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Lexus debuts the world’s first ‘tattooed’ car

In case you wanted a car to match your ink.


In an effort to take car design beyond the usual metallic or non-metallic paint debate, Lexus has partnered with London-based tattoo artist Claudia De Sabe to create what it claims is the world's first tattooed car.

Named simply the 'Tattoo Car', the vehicle is actually a white Lexus UX compact SUV that was scratched "on purpose" to reveal the metallic body underneath, in an effort to prove that "scratching your car can be beautiful".

Costing an estimated £120,000 (approximately AU$236,382), the tattooed UX took six months to design and develop from the initial drawings and five full days to create.

The chosen design was a koi carp and two goldfish, with Lexus explaining the koi is a motif borrowed from traditional Japanese art, representing good fortune and perseverance.

To create the design, De Sabe swapped her traditional tattooing needle for a Dremel drill, before illustrating the car with five litres of car paint.

To finish, she added gold leaf for extra effect and covered it in a layer of protective lacquer to ensure it was road-ready.

De Sabe said the whole process required absolute precision.

“When you tattoo a person, you have to think about the muscles and tissue beneath the skin," De Sabe said.

"With the car it was about the way the bodywork changes shape over the framework."

Consider this your new way to justify that scrape you scored in the supermarket car park last week: "Honey, it's called tattooing, look it up."

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Susannah Guthrie

Susannah Guthrie has been a journalist for over a decade, covering everything from world news to fashion, entertainment, health and now cars. Having previously worked across titles like The New Daily, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, People Magazine and Cosmopolitan, Susannah now relishes testing family cars with the help of her husband and two-year-old son.

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