Lexus’ TURNOFF spindle grille evolving to be less Darth Vader

Lexus is modifying the enormous spindle grille on future models to make it less of a turnoff for buyers, without losing identity.

Is an enormous grille on the front of your car a bold statement of presence, or a bit of a turnoff? It’s a question asked of Lexus and their spindle grille for a decade, and a question also asked more recently of BMW as their grilles get ever bigger.

It seems BMW’s quest for ever bigger grilles to make a statement is going to be with us for a while at least, but it seems Lexus is having a bit of a rethink.

Speaking with Automotive News, Lexus Design boss, Koichi Suga, acknowledged US market research which found buyers found big grilles on cars a turnoff, and admitted the Lexus spindle grille shape was more Darth Vader than style statement.

That acknowledgement that the Spindle grille may be more a sales hindrance than a sales help doesn’t mean Lexus is going back to its pre-Spindle days, but it does mean the spindle grille is to become less in yer face.

The new direction for the grille can already be seen in the blanked-off grille of the new electric Lexus RZ, but the new ‘Spindle Body’ grille is properly demonstrated on the new Lexus RX (see the comparison in the image above), where a new seamless grille with the upper part blending down like an overbite into the lower section maintains the look, but without the visual weight.

It’s hardly a retreat to minimal grilles from Lexus, even though the EV future negates the need for a grille of any sort, but it’s a more subtle look.

Will BMW be next to see the light?