The Lexus LM is quite an eye-opener, not the least because it looks like Darth Vader on wheels. No matter what Lexus designers might think, the spindle grille graphic was a bad idea to begin with and making it as big as possible is like looking at a boil through a magnifying glass. For stomach-churning excess, the LM’s grille is perhaps topped only by the brutalist bars cascading down the front end of the Lexus LX 600.
But the grille is not what got everyone talking about the Lexus LM at Shanghai. No, it was the interior, and not just because you can’t see that grille from there. It might look like an ugly minivan on the outside, but behind those sliding doors is a cabin with all the first-class accoutrements of a private jet.
The LM is pitched as a luxurious chauffeur-driven vehicle for busy execs, and its top-spec version has just a pair of reclining seats in rear cabin, separated from the proletarian part of the van—where the hired help twirls the steering wheel and punches the pedals to get you to your next appointment—by a full-width, floor-to-ceiling partition. It’s a cool idea. We know because we created a vehicle exactly like the Lexus LM 15 years ago. Well, not exactly like the LM. Ours was way better looking.
We decided to build something we described as a “ground-based private jet”—a vehicle that would provide exclusive and luxurious transport for two. Key to the concept was the replacement of the two rear rows of seats with a single pair of reclining seats, and the separation of the passenger cabin from the cockpit, both visually and functionally, by way of a full partition that stretched between the Flex’s B-pillars and from the floor to the roof.
Which is pretty much exactly what Toyota has done to transform a minivan into the top-spec version of the second-generation Lexus LM, which replaces the model it debuted in 2019 and is destined to go on sale in 60 countries around the world.
The LM features a 48 inch screen built into the partition, and a 23-speaker Mark Levinson audio system. The MotorTrend Ford Flex had a 40 inch Sony LCD monitor and a custom JL Audio sound system, along with a Sony Playstation, a DVD player, integrated phone, and wireless internet connectivity. Remember we’re talking 2008 here. The iPhone was barely a year old, the Tesla Model S was still four years away from becoming our first ever electric-powered MotorTrend Car of the Year, and Blockbuster was still a thing.
The LM’s partition has a retractable privacy glass section, but ours was fixed in place. If the rear seat passengers wanted a view of the road ahead, images from a forward-facing camera could be shown on the 40in screen. A 2009 Ford F-150 interior rear-view mirror with integral video screen was used to give the driver a view of traffic behind, and to see the passengers in the rear when they communicated via the car’s audio system.
The rear cabin was lavishly trimmed in a combination of birch, tan, and chocolate brown leather. Up front the “cockpit” was left stock Ford black, with the wood trim on the dash, doors, and across the top of the steering wheel redone in high-gloss piano black. The front passenger seat was removed to accommodate a large fridge that opened into the rear cabin and racking for additional luggage stowage.
Though we added some 22 inch Claus Ettensberger custom wheels, the Flex’s powertrain and AWD driveline was otherwise left stock. We tried to persuade Ford to give us one of the 355 horsepower EcoBoost V-6 engines they were readying for the closely related Lincoln MKS, but the marketing folks in Dearborn didn’t want the MotorTrend Flex to steal too much thunder from the Lincoln sedan’s upcoming launch.
Looking back, we’re quite proud of the MotorTrend Ford Flex Earthjet. Auto journalists around the world are always playing at being product planners, dreaming of the sorts of cars, trucks, or SUVs they’d put into production if they were given the chance to run an automaker. It’s not often we see one of our ideas made real. Thanks, Lexus. Now, about that spindle grille.
Read the full article here
