How Did Lexus Earn This Design Award In Detroit?

Lexus designers have taken chairman Akio Toyoda's mandate that its cars be more dynamic and exciting to heart. This past week, Lexus revealed the all-new 2018 LS 500 flagship sedan at the North American International, Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. The exciting design was one of two big surprises the automaker built into the new LS sedan. The new design earned Lexus the EyesOn Design Award at the Detroit show.

The EyesOn Design Award is granted by a panel of global design chiefs and leaders from top design schools around the world. It is the officially sanctioned design awards for NAIAS. The Interior Design award was the specific award earned by Lexus.

The all-new LS 500 was introduced at the show by Jeff Bracken, Lexus Group Vice President and General Manager. He said of the all-new design; "They started with a clean sheet of paper …or rather ... many small ones. Then …Chief Designer Suga sketched hundreds of designs on slips of paper ... followed by miniature models about the size of my hand. As the final form emerged ... Suga-san depicted the wheels as flames ...and moved them to the far outside edges of the car."

The team that designed the LS was the Lexus Design Division in Toyota City, Japan. Koichi Suga, LS chief designer, commented on the design award win, saying, "With this LS, our goal was to make the same sort of impact that the original LS made when it debuted in 1989. We're very proud that the EyesOn Design judges recognized our efforts and awarded the best interior honor to the LS 500."