Mark Templin on Improving US Lexus Dealerships

In a presentation at the Automotive News World Congress, Lexus General Manager Mark Templin outlined the automaker’s plans to enhance their US dealerships even further: ” We’re trying to create a feeling in our car dealerships more of a luxury hotel than a car dealership,” Templin said after his presentation. The dealerships also want to …

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Kevin · January 22nd, 2008

The Lexus IS-F Racing Concept gets even more confusing

The confusion surrounding the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept has taken a turn for the absurd, with German auto magazine AutoBild now asserting that it’s not a Lexus at all, but a reworked Opel Opel Vectra DTM racer: From the article, it’s not exactly clear how they came to this conclusion, but it clearly goes against …

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Kevin · January 22nd, 2008

Lexus IS 350 V6 Engine Named as one of 2008’s Best

The 3.5L DOHC V-6 engine found in the Lexus IS 350 has been named as one of 2008’s top engines by Wards: As it earns its third consecutive 10 Best Engines award, Associate Editor Byron Pope sums up the Lexus-exclusive engine’s execution: “Good luck beating this in any category.” …where the IS 350 application really …

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Kevin · January 21st, 2008

The Truth About Cars Reviews the Lexus IS-F

I have to appreciate The Truth about Cars review of the Lexus IS-F. Sure, it’s critical, but the writing is superb and full of character: Given a long, empty ribbon of road, the IS-F again reveals a sharply split personality. Flexing your right foot rips away the layers of Lexus fluff. At WOT, acceleration is …

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Kevin · January 21st, 2008

Flickr Find: The Project Lexus IS-F Revisited

The 5Axis Project IS-F for last year’s SEMA was a real eye-catcher, with many preferring the look to the production IS-F. Yet, there didn’t seem to be any real quality shots of the car, and certainly nothing like this photo from Scott Dukes: Just stunning, the photo really shows off the bulging bodywork, and makes …

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Kevin · January 20th, 2008

Dedicated Lexus Hybrid = Hybrid ES?

In a short interview with Bloomberg, Lexus General Manager Mark Templin reiterated what he told the Free Press a couple days ago, though with a little more detail: “There is a whole section of the population that wants something different, and that’s high-efficiency,” Lexus general manager Mark Templin said in an interview at the Detroit …

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Kevin · January 18th, 2008

More Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept Video Footage

It’s nice to see a purely car-focused video of the Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept show up, even if it suffers from the usual Youtube quality issues: I’m still in shock at how quickly I took to this concept. I wasn’t necessarily the biggest LF-A fan to begin with, though in comparing the two versions, I …

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Kevin · January 18th, 2008

New Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept Video from Autospies

More video of the LF-A Roadster Concept shown at the Detroit Auto Show has emerged, this time up it’s Autospies, with an interview with Lexus event manager Brian Bolain(no video embedding, click here to watch the video.) I really believed that this concept was something that would fast-track to production, perhaps as part of a …

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Kevin · January 17th, 2008