Lexus appears ready to give its L-Tuned division a new lease on life, according to the Automotive News. L-Tuned first surfaced in 2000, ostensibly to act as a Lexus-geared factory tuning arm, similar to the role TRD plays for Toyota. As things happened, L-Tuned wound up being more about cosmetics than performance. I must say, however, that the scattered L-Tuned GS sedans I've seen in the wild certainly sounded pretty mean in addition to being a bit more visually interesting than the standard cars on which they were based.
Anyway, long story short: L-Tuned fizzled out. With a raft of new, sportier, and more powerful cars in showrooms, it sounds like Lexus may be ready to revive the name and back it up with some real juice underhood (think BMW M Power, Mercedes AMG). Nothing's official, but those reading between the lines of Toyota Motor Sales COO Jim Lentz's comment at SEMA that "it's time to stretch" the Lexus brand see a revitalized L-Tuned as part of that evolution. Let's hope it's true. There's always room at the table for some more quality performance machines.
[Source: Automotive News (sub required)]
Anyway, long story short: L-Tuned fizzled out. With a raft of new, sportier, and more powerful cars in showrooms, it sounds like Lexus may be ready to revive the name and back it up with some real juice underhood (think BMW M Power, Mercedes AMG). Nothing's official, but those reading between the lines of Toyota Motor Sales COO Jim Lentz's comment at SEMA that "it's time to stretch" the Lexus brand see a revitalized L-Tuned as part of that evolution. Let's hope it's true. There's always room at the table for some more quality performance machines.
[Source: Automotive News (sub required)]
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