Every car company has to do its best to strike a balance between tasteful design and eye-catching originality. That is, unless you’re Lexus, and can do whatever the hell you want, like slapping nearly 42,000 color-changing LED lights to the exterior of one of your hottest cars, just because you feel like it.
The Lexus LIT IS — yes, the company actually decided to go with “LIT” for the car’s name, because it doesn’t care what you think — is a 2017 Lexus IS that has gone through a jaw-dropping makeover. Lexus says it was created “to provoke — more than ever,” and if that was the mission, then it’s safe to say it’s accomplished it.
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The exterior of the LIT IS is covered from top to bottom with high-intensity LED lights. 41,999 in total, the lights flicker and flash in a seemingly endless number of patterns and designs, creating a mesmerizing effect that would undoubtedly result in any number of fender-benders if it ever graced a city street.
In a video showcasing the car, Lexus reveals that the car’s unique lighting system has several different modes, including ones that respond to music and gestures, though it doesn’t go into any great detail regarding how it all actually works, expect to say that the gesture mode is made possible thanks to an integrated video game console. What we do get to see is plenty of the insane effects the LEDs can produce, and it’s actually really impressive.
The LIT IS obviously isn’t a production model — multicolored lights on the front and rear of a moving vehicle are super illegal in almost every state — but the car did get some road time in a new music video. Be The One by Dua Lipa is the car’s first brush with stardom, though it’s clear from Lexus’s press release that the vehicle wasn’t created just for a single appearance, and will be something the company shows more of in the future.
