Prince Of Monaco Gets Married In A Toyota
When you are the ruler of the Principality of Monaco, as tiny (and tony) as it may be, you don’t have to worry about any indigenous auto manufacture. And when you marry your lovely bride, you can pick any car you damn choose. For his upcoming nuptials with former South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock, Prince Albert of Monaco picked a Toyota.
Truth be told, it’s a car made by Toyota, but branded a Lexus. It is a full hybrid LS 600h L Landaulet with a one-piece, transparent polycarbonate roof.
The conversion was undertaken by Belgian coachbuilders Carat Duchatelet. It took over 2,000 hours to complete. Much of the vehicle 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
The roof is a single, lightweight polycarbonate shell, just 8 mm thick and weighing only 26 kg. It was built in France by a company that usually makes helicopter windshields and jet fighter canopies.
On the day of the wedding, the Landaulet LS 600h L will be used by the royal couple to tour the Principality after the ceremony. For most of the tour, the vehicle will drive under electric-motor power alone. Not that the principality usually does mind a little bit of exhaust.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Audi is more VW than Lexus is Toyota. Lexus rwd platforms are unique from Toyota. ALL Audis are based on the same fwd platforms than VW. Audi shares engines, gearboxes and suspensions virtually across the range with VW. Lexus does that only with certain models. Most dubious platfrom sharing project is Phaeton based Continental - a Bentley which shares the engine, gearbox and the suspension with VW. Platform sharing is the future of automotive industry anyway (ttac had a article about it too), so why bother with the Lexus=Toyota jokes. This was funny 10 years ago maybe, it's getting really old. Anyone who is a serious car enthusiast at heart considers those references uninformed and dumb.
Lexuses are still Luxury appliances, they lack any hint of soul, that's why it's not hard to make the Toyota jokes, even if that really is a symbol of quality. And bentleys are quite obviously drawn by the same people drawing the Passat and A6. The Rolls Royce at least looks nothing like it's BMW brethren.