Lexus Racing Megathread

[LexDDas]

Oh it’s done done. Lexus Racing is done and transitioned to Gazoo Racing USA. Been a very challenging last couple of years for me personally tbh. I still am wrapping my head as i’ve pushed Lexus Performance as my hobby m, career, business for nearly 30 years. I know my many of my Lexus brothers and sisters are hurting as they love Lexus Performance. We are a unique niche.

Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward. The good news is GR will be solely focused on Performance so good things are coming.

Lexus Racing USA, mahn we did some amazing things including a GTD championship. Engaged so many fans and owners. Showed Lexus could meet and beat the best from other brands in an older RC F. So damn proud of everyone involved. True underdogs we were.

WE CAN WE WILL WE DID

"Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward." So every performance vehicle moving forward will only be a GR? This makes no sense because why does GR get to have it's own models (GR GT), but then Toyota gets GR models too (Corolla GR, RAV4 GR, GR Supra, etc.)? Lexus gets nothing then? Just everything killed off (LC, RC/F, LS, GS/F, IS500, etc.)?
"good things are coming" I have to disagree with you, Mike. Good things are not coming for us Lexus fans.

And before all the people come on here and say "it's still a Toyota/Lexus. It's just a badge. Not a big deal." It is a big deal. You're missing the bigger picture here. Lexus dealerships are forced to sell GR models because Lexus will have NOTHING to offer. Same with selling Century. Lexus dealerships will be Lexus, GR, and Century dealerships. The brand we all love is no longer loved by their parent company. Lexus is dead. What're they gonna sell? Just these bread and butter vehicles? The LX is nowhere near an Escalade, Navigator, or even the new QX80 (that's embarrassing). I love my GX, but I paid $90k for a Luxury+ and I still have no idea where that Luxury+ is.

They gave up on Lexus even when Lexus has and is dominating the charts and now proved they can dominate performance. WHY?
It's sad, and it's sadder that some people will still support GR.

 

[ssun30]

What's really confusing is that Akio Toyoda considered the fractured Bubble Era legacy JDM dealer network and sub-branding to be the main detriment to TMC, and one of his biggest achievements during his CEO years was dismantling that. And now he's re-introducing the same confusing sub-branding with either dedicated dealerships (Crown/Century) or mixed dealerships (Lexus/GR/Century).

Mercedes did not make a separate "AMG" brand. BMW did not make a separate "M" brand. Audi did not make a separate "RS" brand.

The only product line that should have become a sub-brand long time ago is Land Cruiser because it's one of the most influential car names worldwide. If Land Rover could exist on its own, Land Cruiser surely would.

TBF I do believe Century as a brand makes sense and building it on top of existing Lexus distribution channels is a sound idea. The main problem there is that the product lineup isn't very strong: a glorified gen4 LS600h and a Grand Highlander Pro Max. If both the Century limousine and SUV were GA-L based with V12 engines then many here would agree it would actually make Lexus dealer network interesting again.

 

[DarkSpace6383]

RC-Fs fell apart at Imola but Toyota is outstanding. Ferrari has no chance unless Toyota pitwall crew screws up.

EDIT: And that's a win! 1 & 3 respectively.

YES!

"Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward." So every performance vehicle moving forward will only be a GR? This makes no sense because why does GR get to have it's own models (GR GT), but then Toyota gets GR models too (Corolla GR, RAV4 GR, GR Supra, etc.)? Lexus gets nothing then? Just everything killed off (LC, RC/F, LS, GS/F, IS500, etc.)?
"good things are coming" I have to disagree with you, Mike. Good things are not coming for us Lexus fans.

And before all the people come on here and say "it's still a Toyota/Lexus. It's just a badge. Not a big deal." It is a big deal. You're missing the bigger picture here. Lexus dealerships are forced to sell GR models because Lexus will have NOTHING to offer. Same with selling Century. Lexus dealerships will be Lexus, GR, and Century dealerships. The brand we all love is no longer loved by their parent company. Lexus is dead. What're they gonna sell? Just these bread and butter vehicles? The LX is nowhere near an Escalade, Navigator, or even the new QX80 (that's embarrassing). I love my GX, but I paid $90k for a Luxury+ and I still have no idea where that Luxury+ is.

They gave up on Lexus even when Lexus has and is dominating the charts and now proved they can dominate performance. WHY?
It's sad, and it's sadder that some people will still support GR.

Before long f*cking Infiniti is gonna have us outdone in terms of performance. That is saying something. Century is wayyy above Lexus (200k+) so I don't have issue with them selling those cars here. I hold issue with them selling GR here without it being a premium brand. Pure embarassment. There is room for GR and F to co-exist, hell, even if they are both premium. This whole idea of convergence is just plain dumb. I think Lucid-Aston is another set of brands I am looking at right now, but thats in early stages.

 

[Kelvin2020]

"Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward." So every performance vehicle moving forward will only be a GR? This makes no sense because why does GR get to have it's own models (GR GT), but then Toyota gets GR models too (Corolla GR, RAV4 GR, GR Supra, etc.)? Lexus gets nothing then? Just everything killed off (LC, RC/F, LS, GS/F, IS500, etc.)?
"good things are coming" I have to disagree with you, Mike. Good things are not coming for us Lexus fans.

And before all the people come on here and say "it's still a Toyota/Lexus. It's just a badge. Not a big deal." It is a big deal. You're missing the bigger picture here. Lexus dealerships are forced to sell GR models because Lexus will have NOTHING to offer. Same with selling Century. Lexus dealerships will be Lexus, GR, and Century dealerships. The brand we all love is no longer loved by their parent company. Lexus is dead. What're they gonna sell? Just these bread and butter vehicles? The LX is nowhere near an Escalade, Navigator, or even the new QX80 (that's embarrassing). I love my GX, but I paid $90k for a Luxury+ and I still have no idea where that Luxury+ is.

They gave up on Lexus even when Lexus has and is dominating the charts and now proved they can dominate performance. WHY?
It's sad, and it's sadder that some people will still support GR.

Our voices still aren’t loud enough, so they choose to ignore us, or worse, try to reshape our perception. GR is a trap, it’s stripping Lexus of its performance identity, and then telling us this is somehow the “right direction.”

F is gone
Lexus Racing is gone
Next one we will see the Lexus Performance Driving School change to the GR whatever thing.

What they’re trying to do couldn’t be more obvious. As long as Akio is still running things, Lexus won’t get any breathing room.

 

[Gor134]

"Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward." So every performance vehicle moving forward will only be a GR? This makes no sense because why does GR get to have it's own models (GR GT), but then Toyota gets GR models too (Corolla GR, RAV4 GR, GR Supra, etc.)? Lexus gets nothing then? Just everything killed off (LC, RC/F, LS, GS/F, IS500, etc.)?
"good things are coming" I have to disagree with you, Mike. Good things are not coming for us Lexus fans.

Theoretically, the Toyota GRs stop existing beyond GR Sport packages.

I'm fairly certain the GR Celica is intended to indirectly replace both the GR Yaris and GR Corolla, and perhaps GR Supra will just be branded as GR.

 

[DarkSpace6383]

Theoretically, the Toyota GRs stop existing beyond GR Sport packages.

I'm fairly certain the GR Celica is intended to indirectly replace both the GR Yaris and GR Corolla, and perhaps GR Supra will just be branded as GR.

yeah. you may be right.

 

[LexDDas]

Our voices still aren’t loud enough, so they choose to ignore us, or worse, try to reshape our perception. GR is a trap, it’s stripping Lexus of its performance identity, and then telling us this is somehow the “right direction.”

F is gone
Lexus Racing is gone
Next one we will see the Lexus Performance Driving School change to the GR whatever thing.

What they’re trying to do couldn’t be more obvious. As long as Akio is still running things, Lexus won’t get any breathing room.

I am going full blown Karen lol. I'm mailing a letter to Lexus HQ. They won't care, but I'll do whatever I can to make them listen. Tempted to make a social media page that's like "SaveLexus" or something too.

 

[mikeavelli]

"Lexus will not offer performance cars nor Toyota, GR will be that arm going forward." So every performance vehicle moving forward will only be a GR? This makes no sense because why does GR get to have it's own models (GR GT), but then Toyota gets GR models too (Corolla GR, RAV4 GR, GR Supra, etc.)? Lexus gets nothing then? Just everything killed off (LC, RC/F, LS, GS/F, IS500, etc.)?
"good things are coming" I have to disagree with you, Mike. Good things are not coming for us Lexus fans.

And before all the people come on here and say "it's still a Toyota/Lexus. It's just a badge. Not a big deal." It is a big deal. You're missing the bigger picture here. Lexus dealerships are forced to sell GR models because Lexus will have NOTHING to offer. Same with selling Century. Lexus dealerships will be Lexus, GR, and Century dealerships. The brand we all love is no longer loved by their parent company. Lexus is dead. What're they gonna sell? Just these bread and butter vehicles? The LX is nowhere near an Escalade, Navigator, or even the new QX80 (that's embarrassing). I love my GX, but I paid $90k for a Luxury+ and I still have no idea where that Luxury+ is.

They gave up on Lexus even when Lexus has and is dominating the charts and now proved they can dominate performance. WHY?
It's sad, and it's sadder that some people will still support GR.

The current Toyota GR cars will eventually move to GR as a brand. So Toyota will be sedans, suvs, trucks and no more GR cars.

I understand your frustrations but it is what it is at this point. And let’s be honest with ourselves we didn’t have enough people buying Lexus performance new. The people talking smack online who bought used might be passionate but irrelevant to the business model of selling new cars.

We can speculate and say a million things could have changed or been different. The Germans are in an opposite boat. The purists there are not happy every vehicle seems to have some sort of M or amg badge etc. Sales are up and that’s what matters

 

[Gor134]

The purists there are not happy every vehicle seems to have some sort of M or amg badge etc.

Except BMW's working on this and removing M badges from "M Sport packages" as evident on the new i3 which has almost no visual M badges. And they have a bunch of M Performance models that bring meaningful performance changes, nothing Lexus ever got close to except with the "FSP" IS500. AND full fledged M models.

Mercedes is of course a completely different brand totally "guccifying" their image currently

Tough to imply "but the Germans are diluting the badge too!" when they are still making models that actually represent the badge too.

 

[DarkSpace6383]

I am going full blown Karen lol. I'm mailing a letter to Lexus HQ. They won't care, but I'll do whatever I can to make them listen. Tempted to make a social media page that's like "SaveLexus" or something too.

Yeah same. I am screaming from the rooftops. If you make a social media page under that name I will follow it. I have come across your instagram account in the Gazoo Racing comment section, and its good to see.

The current Toyota GR cars will eventually move to GR as a brand. So Toyota will be sedans, suvs, trucks and no more GR cars.

I understand your frustrations but it is what it is at this point. And let’s be honest with ourselves we didn’t have enough people buying Lexus performance new. The people talking smack online who bought used might be passionate but irrelevant to the business model of selling new cars.

We can speculate and say a million things could have changed or been different. The Germans are in an opposite boat. The purists there are not happy every vehicle seems to have some sort of M or amg badge etc. Sales are up and that’s what matters

Mike, I feel like the idea of "lets be honest not enough people buying Lexus performance new" is just a stupid argument. It's because it never received any attention, and got very diluted. You cant half-ass a performance division and be mad that its flopping. If they were smart they would've taken the 2020s to capitalize on the new-found appreciation that came with the LFA and release a bunch of proper Lexus f models (none of this TX and Rx500h bs).

Their issue was negligence, and expecting high numbers without high effort. People are buying high-performance cars and a hybrid Lexus F sibling of GRGT and GT3 at the very least is a no brainer. TMC is at a point where it would be relatively inexpensive to also give the F brand some love while still allowing GR to exist, and also to allow the introduction of a proper Toyota performance division (toyota racing). They can do all of that and chose not to. It's like having a million dollar diposit in-hand, and cashing it at the wrong bank.

 

[LexDDas]

The current Toyota GR cars will eventually move to GR as a brand. So Toyota will be sedans, suvs, trucks and no more GR cars.

I understand your frustrations but it is what it is at this point. And let’s be honest with ourselves we didn’t have enough people buying Lexus performance new. The people talking smack online who bought used might be passionate but irrelevant to the business model of selling new cars.

We can speculate and say a million things could have changed or been different. The Germans are in an opposite boat. The purists there are not happy every vehicle seems to have some sort of M or amg badge etc. Sales are up and that’s what matters

Well, that is by far the dumbest business strategy I have ever heard, and it's just more proof that Akio Toyoda is the biggest idiot to exist. He needs to retire and get the hell out of the brand.

Performance models only being for GR is not going to sell. People will also only associate them with Toyotas. People are already calling the GR GT a Toyota GR GT, yet it's the most Lexus looking model GR offers.

So what happens to the RX FSport Performance, for example? Does it become a GR RX and never wears a Lexus badge even though we all know it's a Lexus? Same with the GR Corolla. We know it's a Corolla, but will it just have GR badging?

Then, they're gonna tell us they'll be sold at Lexus dealerships? What a JOKE! Just make them Lexus models then.

All these people on this forum that have ties with Lexus or work for Lexus (and Toyota), are y'all not expressing your anger and frustrations? Or expressing how terrible this business strategy is? Why are we allowing this?

I disagree that people weren't buying F. At least F Sport was the most I'd see on a Lexus model. Are we even going to have performance appearance packages? Or is an RX going to be JUST an RX, for example, and only have a base, hybrid, plug-in and (future) electric model? Nothing else to be distinctive?

How is Genesis, a new brand, able to do this and do it better than Lexus? The Germans have done it. Hell, Acura and Infiniti are doing it now. Then there's Lexus...just a lump on a log. What ever happen to appealing to the younger generation? The younger generation bought all those IS500s new. They love the IS as a whole. People do buy Lexus F/FSport. Sure, it's not M or AMG, but it's still something that was great for Lexus. They just needed to keep putting in the effort to make them better. There is a reason people still talk about the LFA's V10 and the RCF and LC500's V8. It was the best sound people have heard.

"it is what it is" okay, sure, and that's why after 29 years, I can't support this joke of a brand anymore. You don't top reliability, quality, brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and be up there in sales, just to destroy it all by removing what made you stand out - RC/F, LC, GS/F, ISF/IS500, LS, F/FSport, Lexus Racing, etc.

RIP Lexus, the new Infiniti (which is crazy because Infiniti is making a comeback, and introducing new performance models. Hell, the QX80 is far more luxurious looking than the LX600).

 

[Gor134]

So what happens to the RX FSport Performance, for example? Does it become a GR RX and never wears a Lexus badge even though we all know it's a Lexus? Same with the GR Corolla. We know it's a Corolla, but will it just have GR badging?

It becomes Lexus RX RR Morizo, like the LBX RR Morizo.

After all there was a rumour from BestCar the high performance variant of the next-gen RX is in development currently and will be called RX RR Morizo

 

[Faisal Sheikh]

If anyone is really paying attention Toyota has been crushing it in pretty much every race series.

An aging and antiquated platform that seems to be doing so well. Mighty impressive. I realize reliability and consistency is a huge part of the equation.

 

[mikeavelli]

Except BMW's working on this and removing M badges from "M Sport packages" as evident on the new i3 which has almost no visual M badges. And they have a bunch of M Performance models that bring meaningful performance changes, nothing Lexus ever got close to except with the "FSP" IS500. AND full fledged M models.

Mercedes is of course a completely different brand totally "guccifying" their image currently

Tough to imply "but the Germans are diluting the badge too!" when they are still making models that actually represent the badge too.

I am not defending Lexus nor accusing the Germans of doing anything wrong. F Sport is on a LX lol. . I am saying Germans have indeed did the opposite and slapped their sport badges on damn near everything. It has helped with sales and obviously customers are happy. Very well aware they offer true high performance products.

I am over my head deep in this stuff. Between in person convos to internet forums and groups to oems; i’m just providing my feedback .Many German purists hate how their badge has dwindled. Most people have no idea their 53 is technically not an AMG like a 63.Many 63 owners hate them.

One thing i’ve learned is purists are usually just a tiny niche who will be ignored as they don’t help with sales.

 

[mikeavelli]

Yeah same. I am screaming from the rooftops. If you make a social media page under that name I will follow it. I have come across your instagram account in the Gazoo Racing comment section, and its good to see.

Mike, I feel like the idea of "lets be honest not enough people buying Lexus performance new" is just a stupid argument. It's because it never received any attention, and got very diluted. You cant half-ass a performance division and be mad that its flopping. If they were smart they would've taken the 2020s to capitalize on the new-found appreciation that came with the LFA and release a bunch of proper Lexus f models (none of this TX and Rx500h bs).

Their issue was negligence, and expecting high numbers without high effort. People are buying high-performance cars and a hybrid Lexus F sibling of GRGT and GT3 at the very least is a no brainer. TMC is at a point where it would be relatively inexpensive to also give the F brand some love while still allowing GR to exist, and also to allow the introduction of a proper Toyota performance division (toyota racing). They can do all of that and chose not to. It's like having a million dollar diposit in-hand, and cashing it at the wrong bank.

I am not defending anything but the data is there, People don’t buy a performance Lexus. Caddy has this issue, infiniti and acura did volvo etc. Lexus and Caddy might have tried and succeeded the most but still pale in comparison to Germans I am well aware the investment wasn’t there as my LC has the same old engine lol.

That said, do you are sales doubling with new engines and cars? We know how people buy badges and Germans will dominate seemingly no matter what. So i assume after tons of data the decision was made to launch a new Sports brand and that will get investment. Lexus USA tried very hard to show what we had. I was a part of that. Some of my greatest accomplishments are now ending in maybe my greatest failure. I personally feel I didn’t do enough.

Look no one wants to bash their head into a wall or throw themselves in front a bus more than me. I’ve dedicated a very significant portion of my life and money into being a Lexus Performance Enthusiast and Ambassador. It is not easy for me to suddenly pivot or be all smiles. I know it’s business and over time hopefully it all makes sense. I am at happy we are getting GR instead of nothing.

July this year is 30 years of ownership and for the first time I don’t have a new Lexus to move up to. So trust me I’m also processing things as you all are. It is tough and that should be expected

 

[mikeavelli]

Sorry for the long posts it is therapeutic

 

[mikeavelli]

Well, that is by far the dumbest business strategy I have ever heard, and it's just more proof that Akio Toyoda is the biggest idiot to exist. He needs to retire and get the hell out of the brand.

Performance models only being for GR is not going to sell. People will also only associate them with Toyotas. People are already calling the GR GT a Toyota GR GT, yet it's the most Lexus looking model GR offers.

So what happens to the RX FSport Performance, for example? Does it become a GR RX and never wears a Lexus badge even though we all know it's a Lexus? Same with the GR Corolla. We know it's a Corolla, but will it just have GR badging?

Then, they're gonna tell us they'll be sold at Lexus dealerships? What a JOKE! Just make them Lexus models then.

All these people on this forum that have ties with Lexus or work for Lexus (and Toyota), are y'all not expressing your anger and frustrations? Or expressing how terrible this business strategy is? Why are we allowing this?

I disagree that people weren't buying F. At least F Sport was the most I'd see on a Lexus model. Are we even going to have performance appearance packages? Or is an RX going to be JUST an RX, for example, and only have a base, hybrid, plug-in and (future) electric model? Nothing else to be distinctive?

How is Genesis, a new brand, able to do this and do it better than Lexus? The Germans have done it. Hell, Acura and Infiniti are doing it now. Then there's Lexus...just a lump on a log. What ever happen to appealing to the younger generation? The younger generation bought all those IS500s new. They love the IS as a whole. People do buy Lexus F/FSport. Sure, it's not M or AMG, but it's still something that was great for Lexus. They just needed to keep putting in the effort to make them better. There is a reason people still talk about the LFA's V10 and the RCF and LC500's V8. It was the best sound people have heard.

"it is what it is" okay, sure, and that's why after 29 years, I can't support this joke of a brand anymore. You don't top reliability, quality, brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and be up there in sales, just to destroy it all by removing what made you stand out - RC/F, LC, GS/F, ISF/IS500, LS, F/FSport, Lexus Racing, etc.

RIP Lexus, the new Infiniti (which is crazy because Infiniti is making a comeback, and introducing new performance models. Hell, the QX80 is far more luxurious looking than the LX600).

This was fought for for years internally. Lexus Racing USA was showcasing our best racing and our fans and enthusiasts. Japan decided GR is the wave. Again I understand the disappointment from a Lexus enthusiast perspective. We had a great run. Business strategies change and obviously this is a major one with not just GR but Century coming. I believe GR will get the investment many of you are saying F didn’t get.

Who knows maybe a change in direction comes back. For now F is dead and GR is what’s up

 

[mikeavelli]

It becomes Lexus RX RR Morizo, like the LBX RR Morizo.

After all there was a rumour from BestCar the high performance variant of the next-gen RX is in development currently and will be called RX RR Morizo

I can’t see that moving forward with the new change in direction unless it’s a JDM only thing.

 

[sl0519]

The current Toyota GR cars will eventually move to GR as a brand. So Toyota will be sedans, suvs, trucks and no more GR cars.

I understand your frustrations but it is what it is at this point. And let’s be honest with ourselves we didn’t have enough people buying Lexus performance new. The people talking smack online who bought used might be passionate but irrelevant to the business model of selling new cars.

We can speculate and say a million things could have changed or been different. The Germans are in an opposite boat. The purists there are not happy every vehicle seems to have some sort of M or amg badge etc. Sales are up and that’s what matters

Sure, people didn’t buy enough Lexus F new, but that’s kind of missing the point. BMW M and AMG didn’t become what they are because people magically showed up day one. They kept updating fast, kept investing in new powertrains, and actually treated performance like a long-term commitment, not a one-off experiment.

Lexus F always felt like the opposite. They dip their toes in once, the response isn’t amazing, and instead of iterating or doubling down, they just let the product sit unchanged for years and then quietly kill it. At some point F basically became NA V8 and nothing else, while the rest of the industry moved on.

The gap didn’t just happen - it’s the result of completely different levels of investment, and it’s obvious to anyone paying attention. You can’t under-invest for a decade and then act surprised people didn’t line up to buy it new.

Meanwhile, buying an M or AMG comes with a whole ecosystem - constant updates, clear branding, strong dealer and aftermarket support, and a bit of status. Buying an F car feels like you’re getting into something the company itself isn’t even fully committed to, and might axe at any time.

And we’re supposed to be shocked which one customers feel more confident spending money on?

 

[LCLFV]

M and AMG car's aren't supposed to have massive volume, they exist as halo products to draw people into a brand. As the old adage goes, the M3 is what draws people into the showroom, and the 330 is what they leave with. That's why the most frequent complaint you see about these types of cars is the dilution of the badge in things like "M-Sport" products, because people want the performance brands to remain exclusive to maintain their appeal.

What part of the Lexus brand is GR supposed to elevate by association? Even if someone loves the GR GT, what model in Lexus's existing lineup will the GR encourage them to leave the showroom with?