This Concept Brought To You By The Letters T,M,G,L,S, And Probably A, Too
My experience with the Lexus IS-F was both impressive and rather sterile. I was put in mind of Samuel Johnson’s observation regarding Milton’s Paradise Lost: “[it is] one of the books which the reader admires and puts down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.”
The same might be true of the IS-F… but here’s a fast Lexus that’s not just longer, it’s wider. And taller. And just plain big.
From Toyota Motorsport GmbH, a fully-recognized partner of the Big T themselves, comes this “TS-650”. It’s obviously a pre-facelift LS460 that’s been tuned, tweaked, quad-piped, and so on to create a big Toyota Celsior Bongo Funtime Lexus for the autobahn. The most fascinating part of the vehicle, other than the mere fact of its existence (cf. another Samuel Johnson quote) would be the gorgeous twin-turbo V-8 which is claimed to rev to a totes awesome 9000 rpm and produce 641 horsepower.
The TMG TS LS probably has a Bret Easton Ellis’s chance of actually entering production, but it has to be on everyone’s mind that there is ample precedent for a factory-affiliated speed shop to make big bucks by hopping-up staid production sedans. “TMG”, after all, sounds a lot like “AMG”, doesn’t it?
More by Jack Baruth
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- El scotto Wait! What are these higher-level Kias you write about?
- El scotto The real question is: If you live north of I-70 when do you switch to summer tires?
- MaintenanceCosts Warmer weather.Summer tires get a little slick under 50 and very slick under 40. Those are the nighttime temps here all but about two months of the year. And I don't drive on the track, so my tires are rarely hot. I buy performance all-seasons, and in our climate that means I trade a bit of grip on the summer days for more grip the rest of the time.
- Ras815 My favorite point from the 'How to Sell Cadillac over Imperial' document: Fins same as last year.Could there be a more representative statement on 1950s automative design? 🤣
- TMA1 "No, make it uglier, I said! Uglier! And add a Camaro badge to the fender!"
Comments
Join the conversation
Hah, Ford called, they want their GT500 heat extractors back.
Lexus, Infinity, Lincoln, and to a large extent, Volvo, now have naming schemes so complex and ridiculous, I don't even attempt to learn them. Amorphous blobs all.