Lexus LC 500: The End of an Automotive Era
- Published on 10/08/2026 7:29
The production of the Lexus LC 500 will end in August 2026. With it, a great Japanese GT with an atmospheric V8 that seems to belong to another era will disappear.
It was never the fastest. Nor the lightest, nor the most efficient, and certainly not the best seller. Yet, when the last Lexus LC 500 rolls off the Japanese production lines at the end of August 2026, it will be hard not to feel a little tug at the heartstrings.
Unveiled in 2016 and marketed from 2017, the LC managed something that has become rare: maintaining almost intact the exuberance of a concept car, the LF-LC, revealed a few years earlier. Endless hood, spectacular rear, true GT proportions… Ten years later, its silhouette has hardly aged.
Under this long hood lies what makes the Lexus LC 500 almost an anachronism today: a 5.0-liter atmospheric V8 developing 464 hp in its European configuration. No hybridization aimed at artificially filling the torque curve or escaping penalties, no turbo to inflate the numbers. You have to reach for the revs, listen to the engine change its voice, and accept that a GT weighing nearly two tons does not seek to transform into a supercar.
That is precisely what explains its charm… and probably its relatively poor commercial success. The LC was expensive, imposing, impractical, and thirsty. Compared to the Porsche 911, Mercedes-AMG GT, or BMW 8 Series, it has always remained a marginal proposition.
It had something else: a personality
In an industry now obsessed with shared platforms, screens, efficiency, and performance measured to the tenth of a second, the end of production of the Lexus LC 500 reminds us that a car can also appeal for much less rational reasons.
The world doesn’t really need a nearly two-seater coupe, equipped with a 5.0 V8 and generously consuming its premium fuel. That’s precisely the problem: there won’t be many left soon.
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The LC 500 may not have been the best GT of its generation. But in a few years, it might well be one of the most regretted.
This page is translated from the original post "Lexus LC 500 : la fin d’une époque automobile" in French.
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