The world of automotive Concours d’Elegance is a wildly and widely variable one. Wikipedia translates the French term as a “competition of elegance” (although “contest of elegance” is probably a more literal translation). Search most mainstream automotive media, and more than likely they’ll fixate on the elite, hoity-toity, 1-percenter world of ultra-rare automotive classics with […]

A little over 2 weeks after Toyota filed a trio of UX trademarks – presumably for the Lexus brand – another new crossover/SUV-centric trademark surfaced in Europe: RX 350 L. As with UX, the news first appeared on AutoGuide and then expanded upon in far greater detail by the Lexus Enthusiast blog. Three days after […]

On the sidelines of the January 2016 Detroit Auto Show and its world debut of the Lexus LC 500 sports/GT coupe, Lexus Enthusiast editor Kevin Watts made plans to interview outgoing Lexus International executive vice president Mark Templin. A day before the unveiling, Kevin solicited Lexus Enthusiast reader questions for Mr. Templin with one significant […]

The month of February saw a trio of notable trademark filings by Toyota that seemingly hint at the Lexus brand’s 12th model line and their 5th crossover/SUV, the UX. Initially revealed by AutoGuide and then expanded upon in far greater detail by the Lexus Enthusiast blog, the UX initials (we definitely agree with Lexus Enthusiast […]

Four years after the 2012 debut of its LF-LC concept predictor, the production Lexus LC 500 range-topping 2+2 gran turismo coupe was unveiled at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, and promptly became the star of a show that admittedly was a somewhat tepid and low-key affair as far as significant or surprise unveilings. No unexpected […]

As Consumer Reports reveals the results of its latest (2015) Annual Auto Reliability Survey, there are no surprises at the very top, as Lexus and its more affordable parent Toyota reclaim their first and second place standing, respectively, from last year. Beyond that, though, there are a number of developments and surprises that are noteworthy […]

For hard-core automotive enthusiasts seeking the utmost in cornering and handling prowess, the advent of torque-vectoring differentials that can distribute torque between left and right-side wheels are a godsend. Once primarily the province of performance-oriented all-wheel-drive vehicles such as longitudinally-engined Audi S and RS models (S4 thru S8, as well as A8 V8s); BMW X5 […]

Since last June, when we reported on several U.S. trademarks filed by Toyota and its Scion and Lexus brands, there have been a number of new trademark and patent filings by Japan’s largest carmaker that are worthy of note. CH-R…er…C-HR On September 1, as the Toyota Europe Newsroom announced the global debut of the second […]

The newest (and only one currently in production) of Toyota’s V6 engine families is the GR. Launched in 2002 as the 4-liter (3956cc) 1GR-FE on the Land Cruiser Prado / 4Runner / Hilux Surf family of body-on-frame sport utility vehicles, it eventually spawned smaller 2GR (3.5-liter/3456cc), 3GR (3-liter/2994cc) and 4GR (2.5-liter/2499cc) variants, as well as […]

This past June 7th, what started out as simple commentary on the dyslexic’s delight (or would that be nightmare?) that a Toyota S-FR trademark could turn out to be mushroomed into a trivia buff’s revelations of a number of dead or abandoned Toyota trademarks and the heretofore unpublished discovery of a new Prius Prime trademark […]

In the course of researching and writing our previous Kaizen Factor story on recent Toyota and Scion trademark filings, we also stumbled upon a number of new trademarks surely earmarked for the Lexus brand. Most of these are simply a matter of United States Patent and Trademark Office filings for trademarks previously registered in Europe […]

After the late March accident that killed a spectator at the season-opening VLN race at Germany’s Nürburgring threatened the 43rd annual ADAC Zurich 24 Hours of Nürburgring race and ultimately led to the imposition of speed limits on portions of the track, the show fortunately went on as scheduled. Of the 159 cars entered in […]

As we reported in our previous Kaizen Factor story, on Saturday 28 March, in the course of the season-opening VLN race at Germany’s Nürburgring, the #23 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 driven by Jann Mardenborough had a serious accident ending with the death of one spectator and injuries to two others. This resulted in an immediate […]

For those of us whose Lexus fandom extends into the domain of motorsports, past history has been filled with a good share of disappointment, especially in North America with the past demise of American Le Mans Series GT2S and Grand Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype efforts, and lower-profile privateer attempts such as Team FBR/Trans Sport […]

The previous piece this author wrote for Kaizen Factor, on the Toyota Harrier back in mid-January of this year, briefly touched upon the Toyota Venza, a mid-sized 2-row seating crossover SUV that occupies an odd upmarket-but-non-luxury-brand niche dominated by the Ford Edge and the Nissan Murano. Weeks later, the Venza was making news of its […]