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Lexus New Zealand, unlike its offshore counterparts, launched its two new top-end LS saloon models at the same time. It wanted it that way to give those who will spend $200,000 on the rear-drive LS460 and $250,000 on the all-wheel-drive LS600hL the chance to compare the two.
It
could have unveiled the LS460 and its 4.6-litre V8 petrol engine months ago. But the LS600hL wasn't production-ready. Those buyers prepared to pay more for the long-wheelbase variant with its 5-litre V8 petrol/electric drivetrain and aircraft-style rear seats would then have had to wait.
Waiting's not good in the luxury sector - not when the choice is between two V8-powered cars from the same carmaker. It also doesn't help that one has been voted World Car of the Year for 2007 and the other is being trumpeted as having the world's first all-wheel-drive hybrid drivetrain.
There are other world firsts, too, like the eight-speed transmission. It is equally seamless in both models, advancing the traditional role of an automatic in the LS460 and taking on a new sophisticated load as an eight-step Continuously Variable Transmission in the LS600hL.
The headlights have never been seen before either, not in the way Lexus says it has designed them. They are made up of LED lenses, so advanced, it says, that it had to apply for a change to compliance regulations in New Zealand to get them approved.
Both the LS460 and the LS600hL come with everything that opens and shuts in safety and equipment. They will shake up the luxury saloon market in New Zealand, which is dominated by the Germans - Mercedes-Benz and its S-Class, BMW and its 7-Series and Audi and its A8. Lexus has about 10 per cent of the segment.
The outgoing Lexus LS430 is a particularly good car. It's superior in many ways to the German offerings, except snob appeal and, depending on the model, driving dynamics.
The new LS460 changes a few presumptions. Everything about it is more precise than the LS430. It mixes remarkable body control with a limousine-like ride on its variable air suspension arrangement, a multi-link independent set-up with upper and lower double ball joints at the front, and a multi-link independent rear.
It's quieter, too, something Lexus designers and engineers set out to improve on. They wanted the doors to open and close with a whisper, like that of an elegant Japanese sliding door.
They wanted buyers to find the cars "seamless and intuitive". They spent as much time on the psychology of potential buyers as on engineering. Chief engineer Satoru Maruyamano told his 1500-member team to believe they were creating a fine musical instrument.
Eighty per cent of the movement of an interior component like the glovebox has to happen in 20 per cent of the time. That was the brief.
A team of craftsmen used a culture called "takumi" to redefine perfection. Its use is based on the belief that there are things that cannot be measured in numbers. Takumi adds touches that scientific precision alone cannot provide, says Lexus. Many components have been hand-polished.
Takumi influence on paint and finish begins with the redesign of the production-line robots to mimic precisely the movements of a craftsman's hands, to ensure that each vehicle is free of even the smallest imperfection.
The 4.6-litre V8 in the LS460 develops 280kW (375bhp) of power at 6400rpm, and maximum torque of 493Nm at 4100rpm.
Lexus says the eight-speed transmission helps deliver city and country fuel economy of 11.1 litres/100km (25mpg) and CO2 emissions of 219g/km.
The petrol-electric LS600hL uses a 5-litre V8 petrol engine (a development of the 4.6-litre unit), which alone develops 290kW at 6400rpm and 520Nm at 4100rpm.
But paired with the electric motor/generators in hybrid drive system it delivers 327kW (440bhp) and an estimated 1170Nm.
Its combined city and country fuel cycle is, says Lexus, 9.3 litres/100km (30mpg). It's worth sacrificing fuel usage for a minute or two to jump on the go pedal and experience the car's breathtaking and seamless urgency in overtaking.
Safely delivering power to the road was one of the reasons the LS600hL uses all-wheel drive.
Under normal road conditions it delivers a rear-biased 60:40 torque split. But it can split it 70:30, or 50:50. Not something you notice in the car's reclining two rear seats, where occupants have 120mm more legroom than the LS460.
