Luxury Space: Hands on with the Lexus LS Coupe Concept & Mirco Concept
A new Lexus LS era begins as Luxury Sedan gives way to Luxury Space, along with the gorgeous Sport Concept and LS Coupe Concept.
Once upon a time, Lexus stormed onto the world stage with a Mercedes-killing flagship model, the LS 400. LS, for decades and multiple generations, stood for Luxury Sedan. However, with the current LS entering its final run, Lexus is pivoting to a new LS philosophy, dubbed Luxury Space. Having made its debut at the Japan Mobility Show 2025, this new LS era won’t be defined by a single model in the Lexus lineup. At least not for now.
Instead, Luxury Space represents an entire Lexusified luxury ecosystem of home environments and transportation. At least in concept form.
Yup. Even a boat.
ClubLexus wasn’t able to attend Japan Mobility 2025. But Lexus USA was kind enough to invite us to the company’s Southern California CALTY Design & Research facility to get up close with two LS prototypes, the LS Coupe Concept and the LS Micro Concept.
Lexus LS Coupe Concept at CALTY, California
Most Lexus and Toyota customers don’t know CALTY by name. But this studio is home to the designers who literally carved some of the company’s most iconic cars and trucks. Including the concepts that became the Mark V Supra and the beloved LC 500.
We’ll get to the LS Micro Concept in a moment, but we explored the LS Coupe Concept first in three forms — a full-sized clay model, a painted variant called a Process Concept, and a virtual reality tour of the interior. Despite the coupe name, the LS Coupe Concept is a short, four-door SUV, or perhaps a tall wagon like the Toyota Crown Signia.
Lexus Electrified Concepts, December 2021
Its design language appears to be a revision of the styling we first saw at the end of 2021. But as Lexus evolves its next-gen vehicles, we can see the company is starting to bring back in sharper lines and angles —
Lexus Sport Concept, October 2025
Fascinatingly, you can see how the designers incorporated details like fender vents and the dramatic D-pillar swoosh from the Sport Concept into the LS Coupe Concept to unify the concept cousins. And there are even a few callbacks to the LFA, including the triangular light on the rear bumper.
Also, the designers appear to be using bright daytime running lights on the outer edges of the concept’s front ends to reimagine the spindle grille from the previous decade. But instead of a grille, the spindle shape now appears to represent the concepts’ front fender lines.
What’s the LS Coupe Concept Supposed to Be?
Can you see the separated spindle shape?
As best as I understand it, the LS Coupe Concept could slide into place where the LS sedans live(d). It’s not quite an SUV, nor is it a traditional sedan. But it’s meant to serve dual purposes; a performance driving experience paired with the pinnacle of Lexus luxury. The finest interior materials, created with vegan leather and natural bamboo. Bolstered seats that are supportive for driving, like a first-class cabin for the passengers.
Look, ma, a drone!
And of course it’s a showcase for new technologies, including new yoke steering wheels, advanced screens, a hidden cold box, and even a third brake light that — I kid you not — turns into a functional drone. (Alas, we didn’t get to see that working.)
LS Micro Concept
Forget calling a taxi/rideshare or walking to the subway. Step into the autonomous Micro Concept, a one-person, first-class airplane seat on wheels. Imagine heading home for the day, enjoying a cocktail, surrounded by flowing bamboo, and pressing a single button to turn the exterior glass from transparent to privately opaque.
For Americans living in suburbia, or the proponents of mass transportation in urban environments, self-driving one-passenger seats might seem absurd. But Lexus imagines a world where both the able and disabled — one could order this with or without its own chair — get whisked across cities without the need to worry about cramped seats, crowded public transportation, or fitting full-sized vehicles into parking garages.
We got to see the materials Lexus used — all very high-end — and sit in a foam prototype that showed what it might be like to sit in one.
First Impressions
I’ve been worried about Lexus for the last couple of years. First, they were going to go electric-only, despite not having launched one EV. And we’ve been saying goodbye to the company’s most reliable naturally aspirated V6 and V8 engines. The F models are basically all gone now. And the design language of new models like the RZ and the LF-LC concept has been rather bland.
And then we hit the Japan Mobility Show 2025. Sure, the Lexus Sport Concept is a stunner, as we’ve previously noted. But a giant luxury van? And a one-person luxury scooter-thing? A boat? A house? And another crossover? Color me unenthused… Until I actually saw the Lexus LS Coupe Concept in person.
Photos, mine included, don’t do this four-door coupé justice.
No hyperbole here. It’s simply one of the sharpest, sleekest SUVs I’ve ever seen. A crossover that seems like it’s going 100 mph standing still, thanks to the way its body lines carry up and over its side profile and silhouette. Massive 24-inch rims with meaty tires and wide hips make the whole thing look brooding and hunkered to the ground.
What’s most surprising to me is that the roofline is under six feet, where many SUVs and crossovers are taller. The execs and designers were coy about what this Coupe Concept will become (as they must be). Is it a short SUV or a tall car? Time will tell. Regardless, what I see is a modern take on the best of what Lexus has been and could be…
An elegant exterior design mixed with a relaxing interior covered with the finest materials. A call back to the brand’s foundational high standards.
And a post-LFA, Lexus F era of a performance-minded flagship. A driver’s focused front display and bolstered seating. Smooth exterior body lines. And lots of functional aerodynamics to keep the Coupe Concept planted when — if it becomes a reality — it’s no doubt track-tuned at the Fuji Speedway.
Infinite Possibility vs Real-World Reality
A concept vehicle can be anything. It’s a showcase of infinite possibility. And the LS Coupe Concept does a lot of that. But if this pivots towards a production iteration, the LS Coupe Concept has some weirder touches. First, there’s a digital rearview mirror because there’s no back window. So maybe it needs more glass. And some of the Coupe Concept’s angles are a little odd. For example, the whole car is a series of flowing curves, but then you have the sharp lines of the front and rear lighting. To my eyes, the lighting takes up a little too much attention.
And let’s be honest, I don’t really see how Lexus is going to evolve into an ultra luxury brand where you live in a Lexus house, sail a Lexus boat, fly in a Lexus drone, and drive around in a Lexus SUV/van/car/personal transport device.
But I admire the ambition and vision.
In a period where Lexus seems a bit trapped trying to recreate and evolve away from the last decade, the LS Coupe Concept rises to the occasion. Even in this unfinished, Process Concept incarnation, it’s easily the best-looking SUV Lexus has dreamed up this side of the current GX 550. Even if this variant doesn’t become a literal reality, seeing it in person, along with my memories of the Sport Concept, gives me hope that the stylish Lexus designs that we’ve come to admire are on their way back.
Luxury Space: Lexus LS Coupe Concept Image Gallery
