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Lexus hybrid hatchback to be called CT 200h

February 13, 2010 at 3:13 am By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Lexus

Lexus has released a teaser image of the CT 200h which will make its debut at next month’s Geneva Motor Show. The CT 200h is a development of the Lexus LF-Ch concept that was revealed six months ago and features the second-generation Lexus Hybrid Drive technology.

According to Lexus, the CT 200h will be the “first full hybrid vehicle in the premium compact segment”. The press release also stated that the CT 200h will offer “new levels of refinement, sophistication and attention to detail, without compromising style or driving pleasure”.

View a high-res version of the teaser image after the jump.
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Lexus LFA: No trouble in finding 500 buyers

January 25, 2010 at 10:09 am By Danny Tan Filed Under International News, Lexus

The Lexus LFA was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo motor show with a huge pricetag of US$375,000, more than many supercars. But there’s nothing run of the mill about the exquisite materials used for this 552 bhp hand built machine (no expense spared, Toyota will make a loss on every unit sold) or the limited run of just 500 units. And then there’s that hair-raising F1-style noise the V10 makes!

Lexus has announced that the number of formal expressions of interest in the LFA is already over 500. This doesn’t mean that anyone wanting to own an LFA has missed their chance, as you can still register your interest up to mid-March. At the end of the Geneva motor show, the 500 units will be allocated across 56 countries where they are on sale, with confirmed orders with deposits to be taken from the end of May.

Interested? How about showing up at Lexus Malaysia in your Ferrari 599 and entourage, plonk a bag of cash and absolutely demand that they bring in one LFA for you!

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Lexus GX 460 – Every Action Hero’s Vehicle?

January 16, 2010 at 3:18 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Videos

Lexus produced a new TV commercial for the 2010 Lexus GX 460 SUV based around the theme of “Every Action Hero Needs a Vehicle”. There’s even a bat signal shaped like a Lexus logo, but Batman is not the action hero in this case – apparently it’s a new heroine called Super Soccer Mom. You’ll get what I mean once you check the ad out.
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Lexus launch LS 460 Sport and latest LS 460L

January 13, 2010 at 1:00 am By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Local News

Hours ago Lexus Malaysia launched the latest LS 460 range, which has just gone through a mid life minor model change. Two variants are available in Malaysia – the LS 460L and the new LS 460 Sport. The former is the long wheelbase variant of Lexus’ limo while the Sport is the short wheelbase version.

The LS 460L used to be offered in an ultra-luxurious four-seat configuration, but Lexus now only brings in the five-seater, which can also function as a four-seater if you fold down the thick rear centre armrest with plenty of buttons to control the entertainment system (9-inch LCD screen and DVD player) and air-con. As before, LS owners get to enjoy semi-aniline leather ottoman seats with lumbar support massager. Business-class style “butterfly” headrests are new.

The abovementioned goodies are not available in the Sport, but the cheaper short wheelbase car gets sport tuning for the air suspension, 19-inch forged aluminium rims with wider tyres (18-inch on LS 460L), Brembo brakes and exterior touches such as an aerokit and a grille with less chrome. The Sport is for the LS owner who self drives, so it comes with sports seats with more support and shift paddles for the eight-speed auto gearbox.

Whichever you choose, the LS is brilliantly refined and luxurious, from the 4.6-litre Dual-VVT-i V8 engine with 380 bhp/493 Nm to the Mark Levinson 7.1 audio system with 19 speakers and 15-channel amplifier. The LS 460L is priced at RM829,448 while the LS 460 Sport will cost you RM719,448. Should you still want a four-seat LS 460L, special orders can be placed.

Lexus Malaysia sold over 300 cars in 2009, 226 of them being the RX350. The brand has a new centre in Penang, with another one in Johor Bahru coming up later this year. Its Klang Valley 3S Centre is located in Mutiara Damansara, PJ.

More pictures of the changes after the jump. Note: the shiny wood trim belongs to the LS 460L while the matt finish wood with tan leather trim is from the Sport.

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Toyota to campaign Lexus LFA in Super GT?

January 11, 2010 at 4:26 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Lexus, Motorsports

Looks convincing doesn’t it? I was fooled too, but this is just a very, very good rendering of a Super GT Lexus LFA in Lexus Team Petronas TOM’s livery. Toyota has not made any announcement to replace the long serving SC430 race car with its new hero, but wouldn’t it be nice to see the LFA go head-to-head with the Nissan GT-R and Honda’s “new NSX” HSV-010 racer?

These brilliant images are the work of Iain Chandler of Australia, who also came up with renderings of the LFA in other liveries. Do check out the rest of his work after the jump.

By the way, the Petronas backed TOM’s team were the overall champion in Super GT’s GT500 class in 2009 (with a 10-point margin over the Autobacs NSX), while drivers Jyuichi Wakisaka and Andre Lotterer came out tops in the driver’s standings ahead of Autobacs Team Aguri’s Ralph Firman and Takuya Izawa. Nismo’s GT-R was third in the team standings.

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Listen to the Lexus LFA’s V10 do its stuff!

December 11, 2009 at 11:38 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Videos

lexus-lfa-engine-bay

Lexus has released an awesome video which features the Lexus LFA‘s V10 engine in various “stages of symphony”, whether its a low rev growl or a high rev shriek, it’s all there! Lexus calls the engine’s soundtrack “F1-inspired”, and details some of the methods they used to make the engine sound the way it does.

The LFA’s acoustic team studied the noise made by a Formula 1 car at maximum revs, then applied certain design features to create an F1-inspired exhaust note for the LFA. The main exhaust silencer is made from titanium and has a valve-actuated dual-stage structure that channels the exhaust gases differently according to engine speed.

From idle up to 3,000rpm, the valve stays closed, routing the exhaust flow through multiple chambers, creating an unobtrusive note. From 3,000rpm onwards the valve opens, allowing the exhaust  to flow into a single resonance chamber instead. The gases finally exit at a stacked trio of tailpipes.

There was work done to the induction system as well. A horizontally split resin surge tank mimics the acoustic chamber of wind and string instruments. Up to 4,000rpm it emits the engine’s primary firing frequency of 300Hz. This increases to 400Hz from 4,000rpm up to 6,000rpm, and goes up to a peak of 600Hz at the engine’s 9,000rpm redline. The air intake is constructed from a porous duct material to generate bass to mid-range tones. Lexus gives all of this stuff a buzzword – Resonated Complex Harmony.

Both the induction and exhaust sounds are channelled into the LFA’s interior so the passengers can enjoy the sounds as much as those on the outside. There are just too many cars out there that sound good on the outside but are just too silent on the inside. The sound mostly flows in through a sound channel that runs from the surge tank into the cabin below the main dashboard panel. Two additional sound channels un to an opening in the upper cowl on top of the dashboard structure and a reflector panel low down at the front of the cabin.

But enough of text – watch the video and listen to the LFA after the jump! To me, it isn’t exactly like an F1 car, they’re way more high pitched! It does sound very good though, I guess the term F1-”inspired” could mean anything eh?
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Lexus LFA for lease in US and Canada

November 26, 2009 at 6:28 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Lexus

The 552hp Lexus LFA supercar will be available in North America on a lease basis for at least two years, after which, you can choose to purchase the car. Out of 500 units planned, about 140 are expected to be available in the US and 10 for the Canadian market. This is to prevent the cars from not being driven until they carry more value and subsequently sold. It also to avoid speculators from purchasing the car and selling it immediately for a huge profit.

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Lexus LF-A has one really cool meter panel!

November 13, 2009 at 7:00 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Lexus, Videos

lexus-lfa-speedometer

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the Lexus LF-A. The exterior may look a little soft and boring but I’m in love with the cool instrument panel. The rev meter can actually physically move around according to the display’s needs! You’ll see what I mean in the video after the jump. Trust the Japanese to come up with something as techno-funky as this – totally gimmicky but damn cool.
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Lexus LFA: live motorshow shots and 2 videos

October 21, 2009 at 8:56 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under 2009 Tokyo Motorshow, Cars, International News, Lexus, Videos

Lexus LFA - Live

Here’s a few shots of the Lexus LFA supercar live from the Tokyo Motorshow 2009 this morning, which was pretty much the most exciting exhibit at the Toyota and Lexus displays as the rest of the cars had already been unveiled in press release and product image form before the motorshow. Only a certain ’2 seater supercar’ had been withheld until the motorshow press day itself.

The LFA really sounded great in real life thanks to its high-revving V10 with individual throttle bodies. Can’t say the same about its looks though. The individual design elements don’t really seem to gel together that well.

Anyway, words can only say so much. After the jump you’ll find a few things – live shots of the LFA, two product shots of the LFA, and a video of the Lexus LFA unveiling at the motorshow this morning.
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552hp Lexus LFA launched: full details!

October 21, 2009 at 3:27 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under 2009 Tokyo Motorshow, Cars, Lexus

We all know that this year’s Tokyo Motor Show will mostly feature Japanese models apart from cars by just three European manufacturers. Nevertheless, the show that kicks off this week will have at least two major highlights including the Toyota FT-86 Concept and an all new supercar by Lexus. Yes as the title suggests we are talking about the V10 LFA.

The 2-seater LFA is motivated by a mid-front mounted 1LR-GSE 4.8 litre DOHC V10 that cranks out 552hp at 8,700 rpm and 480Nm of torque that is achieved at 6,800 rpm (90% of which is available from 3,700 rpm).

Lexus LFA Individual Throttle Body

The engine that screams at a red line of 9,000 revs features Dual VVT-i technology, equal length exhaust manifolds and high-volume, a total of 40 valves, 12-hole fuel injectors, 12:1 compression ratio and is Euro 5 compliant. The powerplant was co-developed with Yamaha and features a total of ten individual throttle bodies – one for each cylinder! Titanium valves, ultra–light weight rocker arms with a diamond–like coating and a fully integrated lower crankcase reduces pumping losses at high RPMs.

Mated to a rear-mounted 6-speed Automated Sequential Gearbox (operated by steering-mounted paddle shifters) that drives the rear wheels via a limited slip differential, the engine enables the supercar to hit 100 km/h in just 3.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 325 km/h. The drivetrain has four driving modes that is made up by Auto, Sport, Normal and Wet modes. Each mode has a specific gearshift program as well as engine and brake control logic systems to let the driver tailor the car’s performance to suit different driving conditions.

Stopping power is provided by carbon ceramic 390 mm front discs and 306 mm rear discs. The front setup has 6-piston aluminium calipers while the rear features 4 pistons. The LFA has a track-tuned suspension that according to Lexus, gives “the best possible balance between control and comfort”. It has a bespoke front wishbone and rear multilink design configuration that is mostly made of aluminium alloy. It also has aluminium monotube dampers that were also featured in the LFA race car that took part in the Nurburgring 24-hour event. The rack and pinion setup in the LFA features an Electric Power Steering System.

The 1,480kg car sits on 20-inch aluminium BBS wheels that are shod with Bridgestone-sourced 265/35ZR20 tires for the front and 305/20ZR20 tires for the rear. Along with a drag coefficient of 0.31, it has a carbon fibre rear diffuser and flat underbody that help generate significant downforce. There is also an active rear wing.

The hand-built interior is treated to seats upholstered in fine leather and Alcantara. The trim details are finished in brushed metal while the floor-hinged brake and throttle pedals are made of forged aluminium. The hooded instrument panel combines an LCD display panel with a colour Thin Film Transistor (TFT) and a motor-drive movable ring. It features a single circular dial with a central tachometer with an LCD needle.

When engine speed exceeds 9,000 rpm, the display area turns red to prime the driver for an up-shift. It can also be programmed to turn yellow or green when the revs reach a user-selected range. The dial also houses a digital speedometer and gear indicator, transmission mode, vehicle control data and trip information displays.

At 4,505mm by 1,895mm by 1,220mm with a 2,605mm wheelbase, the car is slightly smaller than a Ferrari 458 Italia. Production will be limited to 500 units and pricing in the US starts from approximately US$375,000. Lexus revealed that the LFA will be hand-assembled at the Motomachi plant in Toyota City and each V10 engine will be assembled by a single engineer. Continue reading to view an image gallery.
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