Sun Worshiper; Lexus finally takes its top off on the French Riviera.(Brief Article)

Chief engineer Yosushi Nakagawa lit up another Marlboro Menthol and took a long drag. He'd just spent the day with his ``new baby,'' the retractable-hardtop Lexus SC 430, cruising the streets of fashionable Coronado Island off of San Diego, and we asked him how it went.

``Many ladies, looks very rich, they gather, likes very much,'' Nakagawa said with haiku-like simplicity. ``Today, many people gathered and said to me, `Gorgeous.'''

Indeed, many people said the same thing to us when we drove the car, and we knew it wasn't our mugs they were

talking about.

True, the new SC 430 is a powerful car, with a 300-hp, all-aluminum, 32-valve VVTi-controlled V8. And it shares the same underpinnings as the GS 430 sedan (albeit on a shortened wheelbase). So you could make an argument for this new SC as a performance roadster. But Lexus is not marketing this as a performance car. Lexus says it's the styling of the SC 430 and the luxury it exudes that will be this car's selling points.

In any case, the SC 430 represents the latest step in the evolution of the marque.

With its first decade behind it, Lexus today is not what it was in 1989. Back then it stood for solid, reliable luxury cars that were silent as a tomb and didn't cost as much as a Mercedes. Lexus happily cruised along on that identity for years, adored by its customers for providing unprecedented quiet rides and wispy-smooth road isolation. Being fun to drive was not part of the equation.