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This 'tattooed' Lexus UX is the first of its kind, and we love it

Lexus commissioned the first “tattooed” car ever, and itÂ’s chosen the UX as the tattoo artistÂ’s canvas. Art cars and special projects catch our eye sometimes, but this particular project is one of the most intriguing works of art on a car weÂ’ve seen in a long time. The process that tattoo artist Claudia de Sabe went through to translate her vision onto the UX is what weÂ’re really interested in here. Since the UX is obviously a metal car, de Sabe needed to use a Dremel tool to drill away the blank white surface paint, exposing the bare metal underneath. Those painstakingly drilled lines were used as the pattern for the art taking shape. She had to be unerringly precise in her work. After all, thereÂ’s no magic eraser for drilling into a carÂ’s metal body panels. Spending that much time free-drawing with a Dremel is intensive and demanding work, too. Comfortable positions are hard to come by, and a slip could be disastrous. After the pattern was drilled in, de Sabe switched to car paint and brushes. The koi fish and waves were painted on by hand, and then finally, de Sabe used gold leaf to create highlights in the paint and give it a stronger 3D effect. To protect the artwork, a layer of lacquer was applied, making it possible to drive this UX on the road. From the planning stages to the finished product, Lexus says it took six months. The in-studio work from de Sabe (and her tattoo artist husband who assisted her work) took place over five eight-hour days. “My main inspiration for the design of the car was just all the beautiful artwork that IÂ’ve seen in Japan, in the temples, ukiyo-e prints, all of that artistic background,” de Sabe says. Tattooing a car isnÂ’t cheap either, as Lexus estimates this bespoke work would cost “upwards of GBP120,000” (about $140,000). Lexus made a video featuring de Sabe explaining her work and showing the “tattooing” in progress. ItÂ’s worth a quick watch, so check it out below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Lexus LC 500 stands apart from the go-fast sport luxury crowd

We at Autoblog, by and large, love the LC 500. For its concept-car looks, derived almost verbatim from the 2012 LF-LC concept. And for the charming V8, which growls and burbles appropriately but doesn't subscribe to the faux-backfire trend. Our Editor-in-Chief, Greg Migliore, perfectly summarized the LC 500's appeal when he drove it recently: "Evening walkers cast curious glances. A guy in an old pickup almost sideswiped me as he gawked while taking the corner fast. It's a celebrity car. It also sounds good; the 5.0-liter V8 growls and rumbles. Style and muscle. An excellent execution." I just spent a week in it, my first encounter with the car, and it made me think most about how it's positioned in the Lexus lineup. Notably, it's not positioned as the performance extreme. This is refreshing, because not every car needs to attempt a Nurburgring time. If you want to hunt road-course records in this day and age, it takes massive power and massive traction. We're getting to the point, perhaps well beyond it, where that is doing the stopwatch more favors than the driver. Part of this is decades of marketing putting the sportiest variant of a particular vehicle above the most luxurious in the pecking order of regular vehicles, which doesn't make a ton of sense if you think about it. In the 1960s, the ultimate Mercedes-Benz was the 600 Grosser limousine, which was built like a Rolex bank vault. It had a huge engine, but the point was to move the massive thing around, not for the sheer pleasure of it. Ironically, the Grosser's engine made its way later into the 300 SEL 6.3, turning a large and luxurious sedan into a surprisingly capable bruiser, and then into the Rote Sau race car. Arguably, this was an impetus for the sort of sporty arms race I'm decrying. (Now, when you talk about supercars, or ultimate luxury cars like a Bentley or Maybach, this distinction makes less sense. But let's limit our discussion to vehicles the well-heeled average consumer could actually purchase — things at the upper end of the ranges of normal car manufacturers.) This takes us to the Lexus LC 500. Unlike Mercedes, whose Mercedes-AMG cars are on top of the regular car pecking order, Audi's RS line, BMW's M Division, and Porsche's various Turbos, the LC 500 is simply a large, powerful car. It's comfortable, it looks interesting, and it has more than enough grunt to get out of its own way. There are Sport and Performance options packages, but there's no LC F or F-Line trim available.

2020 Lexus LX 570 Sport Package is sporty like tube socks

The Lexus LX is enormous, square, old, and expensive. It is also very luxurious, and now it has a sporty version, with Lexus announcing the Sport Package for the 2020 LX 570. But you can only get it on the three-row trim, the least jazzy of the bunch. The styling makeover adopts a sport grille, which means an ornate mesh instead of slats in the spindle opening, and a new lower portion that appends parallelogram intakes at the corners. Not only do the vents appear to be non-functional, they look like aftermarket afterthoughts. The sides get body-colored mirrors with chrome accents, while in there's a tweaked lower rear valance. Inside, leather-trimmed seats come in either Black, Cabernet, or exclusive Moonlight White, under a black headliner. If our numbers are correct, Lexus has bumped 2020 LX prices up by $150 across the admittedly small board. The base, two-row model will start at $86,380. Assuming the destination charge holds steady at $1,295, that makes for a total of $87,675. The three-row will need $92,675. Lexus Safety System+ comes standard, with assistance features such as Pre-Collision System with Pedestrian Detection, Lane Departure Alert, Intelligent High-Beam headlamps, and adaptive cruise control.  When the range goes on sale in September, the LX 570 with the Sport Package will cost $100,595. That seems like a weighty chunk for minor ornaments; however, the Sport Package automatically adds the Luxury Package, which adds features like heated and ventilated seats, four-zone climate control, LX projector door lamps, and a la carte options like the 19-speaker Mark Levinson audio and the 21-inch wheels. Optioning a 2019 model with to the same spec comes to $97,935, so the Sport Package comes to $2,310 after subtracting the $150 price increase. That also seems like a lot, considering the Luxury Package already provides the option of Cabernet seats. But the LX is a special kind of beast. Any truck that can run with a multi-terrain system mode called Mogul instead of Snow doesn't have to live by the same rules as other terrestrial rigs. That's what you can do when you're a dinosaur that "packs in a lot of charm."