By: IOL Motoring Staff
Geneva Motor Show - A year ago, when Lexus was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the very first Lexus, the LS400 sedan, its head office in Nagoya, Japan, challenged ED2, its European design studio, to create an ultra-compact urban 2+2 concept.
And this is the result, the LF-SA, a driver-focused car for a world where autonomous cars and public transport will be the norm and actually driving could become the ultimate luxury, while also providing the state-of-the-art onboard connectivity, infotainment and safety.
It really is small - 3400mm long, 1700mm wide and 1430mm high, the kind of compact packaging essential for city-car manoeuvrability and agility - but it has a surprisingly spacious interior, thanks to a process the designers call "manipulation of lightness" , as in the sweeping dashboard that visually reinforces the width of the cabin.
DRIVER-FOCUSED
Since city cars carry only one person most of the time, the 2+2 cabin layout is built around the driver. The driver's seat is fixed and the steering wheel and pedals are adjustable, bringing the vehicle to the driver rather than vice-versa. The front passenger seat, however, slides fore-and-aft to allow access to the rear.
The infotainment system includes a hologram-style digital display in the instrument binnacle and a wide-angle head-up display.