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to be mushroomed into a trivia buff’s revelations of a number of dead or abandoned Toyota trademarks and the heretofore unpublished discovery of a new Prius Prime trademark […]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 […]

The world is full of incurable romantics and hopeful dreamers who can’t let go of the notion that a once-torrid love affair when two became one is now over, finito, kaput, irretrievably broken, divorce finalized. It seems that Theophilus Chin, the self-described Automotive Manipulator is one of those who, even in the face of overwhelming […]

As many of us are painfully aware, power and weight are at constant odds. Too often, the battle is won by sheer weight, as energy succumbs to obesity. The same goes for the cars we drive. Machine mimics man. As the car industry grows older, cars get heavier. They also gain power, and most of […]

My.IS‘s Canada national forum moderator k3vo has learned that, on Monday 24 November 2014, Lexus registered U.S. and Canadian trademarks for LC500 (U.S. Application 86462781 / Canadian Application No. 1704062) and LC500h (U.S. Application 86462851 / Canadian Application No. 1704063). On Tuesday 25 November, Lexus followed suit in Australia, according to Kevin Watts of the […]

In 1994, during Johan de Nysschen’s second year as general manager of Audi’s operations in his native South Africa, the carmaker introduced a new model naming system brilliant in its simplicity: the letter A (for Audi) followed by a single-digit number denoting a given model’s size and position in the overall hierarchy of vehicle offerings. […]

The world is anxiously awaiting the next Lexus’ next F model with the upcoming 2015 RC F performance coupé. This bold and powerful coupe is 3rd of the Lexus F line after the IS F and flagship LFA. I had a chance to photograph the first of four, near production 2015 RC Fs that have arrived in […]

The long-awaited Lexus NX luxury compact crossover will premier at the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition. The press conference will be held on April 20 in the W3 hall at the China International Exhibition Center. The Lexus NX is based on the LF-NX concept which debuted last year at Frankfurt for the hybrid and Tokyo […]

At the Southern Automotive Media Association (SAMA)’s 27 February 2014 luncheon / short-lead press preview for the 3rd-generation Toyota Highlander, some of the attendees lamented the perceived lack of female leadership at carmakers’ upper echelons, and asked if Toyota was planning to do anything in this regard. Surely, this was spurred by Mary Barra‘s groundbreaking […]

It’s certainly an F SPORT Friday as Lexus announces some exciting news. Lexus officially confirms an F SPORT model for the 2015 Lexus RC and the RC F “Racing Concept” will officially debut next week at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show. It’s apparent that Lexus is kicking off 2014 with a bang by offering a […]