2004 Lexus Rx 330 on 2040-cars

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Lexus will build a production version of the UX crossover

It seems that Lexus's selection of crossovers is about to get bigger by going smaller. The Australian automotive news site Motoring says a Lexus representative confirmed that a production version of the UX concept is coming soon. A Lexus representative said it will help bring younger customers to the brand. As a refresher, the UX was a subcompact crossover shown at the Paris auto show, and it was quite striking. The exterior was a flurry of curves and angles, and the interior had crazy seats with elastic straps instead of cushions and a holographic user interface. The interior even had a weird, finned sound bar in the dash that could be removed and carried around. The futuristic interior features are practically guaranteed to be exclusive to the concept, and the exterior design will probably be toned down. Since the slightly larger Lexus NX borrows some bits from the RAV4, we expect the UX to utilize some underpinnings from another the smallest crossover in the Toyota line, the Toyota C-HR. Sharing with the C-HR would also mean the UX would also have some commonality with the current Prius, as both vehicles use the scalable architecture known as TNGA. This would also mean a hybrid UX is a strong possibility as well, since the Prius is only available as a hybrid, and the C-HR has a hybrid option in Europe and Japan. It's hard to say when the car will arrive, but considering the compact crossover craze we can't imagine that Lexus wants to wait too long. It's possible a near production-ready concept will appear at a show next year, and would likely reach dealers at the end of that year or the start of the following one. Related Video: Featured Gallery Lexus UX Concept: Paris 2016 View 17 Photos News Source: MotoringImage Credit: Drew Phillips Lexus Crossover Luxury toyota c-hr lexus ux

Lexus IS, new and old, and LFA to make splash at SEMA

Lexus has announced its Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show cars: a group of eight Lexus IS sedans spanning all three generations, and a 2012 LFA supercar. One of the show cars, a custom 2014 Lexus IS 350 F Sport, is a creation penned by IS fan Rob Evans, the winner of a contest to design a Lexus SEMA show car.
The standouts in the group of Lexus IS show cars, in no particular order, are a 700-horsepower 2014 Lexus IS 340 (it has a heavily modified Toyota Supra inline six swapped in, which is stroked out to 3.4 liters, hence the nomenclature change) by Philip Case and a supercharged 2004 Lexus IS 300 by Maricar Cortez. Both cars prove that oldies can be goodies - the venerable Supra 2JZTE engine, which ceased production over a decade ago, lives on in a 2014 platform, and the 2004 IS 300 gets a supercharger and remains relevant through the use of electronics, such as a back-up radar sensor, upgraded headlights and more.
Of course, the LFA by Guy S. De Alwis will be a stand out on its own, but unfortunately Lexus only provided us with a couple pictures that don't do it justice. We'll have to take a closer look at it on the show floor. Same goes for the IS penned by contest-winner Rob Evans, of which only a rendering was provided.

The next steps automakers could take after sales drop again in April

DETROIT (Reuters) - Major automakers on Tuesday posted declines in U.S. new vehicle sales for April in a sign the long boom cycle that lifted the American auto industry to record sales last year is losing steam, sending carmaker stocks down. The drop in sales versus April 2016 came on the heels of a disappointing March, which automakers had shrugged off as just a bad month. But two straight weak months has heightened Wall Street worries the cyclical industry is on a downward swing after a nearly uninterrupted boom since the Great Recession's end in 2010. Auto sales were a drag on U.S. first-quarter gross domestic product, with the economy growing at an annual rate of just 0.7 percent according to an advance estimate published by the Commerce Department last Friday. Excluding the auto sector the GDP growth rate would have been 1.2 percent. Industry consultant Autodata put the industry's seasonally adjusted annualized rate of sales at 16.88 million units for April, below the average of 17.2 million units predicted by analysts polled by Reuters. General Motors Co shares fell 2.9 percent while Ford Motor Co slid 4.3 percent and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's U.S.-traded shares tumbled 4.2 percent. The U.S. auto industry faces multiple challenges. Sales are slipping and vehicle inventory levels have risen even as carmakers have hiked discounts to lure customers. A flood of used vehicles from the boom cycle are increasingly competing with new cars. The question for automakers: How much and for how long to curtail production this summer, which will result in worker layoffs? To bring down stocks of unsold vehicles, the Detroit automakers need to cut production, and offer more discounts without creating "an incentives war," said Mark Wakefield, head of the North American automotive practice for AlixPartners in Southfield, Michigan. "We see multiple weeks (of production) being taken out on the car side," he said, "and some softness on the truck side." Rival automakers will be watching each other to see if one is cutting prices to gain market share from another, he said, instead of just clearing inventory. INVESTORS DIGEST BAD NEWS Just last week GM reported a record first-quarter profit, but that had almost zero impact on the automaker's stock. The iconic carmaker, whose own interest was once conflated with that of America's, has slipped behind luxury carmaker Tesla Inc in terms of valuation.