Behold, the royal wedding car. This special Lexus LS 600h L Landaulet was built by coach builder Carat Duchatelet for the marriage of His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monoco. We always thought you'd have to be pretty serenely high to buy an LS 600h L, so the addition of the convertible and bubble top is more than enough proof that we were right. Actually, Prince Albert already uses a regular LS 600h L for touring about his principality.
Lopping off half the roof of a giant Lexus is bound to turn the car's structure into something akin to Jell-O pudding. Therefore Carat Duchatelet added the latest in honeycomb structures, Kevlar and carbon fiber technologies to maintain chassis stiffness and torsional rigidity. But that's not as easy as it sounds.
According to the Lexus press release, "Parts fabricated from composites require very high temperatures for curing. These components were literally cooked onto the bare chassis in a specially prepared oven. As a result, much of the vehicle first had to be completely dismantled, involving the stripping out of some 20,000 mechanical parts, electronic components and interior features and upholstery. Re-assembly occurred under the close supervision of the Lexus engineering team, to ensure consistency with the original vehicle specifications and performance."
Then there's the transparent roof, which is a single piece with no reinforcements or pillars. It's "demountable" and is a lightweight polycarbonate shell that 8 mm thick and weighs only 26 kg. It's the same stuff used in helicopter windshields.
Of course, this Lexus Landaulet won't exactly be recreating the Monaco Grand Prix during the parade-speed royal wedding ride July 2. Either way, take that Maybach.
