No idea just how close it will be to the real deal, but Club Lexus member GFerg has posted up a drawing of what the dedicated hybrid from Lexus might look like, taken from the Japanese magazine Mag-X:

All in all, it doesn’t look all that bad, but I’m still scratching my head at how necessary this car really is. Bringing a rebadged Prius into the Lexus lineup is ill-fitting, to say the least, and I hope Lexus avoids it at all costs. If they’re dead set on releasing a small hybrid, in my mind it makes more sense to offer it as an variant of the “no-longer-just-a-rumor” BMW 1-series competitor.

Speaking of which, there was another image in Mag-X that may very well be a rendering of that very vehicle:

Far too bubbly, especially in the hood (though it might just be the scan), but it’s hard to ignore the charm of this smaller version of the IS. Why bother with a Prius when this shape is so much more appealing?

[Source: Club Lexus]

I have a great love for the Japanese Lexus GS with the Passionate Black interior, so I was excited to discover its commercial on Youtube today. Too bad it’s just recycled footage from a previous advert:

This is a stark reminder of the cultural differences between Japan and North America, no way this commercial would fly stateside. The Passionate Black interior, though, is a different story altogether, and I’m continuing to cross my fingers that it makes a North American appearance.

Last month, Business Week published a story detailing Lexus’ lack of success in Japan when compared to its German competitors. As a respected magazine, it was easy to take their findings at face value, but by using some actual numbers obtained from the Japanese Automotive Dealers Association, the story looks to have been sensationalized slightly.

First off, here’s the figures for Mercedes, BMW, Audi & Lexus for 2007 and the beginning of 2008 (January and February numbers):

Lexus was clearly outsold in 2007, however, Mercedes & BMW both boast a substantial advantage in one primary category: model types. Mercedes sells nineteen different models in Japan, a number that doesn’t take into account the different variations on each model (S450, S550, S600, etc.). BMW has a lot less at nine models, yet this still eclipses Lexus grand selection of four: the LS, GS, SC and IS. Also, it’s worth noting that Lexus doesn’t offer a single SUV in Japan.

But still, there’s no denying that Lexus was outsold by both BMW & Mercedes in 2007, by as much as 12,400, those are the numbers plain and simple.

However, looking at the 2008 numbers, where Lexus is only 8 cars behind Mercedes and close to 1,000 up on BMW, it’s hard to see how the car company isn’t improving in Japan. Time will tell if these numbers continue, but it’s hardly the doom and gloom painted by Business Week.

[Via: Autospies]

We’ve seen some photos of the Japanese special edition Elegant White Lexus IS, and now here’s a weird little commercial to go along with it:

It wouldn’t be so strange if the cat didn’t seem to have such a bizarre pose, but it is what it is.

(I still can’t stop thinking about the Passionate Black GS limited edition. If it came to North America, it would immediately take #1 spot in the “My Next Car” sweepstakes.)

Jalopnik has posted up a report on the various video game exhibits at this year’s New York Auto Show, including a Lexus IS-F special edition of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue:

Lexus had three driving simulators set up running the highly anticipated Gran Turismo 5 Prologue that’s due out in mid-April. Since it was obviously a Lexus partnership, the only vehicle available to try was the Lexus IS-F…The first day of the show, the simulator was running a custom-build platform (meaning the developers sent out a special copy of the game just for the show), but Polyphony managed to overnight Japanese retail builds of the full game to be used on the simulators. A groggy representative told me he was up until 3 a.m. waiting for the retail build and setting up the simulators to properly work with a PlayStation 3 and the Japanese game. That a lot of midnight oil for a cross-marketing opportunity.

In terms of cross-marketing, as the writer mentions, this could only be described as a coup for Lexus, there simply isn’t a better game to be associated with in terms of brand cache. Subaru might have been running a similar exhibit, but featured a version of GT4 rather than the new, heavily anticipated GT5.

BusinessWeek has a story in this week’s magazine about the issues Lexus is having establishing the brand in Japan:

Although Lexus hit American showrooms 19 years ago and has been the top-selling luxury nameplate in the U.S. since 2000, it didn’t arrive in Japan until 2005. By that time German brands dominated the high end, and Lexus has had a tough time getting a toehold, reaching only 60% of Toyota’s initial sales projections. In 2007, Lexus moved 34,800 cars—about what it sold in December alone in the U.S.—and sales so far this year are down.

Worse, the buzz Toyota created for Lexus may have benefited the Germans…”The introduction of Lexus is energizing the luxury car market,” says Ashvin Chotai, an independent auto consultant. But few customers have steered away from the German makes. Chotai says 80% of early Lexus buyers were former Toyota drivers; only 5% came from Mercedes or BMW.

Considering Lexus has only been in Japan since 2005, it doesn’t seem all that surprising that it would struggle to establish a foothold, but I think the center of the issue is the fact that it’s a Japanese company, and would be expected to do better in its home country.

The truth of the matter is, up until 2005, Lexus cars were sold in Japan under the Toyota nameplate, the GS was the Toyota Aristo, the SC was the Toyota Soarer, and so on. Then, after the switch, the same car saw a price increase of 20%, which had to be confusing for the Japanese customer, even a little off-putting. This will take a few years to fade, until Lexus stands on its own.

When I found out about this Best Motoring video pitting the Lexus IS-F against the BMW M3, Nissan Z, and the Honda S2000, I didn’t expect to see a repeat of yesterday’s video result, with the IS-F blowing the doors off the other cars. Too bad the video plays like a poorly staged mock race:

It’s quite clear from the IS-F tachometer display that the driver really had no clue what he was doing, late/poor shifting is going to kill you in any race. Not only that, the M3 was driven by Keiichi Tsuchiya, known in Japan as “the Drift King”, and was clearly head and shoulders above any of the other competitors.

Really, this wasn’t a race at all.

In order to stay on top of demand in Russia, China, and other emerging markets, Lexus will be ramping up their production capacity by a staggering 35%, from 600,000 to 850,000.

The Nikkei Business Daily reports:

Toyota now makes Lexuses at its Tahara plant, in Aichi Prefecture, and at Toyota Motor Kyushu Inc.’s Miyata facility, in Fukuoka Prefecture, for a combined output capacity of more than 600,000 units a year.

At the Tahara plant, Toyota will enable lines churning out Toyota brand sport utility vehicles and other offerings to also make Lexuses. Spending a few billion yen, the automaker will overhaul its painting line as well as install measuring equipment and other infrastructure to ensure high-quality production.

Meanwhile, at the Miyata plant — which produces such Lexuses as the RX — infrastructure will be added to the line that makes both the luxury cars and other Toyota vehicles. This year, Toyota aims to ramp up that line’s output capacity from 200,000 units to 230,000. In addition to a Lexus-only assembly line, production capacity at that facility will be lifted to a maximum of 460,000 units a year.

This is a colossal jump, although this is strictly related to output capacity and not to actual production numbers. While the two Lexus plants in Japan have the ability to build 600,000 vehicles currently, only (!!) 414,400 were produced last year.

Really, this is just future planning.

[Source: The Nikkei Business Daily (Subscription Required)]

(Thanks Davin!)

Sure, the Japanese Elegant White Interior edition of the Lexus IS was nice, but this new special edition of the GS with its “Passionate Black Interior” almost rocked my socks right off:

This interior is a limited run of 500, and there’s a choice of any GS, including the 450h. THe upgrade costs ¥780,000 ($7,300 USD) more than the regular GS, but in my mind, it’s a price fully justified. This is simply stunning, from the two wood trims to the blood-red carpeting.

(I wonder why these special editions are limited to such a low number?)

[Source: Lexus Japan]

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 the Winding Road report last week that the car was a one-off experiment by IS-F Chief Engineer Yukihiko Yaguchi, with no plans for it to enter competition racing of any kind.

Major discrepancies aside, I’m not sure what difference it makes, even if it is just an Opel in Lexus clothing. Let’s consider the very idea of a concept, which at its heart is an experimental model to test a design idea. This isn’t a racer, it’s an idea of a racer. Considering the investment of developing a full-spec DTM racer, is it really that shocking that Lexus would build a tradeshow concept off an existing model?

[Via: Autoblog]