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Lexus considering V8 Supercars racing program

Just a few years ago, Holden and Ford were the only manufacturers competing in Australia's V8 Supercars series. But those days were left long ago in a cloud of smoke on the track, and are only disappearing even further in the rearview mirror as the latest intel suggests Lexus could be ready to enter the series as well. Speaking with CarAdvice.com.au at the local launch of the RC coupe, Lexus Australia chief Sean Hanley revealed that his office approached the race organizers to hold "very high-level discussions" about the Japanese luxury brand entering the series. The development is reportedly spurred by the warm reception the RC has enjoyed so far Down Under, and by an expected impending shift in the rules of the V8 Supercars championship. The series has been rumored to be shifting away from strictly eight-cylinder sedans to include coupes and other engine types – a move that would open the door to more manufacturers to participate, including Lexus with the RC F. Currently the field is made up of Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons, Nissan Altimas, Volvo S60s and privately-entered Mercedes E63 AMGs. Nissan, Volvo and Mercedes only joined in the past couple of seasons following the last round of rules changes. The series received "international" status from the FIA in 2011and in the past few seasons has held races in locations as far flung as Abu Dhabi and Texas to its principally Australia-based calendar. Lexus, for its part, has competed in Grand-Am, Germany's Nurburgring-based VLN series and Japan's Super GT series, but unlike parent company Toyota, has yet to embark upon a top-level racing program in Formula One, the World Rally Championship or at Le Mans.

TMG Lexus LS Sports 650 destined for production after 2015?

There's little question that Lexus has succeeded in challenging its German rivals in the luxury marketplace. And with the LFA, it has proven that Japan can build a world-class supercar. What's left blank is the space in between.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH came up with a compelling answer in the form of the Sports 650 prototype, a Lexus LS with a 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 producing 641 horsepower and other go-fast components to challenge the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and Audi S8. Toyota boss Akio Toyoda was reportedly so impressed with the project that he initially ordered TMG to build ten examples - one for him and each of his nine best friends. But since the model on which the project was based has since been replaced, questions remain over the project's fate.
Georg Kacher - European correspondent for Automobile and Car magazines - recently drove the prototype and reports that "the project will now likely be transferred to the new model out in 2015." That could come down purely to speculation, but Kacher tends to get the inside line on industry news, so this particular bowl of gossip soup might not requite the usual grain of salt we otherwise might add.

Production Lexus NX small CUV headed for Geneva

Just five months ago, our spy photographers caught what appeared to be a mule for the forthcoming Lexus NX crossover with the body of a CT 200h for disguise. Then the LF-NX Concept CUV debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show (it showed up at the Tokyo Motor Show as well) with a massive spindle grille and an extreme version of Lexus' sharp-edged new styling language on full display. Now Auto Express reports that a production version of the LF-NX concept will grace the Geneva Motor Show next March and go on sale next summer. If the names that Lexus trademarked a while back are any indication, it'll come in two trims, NX 200t and NX 300h.
Concept vehicles often look outrageously bold, with more extroverted styling than what eventually makes it into the production version. But Lexus reportedly will leave much of the LF-NX concept's styling alone for the production version, citing its customers' changing tastes.
"What we're finding is that these days customers want to be more expressive, so a lot of the concept's inherent design will come out in the finished car," says Paul Van der Burgh, Lexus' European director. "Why would you want something that looked like everything else in the segment?"