For 2018, Lexus has given their benchmark luxury sedan something more than a facelift. Next year’s model LS sports a ground-up revision that places Lexus back in its niche as a dilemma for other luxury automakers which continues to confound.

Boasting a new platform, new engine, and new tech, the 2018 LS 500 represents a fairly complete overhaul. Such a revision should be quickly demonstrable in the exterior design, and there’s no mistaking the new grille for the old model; this new face of Lexus suggests a gesture of extravagance, and a direct connection to the road.

Interiors bear the hallmark design abstractions of the brand, emphasizing an uncluttered approach to driving. The instrument cluster is a paragon of elegant simplicity centered by the tach, and the head-up display is just as eminently unobtrusive, and artfully functional. Cosmetics highlight calligraphic brushstrokes, a nifty association to the place where communication and art, skill and intuition, intersect. And, perhaps, assisted and non-assisted driving, as this LS gets a solid upgrade in that department as well.

With a suffixed ‘h’, the 2018 LS 500 will be available as a hybrid model. Drivetrains for the non-hybrid and hybrid models are now powered by a V6 engine, but company lit ensures prospective buyers that the engine’s efficiency makes it operate like a V8, producing 416 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque in the LS 500. The LS 500h’s lack of turbochargers brings its rating down to 354. The transmission is a 10-speed, helping the car along to its extraordinary efficiency. 0-60 times, non-hybrid and hybrid, are 4.6 and 5.1 seconds, respectively—solid showings for launching nearly two-and-a-half tons from a standstill.

The 2018 LS 500 will be in showrooms in February of next year, with a base price of about $75K. Sport models and executive options will be available.