. In daylight it looks like it's painted plain old ordinary silver, and otherwise it's the same luxury muscle coupe we know, with a 5.0-liter V8 churning out 467 horsepower in resolute defiance of the downsizing/turbocharging trend that's sweeping the industry. The project was cooked up by creative agency M&C Saatchi and uses glow-in-the-dark paint from American specialist Lumilor. The vehicle is set to be unveiled over the weekend, but you can scope it out now in the images below and the preview video above. Is it pointless? Almost entirely. Does that make it any less cool? Of course not. 22 July 2015 LEXUS GETS PULSES RACING WITH WORLD'S FIRST HEARTBEAT CAR Lexus Australia has developed the world's first vehicle to display a heartbeat on its exterior in a demonstration of advanced technology and the connection between man and machine. The Japanese luxury marque collaborated with creative agency M&C Saatchi to produce a one-off RC F V8 coupe that integrates a series of technologies to display a person's heartbeat in the vehicle's bodywork. The first stage of the system works by transmitting the heartbeat of a connected person from a heart rate monitor to a bespoke electrical system in the RC F. The on-board system captures and processes the data before sending an electric charge through the RC F's body panels that are painted in electroluminescent paint developed by US-based specialist Lumilor. This innovative paint finish glows when the electrical charge runs through it and displays the person's heartbeat via a real-time animation sequence. Lexus Australia chief executive Sean Hanley said the heartbeat car comes in the wake of other innovative brand activities in 2015 and an ongoing commitment to the development of high performance Lexus F vehicles.

2023 Lexus RZ 450e electric crossover unveiled with 225-mile range

Lexus, one of the pioneers of hybrid technology in the luxury segment, is ready to march into EV territory. It unveiled a battery-powered model called RZ 450e that was developed as an electric car from the ground-up and that blazes the path that several cars will follow. While the RZ isn't the first electric Lexus, that honor goes to the UX300e sold in Europe and in China, it's the first electric Lexus that was developed as a standalone model for global markets. There will not be a gasoline-burning or even a hybrid-powered RZ. The firm started with an EV-specific version of the e-TNGA platform developed by parent company Toyota and also found under the bZ4X, which explains why the crossover's proportions might look familiar. One of the most striking styling cues is that the Spindle Grille is gone: it has been replaced by a body-colored insert that Lexus named a Spindle Body. We're told that future EVs from Lexus will follow this design direction. The RZ stretches 189 inches long, 74.6 inches wide, and 64.4 inches tall, dimensions that make it about three inches shorter and 10 inches longer than the RX and exactly as wide. Its weight hasn't been released yet. It's also slightly longer, wider, and lower than the bZ4X. Inside, the RZ is characterized by a minimalist design that's elegant and inspired by elements of Japanese culture. Most of the few switches left in the cabin are grouped into two clusters on the steering wheel; they let the driver control features like the infotainment system and the optional head-up display. The center stack is dominated by a 14-inch touchscreen that the RZ borrows from the NX and the LX. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Drivers will be able to count on the Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 suit of electronic driving aids, which includes a lane departure warning system and adaptive cruise control, among other features. Remote-controlled parking will be optional, and radiant heaters located below the steering column and on the bottom of the passenger's side of the dashboard will help warm the cabin without drawing too much electricity. Power comes from a pair of electric motors linked to a 71.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. The motor installed on the front axle develops 201 horsepower while the one assigned to the rear axle generates 107 horsepower. This configuration gives the RZ through-the-road all-wheel-drive.