This past Friday, I was seated in a long-lead briefing for another auto manufacturer when the whispered word was passed down the line of seated journalists: “There’s an emergency conference call regarding Saab in ten minutes.” Not too long after that: “Saab is dead. There’s no deal.” All around me, I saw men with their heads cradled in their hands, though I could not tell whether it was from sympathy, misery, or simple world-weariness. From the seat next to me, a sorrowful, poignant comment: “I don’t want to live in a world where the ES350 is a best-seller and Saab is dead.”

What a perceptive statement! For there were more than fifteen long years where people willingly deluded themselves into believing that this world was one where the Camry-by-Lexus could rule the sales roost and, yet, Saab could live. With evidence to the contrary literally surrounding them, Saab’s incompetent, careless stewards at General Motors continued to push the lie: Saab is premium, Saab is luxury, Saab can compete with the Japanese and Germans on equal ground. By the time Saab’s lifeless body finally thumped against the ground, the story had assumed the mantle of tragedy. And like most tragedies, it began with a misunderstanding.
Continue reading Avoidable Contact #29: Lexus killed Saab, but GM let Saab die.

After several years of teasing us with several iterations of the Lexus LF-A concept, the production version has finally been revealed at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.  Love it or hate it, the specs are certainly impressive.  The Lexus LF-A will be powered by a 4.8-liter V10 which produces 560-horsepower at 8,700 RPM and 354 lb-ft of torque at 6,800 RPM.  This screamer of an engine will be mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox.  The body of the LF-A is made of 65 percent carbon fiber, and total weight comes in at 3,263 pounds.  Lexus claims that all this is good enough to get the LF-A 62 miles per hour in just 3.7 seconds and onward to a top speed of 202 miles per hour.  Production of this $375,000 Japanese supercar will be limited to just 500 units.

Lexus UK Press release after the jump:

Continue reading Wednesday Wallpaper: Lexus LF-A

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Gather ‘round, everybody. I have an epic tale to tell. It’s the story of how Fake Luxury Conquered The World. There are heroes, and villains, and sweeping vistas, and if we don’t exactly have a princess cooped up in a tower, we might have a few sexually liberated young women in airbrush-mural vans. Interested? Follow along with me as we return to the dark days of the early Seventies…

Continue reading Avoidable Contact #11: How Fake Luxury Conquered The World.