Lexus Wants to Target Younger Buyers with New 2011 LS 460 Touring Edition

How do you attract younger buyers into your showrooms? The easy to say, but evidently hard to follow-through, answer would be to design a vehicle(s) from scratch that caters to the needs of the all important 35-to-55-year-old male demographic.

So what happens when you want to do something about it…yesterday? Well, obviously, the most cost and time efficient method is to enhance the range of your model with a sport trim level. And that is exactly what Lexus is attempting with the latest addition to its top-end model.

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Toyota Sees North American Production Returning to 100% in September

Toyota on Thursday revised an earlier forecast predicting that North American production would return to 100 percent towards the end of the year with the company now stating that it expects normal output levels to be achieved in September.

Following the problems that arose after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Toyota and its suppliers ramped up their efforts and as a result, eight of the company’s 12 North American-built models returned to 100 percent production on June 6.

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Lexus LFA fazendo Drift em Tókio

Colocar um carro de mais de U$ 300.000 em uma apresentação de drift não é para qualquer um, mas o Grand Prix de drift de Tókio colocou um das 500 unidades, que serão produzidas no mundo, para fritar.

VIDEO: Lexus LFA Wows the Crowds at Tokyo Drift Event

A bespoke sports car priced over than $370,000 and of which only 500 will be produced worldwide, isn’t something you normally expect to see at a drift event. But in the Land of the Rising Sun, everything goes when it comes to burning tires and wowing crowds.

Making its appearance on the sidelines of the 2011 D1 Grand Prix Tokyo drift was this stock Lexus LFA, which you can enjoy in action in the video that follows after the break.

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Ad Watch: Renault Wind Roadster and Lexus CT 200h Hybrid

Selling a car through advertising isn’t as easy as you might think. What good is it showing your product nimbly taking on Alpine twists and turns when your competitors are doing the same thing? Here are two ads that don’t really break the mould, but try something a little different. Read more »

Lexus Loses Big In the U.S.A.: Outpaced by Two of its German Rivals

It took eleven years for Lexus to earn the title of top dog of the U.S. luxury car market, and roughly the same amount of time for it to lose it. As a result of parent company Toyota’s accelerator pedal recall saga and the fifty percent drop in production capacity caused by the Tōhoku earthquake, old guard automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz have left the Japanese upstart gasping for air in third place.

According to automotive forecaster IHS, Mercedes-Benz will most probably sell 254,100 cars and SUVs in the States topping BMW’s estimated deliveries of 250,400 units. Lexus is projected to drop to third place with 192,900 sales.

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Audi Challenges BMW, Mercedes and Lexus with new Ad Campaign

Audi of America has launched a new advertising campaign that will most likely generate a similar response from the competition in the premium segment. Under the tagline “Car Carrier”, the two Audi commercials feature a BMW owner that goes nuts when he sees a truck full of brand new automotive metal from Ingolstadt.

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Lexus CT200h Race Car to Debut at the Nurburgring

The Lexus CT200h compact hybrid will debut in racing car guise at an endurance race this weekend at the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit. Entered by Gazoo Racing, the same organization that races the Lexus LFA, the CT200h will compete in the Adenauer ADAC Rundstrecken-Trophy. Around 200 cars will line up at the start of the six hour-race. Read more »

Toyota Overtakes BMW as World's Most Valuable Brand

The BrandZ Top 100 annual study revealed that Toyota is once again the world's most valuable auto brand, after losing the position last year to BMW due to the massive recall campaign. Toyota saw an 11 percent increase in its brand value, which is now rated at $24.2 billion (€16.85 billion). The research company Millward Brown, whose global brand director said Toyota’s recall had not affected consumers’ confidence in the carmaker, compiled the ranking. Read more »