William Stern, the in-house photographer for Sevas, has posted up some shots of a custom Lexus SC 430 on Flickr:

The custom work, including some subtle fender vents and not-so-subtle LED side-step lighting, was done by Cartel Customs in Miami. There’s quite a collection of photos in William’s Flickr stream, be sure to check them out for more detail.

Update: Here’s the very same car in a video, posted to Youtube:

As previously mentioned, this year’s SEMA event will showcase nine Lexus models tuned up by aftermarket companies. Most of these companies make little or no mention of this fact on their websites, but two of the tuners have put up some teaser images:

Blitz Tuned Lexus GS 430

The Blitz GS hasn’t gone over the top with external modification, there’s a front lip spoiler and side steps, and more than likely a rear lip spoiler, but I imagine most of their entry is going to be under the hood. Surprisingly, I like the gold rims.

BRS Autodesign Tuned SC 430

The BRS Autodesign SC, however, is completely kitted over, including giant vented front fenders, a fat front lip spoiler, huge wheels, massive side steps and an enormous rear trunk spoiler. I love this one from the front, but the lack of rear under-spoiler ruins it.

The next part of my Lexus Body Kit Series is up, this time for the SC 430.

For a car closing in on seven years of production, and a purported sports coupe at that, there’s surprisingly few body kits to choose from, and the kits that are available are low in options, with most consisting of a front spoiler, side step and rear spoiler.

With that said, there are some rather nice kits out there, I was particularly impressed with the T’s Project version:

This SC 430 commercial featuring Andy Roddick and Christopher Fairbanks defies the usual Lexus formula of heightened drama and takes an altogether different route:

This went completely over my head, with such a strange combination of elements. A famous tennis player, a comedian, a tree frog story and a sixties era green-screen, how could these have come together in a Lexus commercial?

The poor SC 430, can’t even get a good commercial.

In what has now become an annual tradition, Lexus will be debuting a special 2008 SC 430 Pebble Beach Edition at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

With a limited run of only 360, the Pebble Beach SC 430 will have the exclusive color combination of a Smokey Granite Mica exterior and a two-tone Camel and Ecru leather interior, plus brushed chrome badging on the front fenders, illuminated scuff plates, a rear spoiler and 18-inch six-spoke chrome wheels.

Now at seven years without a redesign, the SC 430 is nearing the end of its current incarnation, with a new look expected for 2009, and it comes not a moment too soon. There are some things I like about the car, particularly the front face, but it never struck me as a suitable successor to the SC 300/400. Perhaps it should have been named the SD 430, for “Sunday Driver”.

[Source: Motor Trend]

The Motorist Choice Awards is an annual ranking of vehicles that deliver both the highest customer satisfication and lowest cost of ownership, held by Intellichoice and AutoPacific. For 2007, Lexus came first in a number of categories:

• Premium Luxury Car: Lexus LS
• Premium Sports Car: Lexus SC
• Aspirational Luxury Car: Lexus IS

The LS 460 was also declared the overall winner in the awards, with the GS and RX scoring high but losing out to higher scoring competitors.

I can’t say that the SC 430 is my favorite car in Lexus’ lineup, but Top Gear took it one step further, declaring it “the worst car on sale today”. When comparing it to the Hyundai Tiburon, it was hardly even a contest:

“Dreadful”. “Horrible”. “Charmless”. I’m honestly surprised the host didn’t drive the SC 430 off a cliff at the end.

Flickr user j0rdi has been taking some great shots at Salón del Automóvil happening right now in Barcelona. Not content to take photos of full cars, all the shots are beautifully cropped, leaving only the finer details.

One of these photos was of a Lexus SC 430, and it takes headlights to an entirely abstract level:

j0rdi’s other photos are amazing, particularly this one — Be sure to check them out.

J.D. Power & Associates published the results of their 2007 Initial Quality Study, and Lexus placed second in the overall rankings, behind Porsche:

As you can see, it was a very close race, with Lexus owners reporting 94 problems per 100 Vehicles as compared to Porsche’s 91.

The individual vehicle results were less flattering, with only the RX 350/400h placing first in its class.

Midsize Premium Car

1. Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2. Lexus GS 350/430/450h 3. Infiniti M-Series/Volvo S80

Large Premium Car

1. Audi A8/Mercedes-Benz S-Class 3. Lexus LS 460

Premium Sports Car

1. Mercedes-Benz SL-Class 2. Porsche 911 3. Lexus SC 430

Midsize Premium MAV

1. Lexus RX 350/400h 2. Lincoln MKX 3. Lexus GX 470

As for the rest of the the Lexus lineup, the ES 350, IS 250/350 and GX 470 all failed to place in top three of their respective segments.

All in all, a strong showing for the brand, with just enough room for improvement to keep them on their toes.

[Source: J.D. Power]