Lexus Covers IS with 41,999 LEDS
If those racing stripes on your car have failed to turn heads in the way you’d hoped, then here’s an idea that’ll guarantee people look your way as you motor around your neighborhood – though setting it up may take a while.
Promoting its new IS sedan, Lexus has just unveiled a one-off creation that encases the car in 41,999 LED lights. It’s surely the ideal vehicle for road-based attention seekers, especially community-minded ones who’ll also be able to use it to illuminate the neighborhood in the event of a power outage.
Appropriately dubbed the LIT IS, the project is in collaboration with Vevo for a music video from UK artist Dua Lipa and her song “Be the One.”
“A car as visually striking as the LIT IS required an equally dramatic debut,” said Brian Bolain, Lexus general manager of product and consumer marketing. “A music video was a perfect place to launch the LIT IS and working with Dua Lipa allowed the concept to come to life, putting a spotlight on the Lexus IS in an entirely new way.
The LED lights, which produce 175,000 lumens at full blast, have then been plastered atop a sheetmetal shroud, as they can be programmed to broadcast words and various animations. The lights can even vibrate to the music.
Three different modes allow the lights to interact with nearby sounds and people. Attract mode, for example, features a loop of colorful graphics “that highlight the strong lines of the IS and play into its bold styling,” so the company says.
Music Viz mode, meanwhile, is designed to respond to music, with the LEDs creating custom, responsive displays that sync to the track blasting out of your speakers.
Finally, Gesture mode allows you to control the motion of the LED animations via a gaming console, allowing anyone in the car to create a dazzling light display at 70 mph. Or while you’re stuck in traffic.
Each and every one of those 41,999 lights had to be applied by hand, lights which, “if placed end-to-end, would stretch half a mile in length.” So yes, it’s a lot of lights.
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 the music video. “Be the One” has achieved success across Europe, reaching number 1 in Belgium, Poland and Slovakia, as well as charting within the top 10 in over 11 European territories. In Australia and New Zealand, the song became an airplay success, reaching number 6 and 20 respectively.
While you can’t buy an LED-cloaked Lexus for yourself, you can always admire it from afar! Shop Lexus of Highland Park for the new Lexus of your dreams!
