Photos: Lexus RC Super GT500 Race Car in Matte Black

The Japanese Super GT ZENT CERUMO team have begun testing their new GT500 Lexus RC, which has been all decked out in a matte black paint job: According to Autosport Web, the ZENT RC hit 280km/h and lapped the Fuji Speedway in 1:30.906 — as a point of reference, the pole position lap during last …

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Kevin · January 2nd, 2014

Is this the Lexus RC F?

A convincing rendering of the Lexus RC F has been published in an unnamed Japanese magazine — here’s the full page: While there’s been some talk that this might be the real thing, comparing the rendering with the second teaser image shows the truth — the deep lines in the hood reaching to the front …

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Kevin · December 30th, 2013

Lexus IS in Atomic Silver Wins Japanese Color Award

The Atomic Silver/Sonic Titanium exterior color & Topaz Brown interior color offered on the Lexus IS has won the 2014 Auto Color award from the Japan Fashion Color Association, which may be the strangest award the sedan will win this year. (In all seriousness, the Atomic Silver/Sonic Titanium exterior color is a great addition to …

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Kevin · December 17th, 2013

Interview with Lexus International President Kiyotaka Ise

While at the Tokyo Motor Show last month, I had a chance to interview Kiyotaka Ise, the president of Lexus International. The following is a transcript of our conversation, by way of a Japanese translator. Lexus Enthusiast: It must have been daunting to transform the Lexus brand over such a short period of time, how …

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Kevin · December 12th, 2013

Camouflaged Lexus NX Prototype Spotted in Japan

A Lexus NX prototype has been spotted by Japanese magazine Mag-X in some pretty wild camouflage — here are the two photos: The vehicle has been expertly disguised, with only the front spindle grille giving away that fact the model is a Lexus at all — makes me wonder, wouldn’t this amount of camouflage affect …

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Kevin · December 10th, 2013

Interview with Lexus RC Chief Engineer Junichi Furuyama

While at the Tokyo Motor Show last month, I had a chance to interview Junichi Furuyama, the chief engineer of the new Lexus RC coupe. The following is a transcript of our conversation, by way of a Japanese translator. Kevin: First question — were the Lexus IS & RC in development at the same time? …

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Kevin · December 9th, 2013

Two Lexus LFA Convertibles Spotted in Japan

At the Odaiba Motor Festival celebrating the Tokyo Motor Show last month, Toyota President Akio Toyoda brought out two Lexus LFA Spyders — here they are, briefly: (The white LFA Spyder I can only assume is the same one Jay Leno drove earlier this year, but the yellow Spyder is completely new to me.)
Kevin · December 6th, 2013

First Impressions of the Lexus LF-NX Turbo Concept

After staring at photos for months, I finally had a chance to see the Lexus LF-NX concept at the Tokyo Motor Show. Before seeing the LF-NX in person, I had no idea how Lexus was going to transform it into a production model — the concept appeared architectural, more structure than automobile, like a solid …

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Kevin · December 5th, 2013

Lexus NXB Mountain Bike Concept Displayed at Tokyo Motor Show

Debuting alongside the Lexus LF-NX Turbo concept at the Tokyo Motor Show was the Neo eXtreme Bike Concept, a mountain bike produced using the same carbon fiber loom that weaved the LFA — here are some photos: Beyond the frame, the NXB concept features XeNTiS Kappa2 CC carbon fiber aero wheels with a custom Spindle …

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Kevin · December 3rd, 2013

First Impressions of the Lexus RC

This week in Japan, Lexus debuted their new RC coupe — it was first revealed at a special event at Ryōgoku Kokugikan sumo stadium on Monday, and then it had its public debut at the Tokyo Motor Show. This is the brand’s first mass-production hardtop coupe since 2000, and marks the beginning of an exciting …

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Kevin · November 22nd, 2013

Personalized Live Lexus Video from Tokyo Motor Show

As part of the RC 350 coupe reveal next week at the Tokyo Motor Show, Lexus is running a social media initiative through Twitter & Vine: On the 21st, send your tweet to Lexus via Twitter – using the Twitter hashtag #LexusInTokyo – with your request for an up-close view of the design details of …

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Kevin · November 13th, 2013

A Tour of the Lexus Design Center in Japan

Lexus Magazine has a new feature on the Lexus Design Center in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan, where designers conceive and develop future concepts and production models: In central Japan, there’s a glass-fronted building that blends in with its surrounding office structures. As one approaches, though, security gates are a tip-off that something intriguing may …

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Kevin · November 11th, 2013

ZENT CERUMO Lexus SC 430 Wins Super GT Championship

As the Super GT season comes to a close with last week’s Round 8 race, the third place finish by the #38 ZENT CERUMO SC430 team of Kazuki Nakajima & James Rossiter secured enough points to win the season championship. This marks the end of the SC 430 era in the Super GT GT500 class …

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Kevin · November 11th, 2013

Lexus GS 200t Trademarked in Japan

According to Japanese Lexus fan site Lexus Musts, Lexus has trademarked GS 200t in Japan — here’s a screenshot of the filing: GS 200t has also been trademarked in Australia — the 200t designation is expected to be the 2.0L four-cylinder turbo that’s set to debut at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month in …

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Kevin · November 7th, 2013

Lexus RC Coupe to Introduce Next-Generation Remote Touch Controller

Looking over the photo of the Lexus RC interior, it shows a design very similar to the third-generation IS — in fact, the only noticeable difference is the new Remote Touch controller: As seen in previous spy photos, the earlier mouse-like puck has been replaced with a touchscreen divided into four quadrants, with the HOME, …

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Kevin · November 4th, 2013

Turbocharged Lexus LF-NX Concept to Debut at Tokyo Motor Show

Lexus will be showing a new turbocharged LF-NX concept alongside the production RC coupe at the Tokyo Motor Show: The Lexus LF-NX concept, which made its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this year, has been outfitted with a newly-developed 2.0-liter turbo engine for guaranteed power and improved fuel economy. A lower center of …

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Kevin · November 4th, 2013

Lexus RC Sports Coupe to Debut at Tokyo Motor Show

The long-awaited Lexus RC coupe will make its worldwide debut at the Tokyo Motor Show on November 20th — let’s get straight to the fresh new photos released moments ago: Two versions will be unveiled: the RC 350, with a 3.5L V6 engine; and the RC 300h hybrid, with a 2.5L four-cylinder engine — the …

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Kevin · November 4th, 2013

Video: Neon-Light Lexus LS 430 from Japan

Let’s end the week with an absolutely bonkers neon-lights Lexus LS 430/Toyota Celsior from Japan: Have a nice weekend, everyone — next week is SEMA, get ready for live coverage! See more photos of the Neon Light Celsior
Kevin · November 1st, 2013

New Lexus IS F SPORT Body Kit from LX Mode

Japanese tuner LX Mode has created a collection of new modifications for the 2014 Lexus IS: All the modifications together on one vehicle seems like overkill, but there’s some decent individual pieces — I don’t mind the look of the carbon fiber headlight insert and the thin-line LED above the (non-USA spec) foglight. [Source: LX …

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Kevin · October 30th, 2013

Lexus & BMW Working on Next-Generation LFA?

According to the November cover of Japanese magazine Best Car, Lexus & BMW are working on a joint-project to build the next-generation LFA — there’s even a rendering of what this LFA II might look like: This seems extremely unlikely (to put it lightly), but it should sell plenty of magazines when the issue comes …

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Kevin · October 29th, 2013

Video: New Lexus Race Car for 2014 Super GT Season

SUPER GT has released a new video of the Lexus, Honda, & Nissan race cars scheduled to take over the GT500 series in 2014: Although there’s still two races in the 2013 season, it’s hard not to look forward to the next generation of race cars — all of the fresh changes should make for …

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Kevin · October 21st, 2013

Imagining the Lexus RC F CCS-R Super Performance Coupe

Using the Lexus LF-CC concept as a starting point, Japanese magazine CAR TOP has designed a RC F wearing the orange & black paint job of the IS F CCS-R: It may a hodgepodge of letters, but the RC F CCS-R should be a reality once the new Lexus coupe is revealed — my expectation …

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Kevin · October 21st, 2013

New Lexus GS 300h Commercial from Japan

Lexus Japan has made a commercial for the newly released GS 300h: The visuals were created using black lights, and the behind-the-scenes video is pretty interesting to watch even if you don’t understand Japanese: Perhaps the biggest surprise in the commercial is how low the GS sits — check out the wheel drop:
Kevin · October 17th, 2013

Lexus Shares Details on Future Engines

Koei Saga, the Toyota senior managing officer in charge of drivetrain research & development, shared some details with Automotive News on the company’s future engine plans: …Lexus recently trademarked “NX 2.0T” for a two-liter turbo version of its upcoming Lexus compact crossover [but] Saga is not convinced that Toyota will emphasize turbocharging across many product …

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Kevin · October 15th, 2013

Milestone: Lexus Has Built 1.5 Million ES Models Since 1989

Lexus has recently reached a significant manufacturing milestone — according to Just Auto, 1.5 million ES models have been built since the model’s debut in 1989. Six generations of the ES have been built over the past 24 years, and it has been the best selling Lexus car over that period. (Also of note for …

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Kevin · October 14th, 2013

Toyota to Debut Fuel Cell Vehicle at Tokyo Motor Show, Will Not be a Lexus

The year-long mystery of the Lexus HS 250h hydrogen fuel-cell prototype has been (at least partially) solved, as Toyota brought journalists to Japan this week to drive the still-camouflaged vehicle — from Bloomberg: To demonstrate how far hydrogen cars have come since the early 2000s, Toyota gave test drives of a small, prototype sedan in …

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Kevin · October 11th, 2013

Next-Generation Lexus Automated Driving Assist System Announced

The Toyota Motor Corporation has announced their next-generation advanced driving support system, Automated Highway Driving Assist (AHDA), which is made up of two new automated driving technologies: Cooperative-adaptive Cruise Control In contrast to standard radar cruise control (which uses millimeter-wave radar to detect other vehicles), Cooperative-adaptive Cruise Control uses 700-MHz band vehicle-to-vehicle ITS communications to …

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Kevin · October 10th, 2013

Lexus to Reveal Production Coupe at Tokyo Motor Show?

Lexus will debut a new production coupe at the Tokyo Motor Show in November, according to the Australian GoAuto website: Get set for another two-door Lexus stunner when the doors open at the 43rd Tokyo motor show next month. Lexus is tight-lipped on the exact nature of its big expose, but you can expect it …

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Kevin · October 9th, 2013

Petronas Lexus SC 430 Team Wins Super GT Round 7

The Petronas racing team of Kazuki Nakajima & James Rossiter have won the Super GT Round 6 GT500 class in the #36 Lexus SC 430, coming from behind to win the race in the final laps. The ZENT CERUMO #38 SC 430, winners of the Round 6 at the Fuji Speedway, finished second and are …

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Kevin · October 7th, 2013

Should the Production Lexus RC F Look Like This?

Another day, another rendering of the rumored Lexus RC F — this time, Japanese magazine Best Car takes a guess at what the Lexus coupe might look like (click images for a larger version): Illustrating the RC F is well traveled territory (see examples one, two, three, four, five) — most look good from the …

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Kevin · September 24th, 2013

The Legacy of Toyota President & Lexus Founder Eiji Toyoda

It’s now been a week since the passing of former Toyota president & Lexus founder Eiji Toyoda, and today, James B. Treece from Automotive News has published an insightful memorial: When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the U.S. military decided that rather than scrap Toyota’s truck factories, as had been the Occupation’s plan, …

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Kevin · September 23rd, 2013

Lexus RX 200t Test Mule Spotted in Japan?

Japanese magazine MAG-X has published photos of what they claim is a test mule for the turbocharged four-cylinder Lexus RX 200t — here’s the full page from the September issue: The very first mention of a possible RX 200t came in April of this year, when Lexus filed a trademark for the nameplate in Australia …

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Kevin · September 19th, 2013

Eiji Toyoda, Toyota President & Lexus Founder, Dies at Age 100

Eiji Toyoda, the longest-serving president in the history of Toyota and the man responsible for the creation of the Lexus brand, died today at the age of 100. His legacy extends through every corner of Toyota’s success — under his leadership, the company grew to become the world’s biggest automaker and revolutionized modern manufacturing with …

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Kevin · September 17th, 2013

Lexus Enthusiast Goes to Japan

In just a few hours, I’ll be boarding a flight to Japan for a week — the primary reason for my visit is the new INTERSECT BY LEXUS gallery in Tokyo’s Aoyama district, but I have a full schedule of Lexus activities planned.
Kevin · August 21st, 2013

A Lexus Love Story

Today is the fifth wedding anniversary of my wife and I, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I have the perfect Lexus video to mark the occasion.
Kevin · August 8th, 2013

How does the New Lexus IS Taste?

How does Toyota president Akio Toyoda evaluate new cars? As Hans Greimel of Automotive News explains, it all has to do with taste.
Kevin · August 5th, 2013

Inside the Top-Secret Lexus Shibetsu Test Track

A BEYOND Magazine story about the Shibetsu Proving Ground in Japan, the birthplace of the original LS 400 and the top-secret test track for new Lexus models, is now on the Lexus International website.
Kevin · July 24th, 2013

Reuters Profile on Akio Toyoda

Some recommended reading: Reuters has an excellent profile on Toyota president Akio Toyoda and the changes he’s went through since taking over in 2009.
Kevin · July 4th, 2013