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Is the Toyota Highlander really available with a 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo engine?

A late October 2016 article by Roger Schreffler of WardsAuto discussed Toyota’s revived interest in turbocharged engines. In writing about the largest of the carmaker’s two new gasoline-powered 4-cylinder turbo powerplants, Mr. Schreffler noted that The 2.0L gasoline 8AR-FTS, which debuted in April 2014 on the Lexus NX200t CUV, now is available on seven models. In addition to the NX200t, these…

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Informed speculation: Toyota, Subaru and Mazda at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show

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 blast. Carmakers have run the gamut from tipping their hand in advance…

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A half-day at the Lexus Performance Driving School

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js Lexus invited yours truly and a handful of other automotive journalists and bloggers to attend the kickoff of the Lexus Performance Driving School at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter (no, not the planet), Florida on Saturday 1 October 2016. This venue is centrally located (a 2 to 3-hour drive) from the Miami, Orlando and Tampa Bay metro areas.…

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Lexus was using Alcantara way before the upcoming LC

Back in late April of this year, Automotive News Europe‘s blog featured an entry by Nick Gibbs titled Lightweighting push puts pressure on leather . Its “teaser” introduction, citing the lighter weight of “an upmarket leather alternative” led me to expect a discussion on the use by luxury car brands of vinyl synthetic leather in their entry-level models under such fanciful names as MB-Tex…

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Will Toyota take a financial stake in Mazda?

Does each and every bit of information, rumor and innuendo reported by the legacy major print car magazines appear on their websites? Conventional wisdom would suggest so, but, in reality, that is not always the case. Car and Driver, for instance, tends to lag a month or two before their columnists’ writings migrate from the print edition (where they first appear) to their website. Other…

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Is 2017 the last year for Lexus' CT line?

Is 2017 the last year for Lexus’ CT line?

As we noted in a May 2016 article, the future of the 2nd-generation Lexus CT premium C-segment hatchback has been the subject of much conflicting conjecture. In June 2014, Glenn Brooks of just-auto reported rumors of an additional 4-door sedan body style and of a plug-in hybrid variant. On February 2015, GoAuto.com.au‘s Byron Mathioudakis wrote about the possibility of a non-hybrid performance CT…

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Toyota and the 2017-2020 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Car Wars report

Every year since 1991, Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch corporate and investment banking division puts together their Car Wars study that assesses the relative strength of each automaker’s product pipeline in the US. Most commentary articles out there tend to fixate on the study’s broad conclusions that X, Y or Z carmaker should see its market share grow, decline or remain flat depending on the…

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Lexus and the 2017-2020 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Car Wars report

Trying to predict a carmaker’s future product pipeline and cadence of new-generation model releases is a fascinating sport for a sizable portion of the car enthusiast community, yours truly among them. Among the automotive publication universe, Automotive News’ annual July/August predictions, going out 3 years or so, are widely read and commented on. Flying under some radars, but very much worth…

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An Austrian-built next-gen Toyota Supra?!

Ever since the 29 June 2012 announcement of a joint BMW-Toyota sports car, there has been relatively little said or shown in public save for a Toyota FT-1 concept or two, although consensus has centered around a 3rd-generation BMW Z4 roadster (possibly rechristened Z5) in conjunction with a Mk5 Toyota Supra (a trademark revived on 10 February 2014 and still considered live). On 10 May 2016, a…

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Toyota and Lexus at the upcoming 2016 Huntington Beach Concours d'Elegance

Toyota and Lexus at the upcoming 2016 Huntington Beach Concours d’Elegance

The world of automotive Concours d’Elegance is a wildly and widely variable one. Wikipedia translates the French term as a “competition of elegance” (although “contest of elegance” is probably a more literal translation). Search most mainstream automotive media, and more than likely they’ll fixate on the elite, hoity-toity, 1-percenter world of ultra-rare automotive classics with dollar values…

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RX 450h L joins RX 350 L trademark in the U.S. Does that affect a future Lexus TX?

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 that 11 March 2016 European RX 350 L filing, a U.S. counterpart appeared, under…

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What markets will Lexus enter next?

On the sidelines of the January 2016 Detroit Auto Show and its world debut of the Lexus LC 500 sports/GT coupe, Lexus Enthusiast editor Kevin Watts made plans to interview outgoing Lexus International executive vice president Mark Templin. A day before the unveiling, Kevin solicited Lexus Enthusiast reader questions for Mr. Templin with one significant proviso: no questions on future products,…

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Toyota trademarks a trio of UXs for Lexus

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 forums member Hemi’s suggestion that they stand for Urban…

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Toyota refiles 86 trademark in the U.S. Is the FR-S badge history?

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 (presumably for the Scion iM) and 86 (for the FR-S) were…

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Lexus LC 500 thoughts and questions

Four years after the 2012 debut of its LF-LC concept predictor, the production Lexus LC 500 range-topping 2+2 gran turismo coupe was unveiled at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show, and promptly became the star of a show that admittedly was a somewhat tepid and low-key affair as far as significant or surprise unveilings. No unexpected show-stoppers like last year’s Ford GT, and the rumored Chevrolet…

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The enigmatic secret electric Toyota vehicle Tweets: much ado about nothing?

Longtime readers of Kaizen Factor know of our respect for the writings and work of Bertel Schmitt and the Daily Kanban website. In something of a mutual admiration society, Herr Schmitt also functions as our esteemed Asia Editor, with a number of his writings cross-posted both here and in the Daily Kanban he co-edits with the equally respected Edward W. Niedermeyer. Lately, I have also begun to…

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Sports car for hire: the key to the Mazda MX-5 Miata's survival?

Sports car for hire: the key to the Mazda MX-5 Miata’s survival?

In a contemporary and future automotive world where B and lower C-segment crossover SUVs are the hottest and fastest-growing vehicle classes and most major carmakers are leading an inexorable march towards the holy grail of the fully autonomous vehicle, the traditional lightweight 2-seat roadster sports car is seemingly doomed to become the latest automotive dinosaur. Bucking the odds and…

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