The Huntington Beach Concours d’Elegance will be celebrating 25 Years of Lexus Excellence on June 1-2, and for the first time, will offering trophies for Lexus vehicles.
(If you’re in California and would like to enter your Lexus, registration closes on May 27th.)
Patrick George of Jalopnik has reviewed the 2014 Lexus IS, and liked pretty much everything but the transmission.
(Jalopnik scored the IS at 72/100, the BMW 3-series at 73/100, and the Cadillac ATS at 73/100.)
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Brands for 2013 has been released, and Lexus has retained 10th place in the Top 10 automotive brands.
(According to BrandZ, Lexus is worth $ 3.5 billion in brand value. Toyota was #1, valued at $ 24.5 billion.)
The annual BoA Merrill Lynch Car Wars research report has been released, and contains some specific details on Lexus future product plans — from Motor Trend:
From Japan, notable future product includes a coupe and convertible version for the 2014 Lexus IS; a source told us that the coupe has gotten the green light, but a revival of the convertible has yet to be approved. Lexus will also receive a long-awaited three-row crossover, which should bear the CX name.
A coupe based on the LF-CC concept has been the topic of much discussion, and is currently rumored to arrive in 2015.
The big news is the idea of a three-row crossover — this possibility was first mentioned in an interview with Lexus USA VP of marketing Brian Smith earlier this year:
Smith says one of the brand’s two large body-on-frame SUVs, the GX and LX, could be converted to unibody platforms as the auto maker works to meet looming government-imposed fuel-economy regulations.
“In the future, if we could do a 3-row unibody (utility vehicle), I think that’s what consumers would want to see,” he says.
Also rumored is a compact crossover, which is expected to debut this year as a concept at the Tokyo Motor Show — adding these two SUVs would be a huge boost to the Lexus lineup, especially if they can capitalize on the success of the RX.
[Source: Car Wars Report via Motor Trend]
Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Sedan, Performance, Truck, Etc., Crossover, Hatchback, Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, Electric, Luxury, Ram
Employing complex scientific formulas and methodologies probably best described as “Whatever we felt like choosing,” Automobile has named its All-Stars for the 2013 model year. The 11 vehicles earned their trophies for being “the best and most significant” offerings to the mag’s staff and contributors, and while we were surprised to see a couple of them on the list, none of them were shocking. In no particular order, they are:
Random notes: The least expensive vehicle on the list was the Ford Focus at $ 16,995 however, it was the $ 24,495 Focus ST that was actually driven; the least expensive vehicle as-tested, when such indication was given, was the $ 28,265 BRZ; the most expensive vehicle as-tested was the $ 75,615 Porsche Boxster S, hurdling the price of the A7 by nearly $ 4,000; the greatest disparity between base and as-tested price was the Ram, from the $ 24,395 skin-and-bones truck to the $ 54,335 Laramie Longhorn Crew Cab; the GTI was viewed through the history of its birthplace, Wolfsburg.
There you have it. Head on over to Automobile for the full story and the adventures they created to test each winner.
Automobile Magazine names its 2013 All-Stars originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 22 May 2013 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.