"This was the most expensive design cost on the car," said Hiruta. "It's die cast, not extruded. It is hand-polished, then chromed. What's very important about it is that the piece's width changes over its long span. It also shows the arrowhead detail front and rear. Finally, it's just two pieces, front and rear."

Why go to this trouble? That is an easy answer for Hiruta.

"We wanted to make it perfect," said Hiruta. "When you stand in front of the door, this molding is the most important part. So we made a large investment on this part. It's beautiful. It's like a piece of art."

The LS lamps, front and rear, also are pieces of art, but art with a hint of anthropomorphism.

"It's the only one like it in the world," said Hiruta of the LS headlamp. "It's like a big eye. And there's an L-shape in the clearance light, there in the bottom, inside the headlight bucket."

"The taillamp is also very detailed, with three L-shaped neon-like sweeps in the lens," he continued. "Small touches like these L-hints, all suggested by careful consideration of the L-finesse philosophy, are important." However, they come with a cost.

"The ratio of design cost to total car cost is higher for Lexus than for other cars," declared Hiruta. The design team paid careful attention to detail, adhered to L-finesse, and dedicated many hours to this project.

This invaluable attention to detail was of critical importance. "The performance and quality between the top brands is very close," said Hiruta. "The other companies are improving their quality. Lexus will try to stay at the top level and the way to do this is through design."

"We're trying to create objects that are not obvious on the first viewing, but that will make our customers want to spend time with them, move around them, trace the lines throughout the car," said Humphries. "We're trying to create something that will give the customer a long-lasting experience with his vehicle."

Only time will tell, naturally, but on the surface, it appears that Hiruta, Humphries and their design teams have succeeded with the all-new Lexus LS models.

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