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TMG's super Lexus LS Sports 650 gets track tested

The people at Toyota Motorsport GmbH have been responsible for the Japanese automaker's motorsports efforts since the 1970s, but since Toyota pulled out of Formula One after the 2009 season, the tuning shop has been developing a super sedan based on the Lexus LS called the Sports 650. Details on TMG's first road car have been scarce, but XCAR was recently invited to drive the 641-horsepower Lexus on track.
Here's what we know: the Sports 650 has enough power to sprint to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds, tops out at 199 mph, weighs over two tons and utilizes LFA brakes. Oh, and its twin-turbo V8 bellows like an AMG V8. That last part isn't surprising when considering TMG could become Toyota's in-house tuning arm - like AMG is to Mercedes-Benz. As for the bespoke body kit, fender flares and stacked exhaust pipes? They fit the car well and even remind us a bit of Lexus' other high-performance sedan, the IS F. Currently there are no plans for the Sports 650 to be made into a production car, but we doubt TMG is devoting this much effort developing the LS into a road-rocket for nothing.
Check out XCAR's video below to see the AMG-fighter wrung out on track, and then ponder what could be if TMG were let loose to fiddle with other cars in Lexus' lineup. Now that's something we could get used to!

Lexus says it's not worried about LS sales decline in face of S-Class, Model S

The Lexus LS is old. Sure, it received a refresh for model year 2013, but it hasn't had a clean-sheet redesign since George W. Bush was in office. It's the oldest vehicle in its segment, debuting in 2007, a full year before the current-gen BMW 7 Series, two years before the Hyundai Equus and Jaguar XJ and three years before the Audi A8.
This is particularly troubling as buyers flock to the heavily redesigned Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which debuted late last year, and the all-electric Tesla Model S. Despite this move, though, Lexus is (worryingly in our minds) not at all concerned.
"We don't feel it's a problem with the car," Brian Smith, VP of marketing for Lexus, told Wards Auto. "Many of the buyers in that segment want what's new and they're trying it."

Lexus RC F glows with your heartbeat

It's not uncommon to see all manner of sensors being installed inside new cars these days, monitoring everything from ambient noise to our levels of alertness. The question is what the automakers will do with the information gathered by those sensors, and we've seen some fairly novel innovations. This latest solution from Lexus may not be the most useful, but it's definitely one of the most interesting we've seen to date. The Japanese luxury automaker's Australian division cooked up this special RC F show car with a heart-rate monitor and a special electroluminescent paint job. The sensors detect how fast the driver's heart is beating, and displays it accordingly down the side of the car's flanks. In daylight it looks like it's painted plain old ordinary silver, and otherwise it's the same luxury muscle coupe we know, with a 5.0-liter V8 churning out 467 horsepower in resolute defiance of the downsizing/turbocharging trend that's sweeping the industry. The project was cooked up by creative agency M&C Saatchi and uses glow-in-the-dark paint from American specialist Lumilor. The vehicle is set to be unveiled over the weekend, but you can scope it out now in the images below and the preview video above. Is it pointless? Almost entirely. Does that make it any less cool? Of course not. 22 July 2015 LEXUS GETS PULSES RACING WITH WORLD'S FIRST HEARTBEAT CAR Lexus Australia has developed the world's first vehicle to display a heartbeat on its exterior in a demonstration of advanced technology and the connection between man and machine. The Japanese luxury marque collaborated with creative agency M&C Saatchi to produce a one-off RC F V8 coupe that integrates a series of technologies to display a person's heartbeat in the vehicle's bodywork. The first stage of the system works by transmitting the heartbeat of a connected person from a heart rate monitor to a bespoke electrical system in the RC F. The on-board system captures and processes the data before sending an electric charge through the RC F's body panels that are painted in electroluminescent paint developed by US-based specialist Lumilor. This innovative paint finish glows when the electrical charge runs through it and displays the person's heartbeat via a real-time animation sequence. Lexus Australia chief executive Sean Hanley said the heartbeat car comes in the wake of other innovative brand activities in 2015 and an ongoing commitment to the development of high performance Lexus F vehicles.