Lexus Officially Announce Performance Arm - It's F!

[aido]

Surprised this hasn't already been posted up on here, yesterday Lexus officially announced that they are going to start their own performance brand just like BMW have 'M' and Audi have 'S' and 'RS' and Mercedes have 'AMG'

The Lexus name is going to be 'F', as in IS-F, GS-F etc

http://iowahawk.jalopnik.com/cars/news/f-l...tter-219012.php

With R, S, M, SS, TRD and AMG already taken by other automakers' performance divisions (and RSTLNE the sole property of "Wheel of Fortune"), Lexus's choice of letters for its upcoming in-house tuner models was already limited. According to AutoWeek, they simply went with F for "fast." The first model to wear the new F designation, AW says, will be the M3-challenging "IS500" that's been the subject of speculation since last year. But the IS-F won't get a mere V8; the powerplant will reportedly be a retuned version of the LS600h's hybrid-drive mill, producing 425 hp. Pricing is expected to be in the $50,000 range, undercutting both the M3 and Audi RS4, two cars of similar performance numbers. Joining the IS-F will be, according to a dealer source of AW's, the GS-F and IS-F coupe. More to come at the Detroit show. – Mike Spinelli

There are loads more links out there but there you have it, it's finally official :)

Here's an example of how the logo may look taken from ClubLexus:

[Parthiban]

Nice bit of news that, its about time Lexus had a differentiated performance line :)

[Monster-Mat]

hmmm

im not so sure, the "new" logo looks like a rework of the Toyota F! emblem....

there are some trueths in what the autosport article said, however more often than not its just full of inacuraces

Edited December 5, 2006 by Monster-Mat

[lexus boy]

Probably just for the yanks

[aido]

Not sure Mat, I can't find anything about this on the Toyota or Lexus press release sites, seen the Autoweek article, but Reuters also issued the news?

They're all word for word the same but I wouldn't have thought Reuters would be putting this on their feed unless it had some credibility?

[lee_iceman]

noticed this on my.is a few days a go. Fingers crossed.

[Mr Morse]

Interesting. Considering that Toyota are (will) no longer be producing any vehicle which could be considered remotely sporty, there's a ring of sanity about it.