Lexus hijacks the reins of the Jinba Ittai horse from Mazda with its own man and steed concept

You might be familiar with this Japanese notion describing the unity of horse and rider. Yeah, that’s Mazda and its “jinba ittai” idea. Lexus however isn’t about to let that be a one-horse race and has conceptualised its own bronco-busting idea called Tazuna.

Tazuna is Japanese for the reins of a horse and signifies the perfect relationship between rider and horse; small, precise hand movements of the reins are all that’s required to communicate commands.

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Lexus has sought to achieve this very same direct, emotional connection with the design of the driver’s cockpit in its all-new NX luxury SUV.

Just like riding a horse, the goal is to keep the driver focused on the driving with intuition leading the way in interacting with the controls. Many different elements have to be brought together in harmony to achieve it, from the driver’s position at the wheel to the shape and location of different controls and the way in which important data is communicated.

“We have redefined the ideal cockpit space as the contact point between the driver and vehicle, aiming for a design that enables a deeper and more intuitive connection and allows for more faithful controllability of the vehicle,” explained Takeaki Kato, the NX Chief Engineer.

Mount the driver’s seat in the new NX and the Tazuna concept immediately makes you feel in charge. The human-centred design ties together the door, instrument binnacle and centre console in a unified cockpit that gives you intuitive access to the controls and information with minimum movement of hand and eye to avoid distraction from driving.

All primary sources of vehicle information; the multi-information and instrument displays, multimedia screen and head-up display, are positioned for easy glancing. Same goes for the number of physical switches and controls’ they’ve been reduced and positioned with the driving-related controls closest to the hands on the steering wheel.

A new control function are the touch-tracer switches on the steering wheel. They can be customised to operate the driver’s preferred function and its operation will be displayed on the head-up or multi-information display when you touch the switch. So, eyes always on the road.

Further encapsulating the feeling of being connected to the NX is achieved by way of the driver’s seat, steering wheel, shift lever and pedals shape. For example, the front seat side bolsters have cut-out areas so there’s no elbow obstruction when operating the controls. The shape and cross-section of the new steering wheel have been precisely determined by Lexus’ Takumi craftspeople to provide the ideal grip feel as the steering is essentially the rein of the new NX; the primary physical link between man and steed.

Not all riders are built of equal stature and Lexus has accommodated that with the Tazuna concept. Lexus researched the different shoulder-to-fingertip reach measurement of people from around the world to calculate an optimum design. One of the results of this was to increase the length of the centre console; another example of Lexus’ human-centred design approach.

The NX is the first to adopt the new Tazuna concept for interior design but it will not be the last. Future Lexus models will defintely be embracing it as well, making its intuitive control a key part of the Lexus driving experience but prior to that, expect plenty of Lexus ads to be produced around the concept. Somehow, Lexus and horses just seem like a perfect premium product combo.