Lexus Pedal Power

The new Lexus Hybrid is here, but it isn't another 4x4 that escapes the congestion charge - it's a pedal bike.

Lexus had high profile successes with its luxury hybrid SUVs, but their latest model to arrive in the UK might not be exactly what you were expecting. The all-wheel drive hybrid bicycle concept combines the pedal power of the rider with a 25.9v lithium-ion battery.

Debuted at the Tokyo motor show in 2009, the bike apparently shares in the L-Finesse design language of the rest of the Lexus range, and is arriving in Britain to mark Lexus’s sponsorship of the Great British Bike Ride, a four day charity event from Land’s End to Twickenham.

A 240w electric motor drives the front wheel via a belt system, and like Lexus’s other hybrids it has regenerative brakes that use kinetic energy to charge the battery.

Featuring an 8-speed electric gear system, that, according to Lexus “references the sophisticated eight-speed shift-by-wire automatic transmission of Lexus’s LS 600h” and a carbon fibre construction similar to Valentino’s Rossi’s Moto GP bike, the hybrid bike is a seriously advanced bit of kit, but the Japanese firm has said there are no plans to put it into production.

Lexus LF-LC

The amazing machine is officially described as "a design exercise to explore the future of Lexus design" but it could preview an upcoming large coupe to take on the Mercedes SL and BMW 6 Series. 

Produced by Lexus' design studio Calty, which is based in Newport Beach, California, the 2+2 LF-LC features a dramatic long bonnet with cues from the LF-A supercar mixed with an even more aggressive front end from the LF-Gh concept, which previewed the new GS. 

Lexus does have a gap in its model line-up for a sports coupe. The last time the luxury brand offered an upmarket coupe to rival the Mercedes SL was the SC430, which featured a folding metal roof and left the line-up back in 2008. Like the LF-LC, it was designed in California.

Details are scarce at the moment – the main image you see here was leaked from an American magazine – but you can expect a hybrid engine to power the new coupe and although Lexus has more important new models to launch – the BMW 3 Series-sized IS is due for replacement soon – there's a good chance Lexus will put the LF-LC into production.