Car Throttle

Once upon a time, Lexus made a car called the SC.  It was based on the guts of the legendary 4th-generation Supra, and was an Americanized version of the Japanese Toyota Soarer.  It was a fantastic car: refined to an eery level, quiet, good looking and fast.  Whether it had the 3.0L six from the Supra, or the 4.0L V8 from the LS, it was a road burner, a mile muncher, a fantastic car. They made the SC300/400 from 1991-2000, a sign of how basically good it was.  Then there was the flip-top SC430, which never quite resonated with buyers, and then Lexus got out of the coupe business.  With the LF-LC concept, I see a new SC.  Lexus says it could potentially fit in the

Before a certain Mr. LFA was born, a typical Lexus owner would have been pushing 50 years old. A fact probably unsurprising given that all Lexus built a short while back were three saloons; small, medium, large and a convertible to top it off. All were quiet, comfortable, peaceful and they weren't in your face. To then improve their product range, the folks in Toyota City decided to add the same hybrid technology as Toyota's Prius into their cars to make one of the first 4x4 hybrids on the market. However just talking about the not-so-distant past of Lexus induces yawning from your good author. The future, on the other hand, looks very exciting indeed. 2009 saw the first IS-F, a 5.0L V8

The year 2012 is now upon us, which may mean a few things.  One is that we've only got 350-odd days before the Mayan's prediction of the apocalypse comes true and we all die.  (I'm not betting on it!)  The other thing it does mean is the Detroit Auto Show is just around the corner- just a few days, in fact.  So I've awoken from my Christmas/New Years slumber to share the news. This little trucklet is the new Ford EcoSport, debuting at the New Delhi Auto Expo.  Based on the Fiesta, this miniature soft-roader is the second generation of the EcoSport, which was previously only sold in Brazil.  This new one should be more widely available, with production in Brazil and India, as part of

It's a sad day for car people.  If you've been on the internet, especially Facebook, and especially General Motor's Facebook page, you probably heard today's big news. Saab filed for bankruptcy in a district court in Sweden today.  We don't make a habit of reporting industry news here at Car Throttle, but this is Saab we're talking about, and this story has been leading to this inevitable conclusion basically since Spyker bought Saab from GM.  With no money to buy the parts to build cars, or pay the workers to build the cars, Saab was in a rough spot.  With accusations of their funding coming from shady places it was hard to secure additional funding to float the company.  And with GM unwilling to supply

Here's Part II of the SEMA Preview coverage.  Alternative title: Turbos, widebodies, big brakes and roll bars, oh my!  In the previous post I covered GM, Mopar, Mazda, and Hyundai.  Now we're moving on to Toyota.

Toyota, Lexus, and Scion have always had a strong presence at SEMA. This year will be no different, with all three divisions bringing concept cars in a futile attempt to convince us the brand is still interesting. Toyota's "big announcement" was the introduction of the F-Sport package for the new-generation Lexus GS350 sedan, which makes the car better looking (negotiable) but not any faster. The exterior gets 19" alloy wheels with 235/40/19 tires (RWD F-sports get 265/35/19 rears, AWD's are square), a more aggressive front

With the introduction of the LFA last year, you might think that Lexus would start to make hot versions of their current line-up. So far the only sporty Lexus since the LFA has been the IS-F, but last week Lexus announced you can now order a new range topping version of their compact luxury hybrid called the CT200h F-Sport. The disappointing news is that the new CT F-Sport will not be any faster or more powerful than the standard car since there has been no change to the engine. The F-Sport will have the same 1.8L petrol unit teamed with an electric motor and a CVT gearbox, just like a Prius, that goes from standstill to 62mph in 10.3 seconds, which is not hot

Nurburgring records, Lexus - there is something a bit unusual about that. Do those go together? Apparently, they do, because Lexus has set a record at the Nuburgring track with the aptly named LFA Nurburgring Edition. The record certainly gets you some bragging rights in the world of car enthusiasts. Witness Porsche and Nissan's wrangling a little while back over who had the best lap time. That all is in the rearview mirror now though, as Lexus has posted a time of 7:14.64. The run that Porsche posted with its 911 GT2 RS was 7 minutes and 18 seconds, a good enough record to hold the title since April 2010. Lexus' record isn't for the overall fastest time at the track mind you, but just

The weekly Sonic Drive-In Meet in Raleigh is always good for car spotting.  It's pretty heavy on Import Performance cars, but you still wind up seeing some pretty unique stuff out there. It's not often you see a Merkur XR4Ti any more; most of them are in junk yards or have been shipped off to China as bulk steel to be turned into a refrigerator by now.  This white one is remarkably clean and wingless.  Our European readers are probably saying "So what?  It's a Ford Sierra."  Not nearly as common here! Another from the front.  So bizarre to see these days. An odd pair!  A clean, original Mercury Comet (based on the Maverick) - next to a slammed Bugeye WRX.  That WRX has a

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance show in Monterey, California is starting tomorrow, and the GS will be unveiled in public for the first time at the show. Press materials have appeared online in advance of this event. The GS comes at a pivotal point in Lexus history, when public relations issues have plagued the company (unintended acceleration), as well as a Japanese tsunami and earthquake. On top of that, Lexus models have failed to connect with consumers who are increasingly looking for more engaging offerings. That has all culminated to the point of Lexus losing top billing in the United States luxury manufacturer sales race. That race will be lost by a large margin. It is against this backdrop that Lexus is introducing the new

We've been hearing a lot about the new Lexus GS. That intense focus shows its importance to the Lexus brand, which is experiencing flagging sales. The media have already done their reviews of the car, and now the general public is going to get to weigh in with its thoughts. The previous generation, even during the height of Lexus sales, never was a big seller and it fared poorly in comparison tests. The launch is scheduled for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance happening in Monterey, California this weekend. Thanks to some spy photographers, we get a look at the production GS a bit before then though. The GS caught testing without camouflage in China. It isn't as if we didn't have any idea as to