Back in early October, when Toyota Motor North America (TMNA) announced its sales results for the first three quarters of the year, the company noticed that both Toyota and Lexus were doing quite well.
Close behind General Motors and its 1.95 million sales (minus one percent), TMNA delivered around 1.73 million units for a general rise of 6.2 percent from January through September. They're comfortably ahead of big rivals like the Ford Motor Company (up 2.7% to 1.548 million) and Stellantis – which is doing the death plunge with a 17% drop and sales of less than one million units.
Naturally, the namesake Toyota brand has taken the lion's share of the sales charts - 1,481,319 vehicles, up 5.5 percent for the period. Meanwhile, the luxury division Lexus is also happy with its results – they delivered 248,200 units for an even higher growth rate of 10.7% compared to the same period last year. With that performance, it registered the best-ever year-to-date result, and the highlights included the ES HEV, NX series, RX HEV and PHEV, RZ, or the new TX lineup.
It's easy to notice that just one passenger car model got highlighted – but let's remember that Lexus is among the last citadels for ailing sedans and sports cars. In fact, they still have on sale the IS, ES, LS, RC, and LC series, three saloons and another two sports cars. That's a veritable achievement, let's be honest, especially nowadays when all the automotive industry is about are crossovers, SUVs, and pickup trucks.
However, Lexus is not keen on investing large sums of money into these endangered species. For example, the flagship 2025 Lexus LS celebrated its 35th anniversary with higher prices and little else in the way of changes from the 2024 model year – not even a special edition as a birthday present. No worries, because the parallel universes of vehicular CGI haven't forgotten the big Japanese sedan's present.
It comes courtesy of a member of the imaginative guild of digital car content creators - Evrim Ozgun, a Turkish virtual automotive designer, decided to make sure we all know a little more about the 2025 Lexus LS flagship sedan via a 'Special Version' that's going to make some of the car's fans start running amok crying their outrage. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, though, so let's see what's digitally available, shall we?
Starting up front, this Lexus LS 500 (most likely an F Sport AWD) got treated to a major restyle, which includes small black vents on the hood, a revised treatment for the headlights with new DRL LEDs, a new bumper with vertical vents, as well as major changes to the traditional grille – which is narrowed at the bottom by two massive vents. There's also a black apron as part of the full-body aerodynamic kit that includes the doorsteps, a different bumper diffuser, and a big wing on the trunk.
Even the profile is now more sculpted, and the rear exhaust has four stacked outlets to make sure everyone knows this is no regular Lexus LS 500. Naturally, the virtual transformation wouldn't be complete without a set of black aero wheels that are much larger than stock, of course. So, what do you think? Are we ready for a Lexus LS with the sculpted body of a tack athlete?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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