Although Toyota’s launch of the Lexus luxury brand just over 30 years ago was primarily centered on the flagship LS 400, the carmaker quickly realized that a smaller, less expensive companion model was necessary. Japanese market derivatives of the 2nd-generation (V20) Toyota Camry (the Camry Prominent and Vista 4-door hardtop sedans, to be precise) were […]

The Toyota Harrier most likely resonates only with hardcore followers and fans of Japan’s largest automaker (including its Lexus marque) and regular Kaizen Factor readers. We wrote a pair of stories on the 3rd-generation (XU60) Harrier (on July 2013 and January 2015) primarily to debunk the widespread misconception that it was a thinly-veiled preview of […]

A month prior to its public unveiling, Toyota North America’s Executive Vice President of Sales (and Toyota USA President of Sales) Bob Carter had already hinted at production intent for its then-upcoming Lexus LF-1 Limitless flagship concept. In late December 2017, this set off a guessing game among Lexus Enthusiast forum members as to what […]

On 7 May 2018, Toyota registered the LQ trademark in the United States, under Serial Number 87909977, for “automobiles and structural parts thereof”. But what is its significance or likely use? The fact that it’s two letters makes it, most likely, earmarked for Lexus, Toyota’s luxury marque. As such, it would designate the brand’s 13th […]

Since its start in 1989, Toyota’s Lexus brand has been associated primarily with automobiles, with occasional detours into bicycles, hoverboards and Skyjets for sci-fi films. Lest the world’s oceans feel abandoned in the quest for Experience Amazing, on 12 January 2017, Lexus unveiled the Sport Yacht Concept shown at right. At the time, Lexus was […]

Hardcore, deep-dive Toyota fans know that, in the 21st century, the rarest, most sought-after ne plus ultra of Japanese domestic market (JDM) Toyota-branded high performance is represented by four initials: GRMN. Only a quintet of rare, limited-edition Toyotas were deemed worthy of wearing this vaunted badge. Just 100 copies each of four of them were […]

The long-rumored Lexus LC F became one step closer to reality when a European trademark application surfaced, as first reported by AutoGuide.com on February 4th. Our friends at the Lexus Enthusiast blog added that the actual European Union Intellectual Property Office filing for LC F was carried out the day before, under number 016313173. Australia’s […]

Although the Fall 2016/2017 auto show season kicked off in Miami with world debuts of a Nissan mid-life facelift and new model/trim level variants from Nissan and Ford, it rolls into high gear at Los Angeles Auto Show in mid-November with “more than 50 vehicle debuts and 25 press conferences”, according to an e-mailed PR […]

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 […]

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 […]

Over 4 months before it was actually announced, we presciently wondered if Scion might join Saab, Mercury, Plymouth, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and so many others in the pantheon of defunct automotive brands. And, as we pondered the question of how existing Scion models would transition to the Toyota brand, we noted that U.S. trademarks for Auris […]

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 […]

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 […]

For an automotive make or model online fan forum to discover a new model trademark filing ahead of the A-list big boys of automotive journalism is hardly new or surprising in this day and age. I’ve been there. So chalk up one more for David, for the little guy when the administrator of the Supra […]