After showing off the concept in Detroit in January, Lexus is making concept a reality with the introduction of the LC convertible at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom.
The LC is the luxury brand’s flagship model and the coupe version debuted there a few years ago.
“The future convertible sports coupe will broaden Lexus’ luxury lifestyle offerings, broadening the LC line-up and giving a sense of a completeness to the brand’s flagship models,” the company noted in a statement.
The company will be looking to make a statement with the new open-air model by getting Nick Cassidy, a member of Team Lexus racing team, to blast up the hill at the festival. After Cassidy’s run at Goodwood, the prototype LC convertible will take to different venues, gathering feedback for the engineers.
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The concept’s design goal was to express “Ultimate Beauty,” and during the North American International Auto Show this year, it garnered plenty of praise, including securing an EyesOn Design Award.
Like the coupe, the convertible is “long, low and lean,” and while it shares the couple agile and athletic look, this machine is a beast all its own. Equipped with large wheels and short overhangs to show it’s a performance machine, the prototype was covered up a bit at Goodwood so as to not reveal everything about the new model.
The basic dimensions of the LC concept appear virtually identical to those of the coupe, with a total length of 187.8 inches, a wheelbase of 113.0 inches, a width of 75.6 inches and a height of 52.8 inches. That works out to about 0.4 inches longer, and 0.2 inches lower, than the hardtop.
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No suggestions were made about what will power the convertible but using the existing power plants certainly isn’t an off-the-wall starting point. The LC Coupe offers a 5.0-liter V-8 making 471 horsepower, as well as a hybrid drivetrain making a combined 354 hp. The brand did not reveal when the new model will go into production nor did it provide any suggested pricing.
The run at Goodwood is just one of several the company will make to help button down the new convertible’s performance before it goes to production later this year. The company felt Goodwood was the right place to start given its history with the aforementioned LC Coupe.
“The Goodwood Festival of Speed celebrates the history and culture of the automobile, and serves as a gathering place for some of history’s most notable cars and drivers,” said Lexus International Executive Vice President Koji Sato.
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“Lexus is honored to join this festival, and I could not be happier to unveil this prototype model of the LC Convertible here at the same venue where the LC coupe made its debut in 2016.”
