Lexus IS F Racing Concept to debut at 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon

[jruhi4]

The upcoming "long weekend" of 11 thru 14 January promises to be a busy one as far as new Lexus releases. To date, Lexus hasn't officially announced anything for the Toyota Press Conference for the 2008 Detroit Auto Show on Monday 14 January. (Barring any unexpected surprises, its highlights promise to be the craptastically ugly Toyota A-BAT Concept pickup truck and the Toyota Venza, which may or may not be a version of the Japanese Domestic Market's Mark X Zio. There are rumors, however, that we may see a more powerful version of the Five Axis Lexus IS F).

There is, however, another show just before Detroit's that, if anything, is of more interest to a sizable segment of the my.IS community: the 2008 Tokyo Auto Salon, Japan's answer to the U.S.'s SEMA Show in Las Vegas. That Tokyo show, which runs from Friday 11 thru Sunday 13 January, will feature the world debut of the Lexus IS F Racing Concept. Other than the not-particularly-great picture above and word that the Lexus stand at the TAS will also include a stock IS F and a Super GT Racing version of the long-in-the-tooth Lexus SC430, Lexus' official Japanese website offers no further information. We'll post a follow-up article as soon as we know more. Also, at this point, we can only speculate where this mad beast of an IS F will be racing. DTM (German Touring Car Series)? Japan's Super GT? American Le Mans Series? Grand Am Rolex Series GT? SPEED World Challenge GT? Ahhh...so many questions, so few answers...

Our thanks go out to my.IS member Mrcs007 for alerting this editor, via Private Message, to this significant story, and to IS F Forum Moderator gbb357, for discovering it even sooner and starting a thread in that forum.

[daymer]

Hi All,

Looks interesting. For sure IS-F will be special whatever forms it will take. One question: Where's the coupe/convertible? Has it been shelved?

Your thoughts?

All the best,

David

[jruhi4]

Originally Posted by daymer

One question: Where's the coupe/convertible? Has it been shelved?

From what I've heard as rumor, and NOT hard fact, is that a concept closer to reality than the LF-C was will appear at one of the major 2008 auto shows. Its production version would then appear sometime during calendar year 2009.

I'm concerned, however, with how "out-of-whack" the IS sedan schedule would be versus the convertible and coupe versions'. After all, the current, 2nd-gen IS has been out since the 2006 model year, and is due for its mid-life "refresh" (new grille, taillights, wheels and, hopefully, expanded engine/transmission choices) for the 2009 model year.

By contrast, the current, E92 BMW 3-Series Coupe was launched in August 2006, barely 1½ years after after the March 2005 launch of its E90 sedan progenitor.

[Wino_II]

nice!

[Squareback]

[D.Huang] @ Tokyo Auto Salon *PiX Included*