Akio Toyoda Will Drive Lexus LFA in Nürburgring 24h Race

Akio Toyoda, incoming president of Toyota and grandson of the company’s founder, has been confirmed as one of the drivers in the upcoming 24h Nürburgring race: The grandson of Toyota founder Kiichiro Toyoda is one of four drivers on a Toyota team entering the May 21-24 Nurburgring 24-hour endurance race in Germany, company spokesman Paul …
Kevin · April 24th, 2009

Lexus LFA to Compete in Nürburgring 24h Race

For the second year in a row, the Lexus LFA will be taking part in the 24h Nürburgring Race, the full-day endurance race to take as many laps ‘round The Ring as possible: Based on a prototype of the LF-A being developed with an eye toward commercial release, the race vehicle, entering the Nürburg event …
Kevin · April 21st, 2009

More on the Lexus LFA Win @ Nürburgring

As mentioned, the Lexus LFA racing concept won its class (SP8: 4000cc ~ 6200cc) in the Nurburgring 4 hour race this weekend—and now sponsor Gazoo has posted some photos from the race: Here’s a photo of drift champion Iida Akira, soon-to-be Toyota President Akio Toyoda, and dealer owner/racer Javier Quiros with their trophies: I also …
Kevin · April 8th, 2009

Lexus LFA Makes a Nürburgring Appearance

For the first time this year, the Lexus LFA racing concept car has been spotted at Nürburgring, likely due to its upcoming appearance in the upcoming 56. ADAC Westfalenfahrt being held this weekend at the Nordschleife—the same four-hour long distance race on the Nürburgring grand prix circuit that the LFA won last year. Here’s the …
Kevin · April 6th, 2009

Production Lexus LFA to debut at Tokyo Auto Show?

This year’s Toyko Motor Show could be the location for a major moment in Lexus history—according to an Edmunds insider, the production version of the Lexus LFA will debut at the October autoshow. Of course, at this point it’s still a rumor, but when you consider that Toyota’s new president, Akio Toyoda, has been the …
Kevin · March 25th, 2009

Lexus @ Milan Design Week 2009

For the last few years, Lexus has been taking part in the Milan Design Week by creating a unique exhibit in collaboration with an artist. Last year, it was the Elastic Diamond with nendo, and this year Lexus has partnered with Huzimoto Takeshi, one of Japan’s up & coming architects, to create Crystallized Wind, or …
Kevin · February 18th, 2009

Lexus LF-A Video from European Debut

To mark the European debut of the Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept at the Frankfurt Auto Show, Lexus put together a truly spectacular video, albeit with no actual in-motion footage. Click the photo below to be taken to the mini-site: I imagine this would have been used as a video introduction to the vehicle’s unveiling at …
Kevin · March 25th, 2008

Flickr Find: The Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept

After a while, auto show photos of a specific model tend to blend in to one another, but Flickr user Luc Bernard managed to bring something new to the table with his photo of the Lexus LF-A Roadster, all stark contrast and saturated color: There’s been a lot of disappointment that a production model of …
Kevin · January 24th, 2008

Video of the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept @ The Tokyo Auto Salon

Putting aside the hoopla surrounding the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept for a minute, here’s some jumpy video footage of the car from the Toyko Auto Salon show: I think I would have liked this vehicle a whole lot better if it had been done up like an actual race car, with the decals and flashy …
Kevin · January 24th, 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 …
Kevin · January 22nd, 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 …
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 …
Kevin · January 17th, 2008

Details on the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept

Details are finally coming out in regards to the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon last week. Due to the body styling and rear wing, it was thought that this was a precursor to Lexus’ entry into the DTM Racing series, but in actuality, the vehicle was a one-off design experiment …
Kevin · January 17th, 2008

Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept Video

The first video of the Lexus LF-A Roadster Concept has been posted by Car & Driver to Brightcove (no embedding allowed, click here to view the video.) It’s a short video, but it’s still great to see the rear-adjustable wing in action. I could have done with less of presenter Dave Vanderwerp’s questionable disappointment and …
Kevin · January 14th, 2008

Lexus Dedicated Hybrid to Debut at Next Year’s Detroit Auto Show

During a media reception last night at the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe announced that a dedicated Lexus hybrid will be introduced at next year’s convention: “Next year here in Detroit, we will expand our conventional hybrid line-up by staging world premiers of two all-new, dedicated hybrids, one for Toyota and one for …
Kevin · January 14th, 2008

The Lexus IS-F Racing Concept to be Shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon

The Tokyo Auto Salon, Japan’s annual automotive aftermarket tradeshow, will see the debut of the Lexus IS-F Racing Concept, with all the body molding and performance modifications you’d expect. Details are non-existent, and the only image is the one shown above, taken from Lexus Japan’s TAS mini-site. In all honesty, I didn’t think it possible …
Kevin · January 4th, 2008

Lexus LF-A News from Australia

Austalian website Drive has posted an interesting article about the Lexus LF-A, including some further verification that the car’s being delayed until the engineers can reach a top speed of 220mph: As for when the Lexus LF-A will appear in dealerships, the company hasn’t set an exact date yet. But Lexus insiders suggest the car’s …
Kevin · December 19th, 2007

Did the Lexus LF-A Set a Nürburgring Record?

If Japanese magazine Holiday Auto is to be believed, the Lexus LF-A has put in a dominant performance on Nürburgring, lapping the track in 7:24. If true, it would make the LF-A the fastest production car to run the ring. This comes on the heels of Pagani Zonda F setting the record in October of …
Kevin · December 14th, 2007

Lexus LF-A Development Hits a Bump

When the same-old Lexus LF-A concept was displayed at the Tokyo Motor Show instead of the expected production model, it was a clear sign that something was amiss in the supercar’s development. There’s no official word, but according to a Winding Road source, there’s certainly been some bumps in the road: Rumblings from inside Toyota …
Kevin · November 13th, 2007

The Small Lexus Moves Forward

There’s been rumblings for some time that Lexus could release a super-small sedan to compete with the likes of BMW’s 1-series and Audi’s A3, and a recent article from GoAuto suggests it’s much further in development than previously thought: To be manufactured in sedan and/or hatch guises beyond 2010, the new entry-level model plan was …
Kevin · November 10th, 2007

Video from the Lexus LF-Xh Debut at the Tokyo Motor Show

Courtesy of my favorite Japanese Lexus blog, The Lexus Times, comes video from the Tokyo Motor Show debut of the LF-Xh: I think all that remains is to remove the wheels and set this thing up with some sort of anti-gravity propulsion.
Kevin · October 31st, 2007

Another Look at the Lexus LF-Xh Interior

If not for its futuristic overtones, the interior of Lexus’ LF-Xh could almost be considered plain, but it’s actually something much more appealing, it’s simple, minimalist. I quite like it. The center console, more than anything, makes me pray that one day these types of interiors find their way into production models. There are a …
Kevin · October 12th, 2007

Tokyo Motor Show: The Lexus LF-Xh Concept

In preparation for the Tokyo Motor Show, Lexus has announced their latest concept, the LF-Xh, though I think it’s safe to call it by its real name, the 2009 RX. The exterior design is pure L-Finesse as applied to the RX. The front-end is a touch too stubby, and there’s a bunch of the standard …
Kevin · October 10th, 2007

Mitsuoka Orochi, The Japanese Mutant Supercar

At first glace, the Mitsuoka Orochi may seem like the Japanese answer to Ferrari, but there’s an unflattering surprise under the hood, the car is powered by a Lexus 3.3-litre V6 engine. With only 231bhp and 327Nm of torque, it’s a powerplant that has no business being in a car with such wild style. This …
Kevin · August 3rd, 2007