It comes a little late, but this Lexus December to Remember commercial makes an interesting contrast to the other adverts that ran this season:

Per usual, the music selection is fantastic, and the animation is certainly cute, but I have to admit some disappointment that the RX wasn’t actually growing underneath the bow.

Just in case you didn’t know how Jeremy Clarkson felt about Lexus, his position should be abundantly clear after viewing this excerpt from his new DVD Thriller:

Sure, we’ve heard him refer to the SC 430 as the “worst car currently available”, and last month he refused to even admit he liked the IS-F, but blowing up an LS 400 with a tank makes it a vendetta.

I’d launch into an all-out debunk of his points, but in light of the Tesla fiasco this week, and it’s quite clear Clarkson’s a caricature, with little regard for reason. Makes for good viewing, but little else.

Turns out, the Lexus shipping crate video that I posted earlier this week is the first part of a series of green movement infomercials. Here’s a small intro to The Power of H:

More details on the next two parts showed up in Brandweek:

“Landfill,” which is currently online at NBC.com, details Wilkinson and De Maria reusing metal shipping containers to create chic, eco-friendly and structurally sound homes. A voiceover compares their mission to that of Lexus, which aims to be landfill-free. “Shipping containers transformed into homes, waste transformed to value.” A second spot chronicles the construction of the houses. Tagline for the ads: “The ‘Power of h.’”

Two other ads show a Tokyo man using the vibration of cars to light a bridge and relating it to a Lexus braking system, and a solar tree that lights a park at night.

Combined with its traditional advertising, this is a smart, natural direction for Lexus marketing. The focus on efficient, responsible manufacturing is only going to grow, and increasing public awareness of the steps Lexus is taking allows it to carve out a very important position in the market.

[Source: Brandweek]

Not really a Lexus commercial in the traditional sense, this video illustrates the growing movement towards sustainable reusable manufacturing:

It’s a good direction, and I understand the idea here is to associate Lexus with the sustainable manufacturing process, but if Lexus plants have earned Zero Landfill status, why not explain that further? I’d certainly like to see more details.

I have no idea if it’s exclusive to Woodfield Lexus in Chicago, but the kiosk shown in this video would be a great addition to every dealership:

There’s certainly a strong case for this to become company-wide. It wouldn’t just be informative to the customer, but it would definitely cut down on the misunderstandings and general dealership suspicions that most people have. Honestly, it’s one of those things that seems so obvious I’m surprised it isn’t already in place.

Really, all it’s missing is a link to this website!

Update: The company responsible for the Veosk is Innovative Multimedia, based out of Chicago. I talked with company president Ed Vale, who explained that the technology is currently only available at Woodfield Lexus for now, but there are plans to bring to more dealerships some time in the near future.

Here’s a couple new Lexus LF-A Racing Concept videos for you — first up is some stellar footage of a rocketing LF-A, which perfectly captures the engine belting it out full-force:

The other video of note is from the LF-A’s appearance at last week’s Toyota Motorsports Festival in Japan. As you might remember, the supercar was being driven by none other than Toyota executive vice-president Akio Toyoda:

I still love the look of this car. The rear 3/4 view is pure magic.