b2884987

I keep staring at the front of the LFA and I don't see any spindle grille resemblance even a slight bit. It only has the conservative look like all the other Lexus cars before Lexus decided to slap the spindle grilles to all the new models. Can anyone show me where the spindle grille resemblance is on the LFA?

mcomer

LFA's were 2011 and 2012 models before the Toyota heritage of fabric and looms theme was fully implemented.

GFerg

Not entirely sure what you mean. But here is an LFA with a "spindle" grille outlined on the front end.

Fizzboy7

Who said the LFA's front resembles today's spindle? I see little to no relation. The HS has the same kinked front styling below the grille and above the bumper.

Stroock639

do NOT tarnish the magnificent LFA but putting such phrases as spindle grille so close to it in a sentence

b2884987

Okay so what inspired Lexus to use the spindle grille if it's not from the LFA?

b2884987

I could say the same with the first generation Lexus IS300...

Fizzboy7

I don't know of a specific Lexus model, but there were concept cars that debuted with the spindle (first). If I recall the timeline back then, Audi was going nuts with their grille and others started jumping off the cliff with them.

UZJ100GXR

From early 2010
*only available in select markets with the sport package

UZJ100GXR

The sports package LX 570 was launched in February 2010 and went on sale in March

JDR76

According to this article, the grille came about during the GS development, and not from the LFA.http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dl...304169993/1427

All4Lexus

That's an interesting story. It came out in April 2012. There was also another Lexus product which seems to have a subtle grille. Not a full spindle but this pattern seemed to be an early signature moment. It was found on a LS460 2010-2012 series for their sport or limited touring models.

Note the grille at beginning of the video.

Carmaker1

The LFA had no influence whatsoever, as that is a product of L-finesse 1.0.

Ignoring mentions of the L10 GS, you have to look at it from when they would be thinking about these very designs before they released them. I have touched on this topic many times in the past on this forum. The first Lexus to wear a fascia that had an inverted trapezoidal lower aperture or lower valance grille against a trapezoidal grille was the 1995 LS 400, introduced in November 1994 to USA-Canada and globally in early 1995.

Most of the design work for that in definitive form was in 1991, as mid-90s Toyotas required 3 to 3.5 years ahead of intro regarding final styling. The facelift 1998 LS dropped this, despite most of these update changes being ordered in early 1996 alongside IS development. The LS 430 final design dating back to December 1997 had this signature, until the LS 460.

The next car was the SC update in late 1996, design work done up to early 1995. Very lightly done, due to smaller upper grille. The most prominent example as the OP said, was the IS (XE10). That was designed from early 1994 to late 1995, first appearing in late 1998 as the JDM Altezza and IS 200 in March 1999. The LS 430 final design dating back to December 1997 had this signature, until the 2007 LS 460 proposals were approved in late 2003.


From that point, Lexus designers were very inconsistent with this "signature", model-to-model entering L-Finesse. It wasn't until designing the LX 570 in 2004, another vehicle wore a moderate form of this fascia. The AL10 RX and HS hybrid in 2006, they shifted towards this on the rear (RX) and front fascia on the HS.

As UZJGXR100 stated, the.non-Americas versions of the LX gained a more prominent outline of its lower and upper in March 2010. The date of these changes would've been approved back in 2008, some months after the 2008 model went on sale that January. By 2008, Lexus was now developing new generations of various models for early 2010s intro. The CT200h had design approval in late 2008, wearing the Spindle Fascia. It arrived in early 2011, debuting in prototype form in early 2010.

The next model to get this grille, was the L10 GS in 2009 and Katsuhiko Inatomi did indeed make some errors. I have photos of whole GS design process from 2007 to 2009.

The L10 GS was the first model to officially wear and be marketed with the Spindle Grille in 2011-12, similar to its predecessor introducing L-finesse in 2004 and 2005. L-finesse began internally in 2001, almost midway through S190 GS development, but did not appear in Lexus showrooms until April 2005 with that car.

In 2010 after the L10 was signed off (design wise), Toyoda ordered that all Lexus cars starting in 2012, wear the new fascia and establish brand wide styling consistency for once. This affected the 2013 ES program, which had to be grafted on somewhat, as designers spent most work on the ES in 2008-09 (started in 2007) and didn't get the edict until to close final styling approval. 2013MY XV60 ES designer Pansoo Kwon had to work that into the 2013 ES fascia last minute. In 2010, both the 2013MY RX and MY13 LX got signed off with the official Spindle Grille, as did the XE30 IS later that year for MY14.

The LS was already being developed with a mega facelift in mind, just some months after the 2010 models went on sale in November 2009 and of course, got the grille in late 2012 following final styling approval in early 2011. By the end of 2011, the majority of Lexus models up to MY2014 had been redesigned or updated internally with the official Spindle Grille in mind. By 2014, most of these vehicles had debuted or plainly new models altogether (RC, NX).

b2884987

I really wish he never discovered it. Lexus lost most of its luxury elegance from that grille. If I wanted an agressive looking car, then I would've went with Audi or BMW.

Why do I have so much hate for this guy now...

gengar

Just to clarify, TMC decided to designate every LFA as MY 2012, despite production beginning in 2010. And as is famously known, the design period long predated production.