Can you believe the Luxury Sedan turned 35 this year? The flagship model played a pivotal role in establishing Lexus as a viable alternative to the usual suspects from Germany, as well as Honda-controlled Acura and Nissan's Infiniti.
Rather than giving it a twin-turbo V8 as a throwback to the LS 400 from the good ol' days, the 2025 Lexus LS rolled out with little in the way of changes from the 2024 model, beginning with price bumps across the board.
Including the $1,350 destination charge, the LS 500 now starts at $81,685 as opposed to $80,685 for its forerunner. The LS 500h, meanwhile, is $116,560 compared to $115,560 for the 2024 model. The hybrid comes in one well-equipped grade that includes all-wheel drive, whereas the combustion-only LS 500 is available in four distinct flavors (base, F Sport, AWD, and the F Sport with all-wheel drive).
There's no special edition celebrating the 35th birthday of the full-size luxobarge, which is a bit of a bummer. Truth be told, we shouldn't blame Lexus for not giving it a thought because SUVs make up the bulk of the brand's sales. The Lexus division moved 248,200 passenger vehicles in the first nine months of 2024 in the US market, of which the LS accounted for 1,706 units compared to 83,341 for the RX.
In any case, what else has changed for model year 2025? Scheduled to arrive on dealer lots by the end of 2024, the latest iteration of the LS is listed by the Japanese manufacturer as carrying over unchanged from 2024. Bummer, eh?
Photo: Lexus
Although sedans are not exactly popular nowadays, it boggles the mind how little the LS changed from its ground-up redesign in 2017 for the 2018 model year. Even back then, it was noticeably behind the German competition. Acura and Infiniti don't really count. Infiniti discontinued its largest rear-biased sedan in 2019, while Honda's luxury brand never dared compete in this segment.
From the standpoint of engine choices, along with technology, the Germans did both a lot better than Lexus. Even the aging A8 from Audi presents many advantages over the LS, although it's not as powerful as the LS 500 by default. Speaking of power, Lexus couldn't make a case for a performance version of the LS. By comparison, the German rivals have the 563-horse S8, the 536-horsepower 760i xDrive and 650-hp i7 M70, plus the 791-pony S 63 E PERFORMANCE from the AMG division.
The best an LS 500 can do is 416 horsepower and 442 pound-feet (600 Newton-meters) of twist from a 3.4-liter TT sixer shared with the LX 600 full-size utility vehicle, GX 500, Sequoia, and Tundra pickup truck. Despite being a hybrid, the LS 500h fares worse, for it features a 3.5-liter NA sixer augmented by an electric motor for a total of 354 horsepower.
Prospective customers who don't care too much about who has the bigger output figures and better infotainment are presented with 10 exterior paint options. The colors in question are Nightfall Mica, Atomic Silver, Obsidian, Matador Red Mica, Caviar (no cost), Ultra White, Eminent White Pearl, Iridium ($500), Manganese Luster ($595), and Silver Illusion (available for an additional $3,100 charge).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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