Instead of bending to the industry and creating another SUV, Lexus’s new flagship limo-of-sorts is a proper MPV. Nice!

The second-generation Lexus LM will be launched in over 60 countries worldwide, including for the first time in Europe and Lexus’s home market of Japan. According to Lexus, the car is seen as “reinterpreting chauffeur-driven personal mobility”.

I mean, it only takes a few glances into the rear cabin to know they mean business. Just look at all that space in the back – this is why an MPV is superior size-wise compared to a conventional luxury SUV. 

Lexus will offer two seating configurations for the LM. You can either have a fairly standard-looking seven-seater or splash the cash and double down on the luxurious four-seater. The latter is decked with fully-reclining captain’s chairs in the back and more legroom than first-class seats.

Oh, you wanted entertainment? Well, the four-seater variant also comes with a suite of amenities, with its piece-de-resistance being a 48-inch HD television for rear occupants. Other trinkets include a fridge, fold-out tables, a 23-speaker Mark Levinson surround sound system and a dimmable partition between the driver and passengers. You know, if you didn’t want your chauffeur spying in on your conversation.

Oh, and there’s a feature dubbed Climate Concierge which uses infrared sensors to scan the temperature of the rear passengers and adjusts the air conditioning automatically. Instead of, you know, adjusting it yourself.

But, should you want to do just that, there are five selectable Climate Concierge modes – Relax, Dream, Focus, Energise and My Original. I’m assuming Energise is the full-blast option? All modes are bestowed with Toyota/Lexus’s ‘nanoe-X’ technology too, which ‘adds microscopic water particles which can inhibit viruses, bacteria and allergens. It supposedly also provides a moisturising effect on human skin and hair. Interesting.

“This is not a repurposed van – the LM is in every regard a dedicated passenger vehicle, in its own right,” Lexus stated. This is very good news indeed.

Powering the new LM is either a 2.4-litre inline 4-cylinder turbo hybrid with eAxle, or a 2.5-litre inline 4-cylinder hybrid with either front-wheel drive or an E-Four all-wheel drive setup. There’s also adaptive suspension, aluminium body panels to reduce weight and ‘noise-reducing wheels and tyres’.

The rims in question can either be 17-inch or 19-inch forged alloys, and there’s active noise cancellation in the cabin to really drown out the outside world.

The outside is the most underwhelming bit of the Lexus LM, looking similar to the standard crop of MPVs that ply our roads every day. Of course, there’s no need to look at the outside of the LM while you’re enjoying its many internal luxuries, so that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for most.

Will it come to Singapore? We’re not sure, but hopefully one of the 60 countries listed in Lexus’ global campaign includes our sunny little enclave.

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Polestar has recently revealed its coupe-style electric SUV at the 2023 Shanghai Auto Show, and as expected, it is a head-turner with a lot of power.

It also has a pretty bold design – there’s no rear glass at all on the car, so the driver’s rear view is supplied by a camera feed. Why the distinct lack of a rear window? Polestar states that it wants to create “a new kind of immersive rear occupant experience.” The Polestar 4 sits just behind its larger Polestar 3 sibling size-wise and is set to go on sale this year. For Singapore, we are looking at a launch date sometime in 2024.

Unorthodox design

Design-wise, the Polestar 4 has a remarkable sleek and sporty design (as far as SUVs go), with the Macintosh-esque facade only broken up by subtle body panel creases and flared fenders. The lack of a rear window is certainly an odd decision, and it’s bound to make the interior feel a bit claustrophobic. To counter that, a standard-fit full-length glass moonroof with optional electrochromic functionality floods light into the cabin, so at least you still get some doses of Vitamin D.

A High-Definition screen up front displays the feed from the rear camera. Polestar claims it allows for “a far wider field of view than what can be experienced in most other cars.” Hopefully, this camera system is pretty robust. Should any part of it fail, the car may suddenly have a massive rear blind spot. 

Power for days

The Polestar 4 is built on parent company Geely’s open-source Sustainable Experience Architecture. It won’t have 3 rows like the Tesla’s Model Y, but Polestar promises “generous interior proportions” for all occupants. 

There are a few models being released too. The base model rear-wheel drive variant will offer 272bhp and a longer-range battery. If that isn’t enough, the monstrous all-wheel drive 544bhp variant will do the century sprint in a blistering 3.8 seconds. The optionally-specced 102kWh battery has a targeted range of 560 km (WLTP). Don’t worry about its large capacity as well, as 200kW fast charging should allow the battery to top up fairly quickly.

Loads of technology to boot

Similar to the Polestar 3, the Polestar 4’s driver-assist (ADAS) system will run NVIDIA’s Drive computing platform, which uses an array of 12 cameras, 1 radar and 12 ultrasonic sensors. Interestingly, one of those cameras is dedicated to monitoring the driver, spotting head and eye movements to warn them of fatigue or incapacitation. 

Drivers get a trip of displays, including a 10.2-inch instrument cluster and a 14.7-inch heads-up display (HUD) that shows speed, drive mode, turn-by-turn directions and more.

The 15.4-inch centre infotainment screen is powered by Android Auto, with Apple CarPlay available as well. For those who wish to belt out tunes, an optional Harman Kardon audio system with 12 speakers and a 1,400-Watt channel-hybrid amplifier can be specified. 

So when will it be available?

No news on Polestar on when it will be available in Singpaore, but we are predicting at least after Q2 of 2024. Pricing has not been announced too, but expect it to cost upwards of 300k SGD. 

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