Nissan GTR might not be as good as you think it is.

[hellrotm]

Originally Posted by gbb357

Nothing wrong with Lexus in racing and making sportscars. Mercedes and BMW does it, so why not Lexus.

I would have a problem with it, if BMW and Mercedes had a lesser counter-part that held all of their racing heritage, but they don't.

Toyota has always raced under the TRD label. Now that they want some "sporty" image for Lexus, they are going to enter Lexus in a series like AMLS.

It is NOT a Lexus if you strip all the plushness out of the car, ITS NOW A TOYOTA RACECAR.

The engines, chassis, everything will be made in Toyotas racing facilities.

Putting a Lexus badge on it, all of a sudden makes it a Lexus going down the track. IT DOESN'T, its a Toyota everyone knows it.

For example, Toyota was in champ car for years making powerplants. They now are in the Rolex series as a powerplant provider. Because they put a Lexus badge on the Rolex series powerplant's valve covers makes it a Lexus engine, I don't think so. Think about.

[gbb357]

Originally Posted by BlackJetE90

I would have a problem with it, if BMW and Mercedes had a lesser counter-part that held all of their racing heritage, but they don't.

Toyota has always raced under the TRD label. Now that they want some "sporty" image for Lexus, they are going to enter Lexus in a series like AMLS.

It is NOT a Lexus if you strip all the plushness out of the car, ITS NOW A TOYOTA RACECAR.

The engines, chassis, everything will be made in Toyotas racing facilities.

Putting a Lexus badge on it, all of a sudden makes it a Lexus going down the track. IT DOESN'T, its a Toyota everyone knows it.

For example, Toyota was in champ car for years making powerplants. They now are in the Rolex series as a powerplant provider. Because they put a Lexus badge on the Rolex series powerplant's valve covers makes it a Lexus engine, I don't think so. Think about.

I see your point. But if Lexus really wants to compete with MB and BMW, they have to make racecars and sportscars. They have no other choice. Whether people will accept it as Lexus or Toyota is another issue. The ISF is their first step and first attempt to build the sportscar image and the LF-A is next in line. Which will be Lexus and Toyota's first ever supercar. The only way for Lexus to somewhat disassociate from Toyota is make Lexus cars only for Lexus, not a rebadge Toyota. And so far they have done that on half of their models. The current IS, GS, and LS are strictly Lexus. The RX, ES, and the former GX are not, those three where basically rebadged Toyotas. Eventually and hopefully, all Lexus models will only be Lexus models. As it is, the IS, GS, and LS are made from a completely seperate plant for Lexus models only. Again, as i have said many times before, all car companies have to start somewhere. 20yrs ago nobody ever thought the Japanese can make and compete in the Luxury car segment let alone be succesful. Everyone knows they can build high performance cars, the next step is to build high class high performance cars.

[sayemthree]

Originally Posted by JEllis

.... makes ya think

Jason

things that make ya go "Hmmmmmm!"

[JEllis]

Originally Posted by BlackJetE90

I was aware of that thanks.

Cool, cause if you did know this then you also know the same can be said for Lexus and Acura. All these premium names were given to the more expensive Honda, Acura, and Toyotas that already existed in Japan but were not sold in the US. Japanese automakers did some genious marketing when they decided to sell Toyotas, Hondas, and Nissans at BMW and Merc prices. Therefore, in reality, Lexus and infiniti really have the same racing heritage as Toyota and Nissan.

Jason