It seemed the world had forgotten about the
Lexus LS Sport 650
, the barmy twin-turbo V8 saloon developed by Toyota's TMG German motorsport division. But evidently the recent appearance of a new
Jaguar XJR
Mercedes S63 AMG
has jogged some memories at Lexus, because the Sport 650 has reappeared. Excellent news.
Yep, they're carbon-ceramics on a Lexus LS
As a quick reminder, this LS produces 650hp and 565lb ft, sufficient for a 199mph top speed and a sub-four second dash to 62 mph. It's a damn quick Lexus basically, well beyond the performance offered by an
IS-F
and directly comparable in fact to an
LFA
The car seen in the latest video is phase three of a project that began in 2010, albeit without any firm production guarantee as yet.
The clip is mostly an interview with TMG's Alastair Moffitt, who seems likely a thoroughly amicable northern lad if ever we did see one. He describes the Sport 650 as "a sweet shop for engineers", with something new being optimised and developed constantly. There's also a big old drift and some V8 rumble to close the video too, so it's worth staying until the end.
Can a viable production case be made for a 650hp Lexus LS? Alastair mentions in the video that TMG wants to be involved with road cars more, proffering the idea of "boutique" small-series production.
Given every major luxury saloon bar the BMW 7 Series has a performance flagship, we rather hope the wonderfully insane 650 can be justified. XJR v S63 v S8 v Quattroporte v Sport 650 anyone?