The Lexus LS TMG Sports 650 could have been Toyota Motorsport GmbH's first production model. It could, but it wasn't.
With over 25 years of existence, Lexus, Toyota's luxury vehicle division, has repeatedly managed to prove that it could rival the best German sporting proposals, both mechanically and aesthetically. One such moment came with the launch of the Lexus LFA in 2010, a two-seater supercar with a limited-production V10 engine – and with a sui generis maintenance plan.The success was such that the Japanese brand decided to venture into one of the most ambitious projects in its history: to develop a car capable not to match, but to surpass, the German competition. For this, Lexus asked Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) for help, which used its know-how in motorsport to produce what could be its first production model.
UNUSUAL: In their spare time, Lexus made a car in Origami…
The task was not easy: the objective was to develop a luxury saloon capable of lowering from 4 seconds in the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h, which had a good dynamic behavior and consumption (not too much) exaggerated.
In 2011, TMG developed a first “road competition” prototype based on the Lexus LS 460 and took it to the customary circuit, the Nürburgring, for a battery of intensive tests, in addition to other aerodynamic tests in tunnels. of wind. All this effort resulted in the Lexus LS TMG Sports 650 , presented at the Essen Salon the following year, a «super saloon» measuring more than 5 meters in length and weighing 2050 kg.
In mechanical terms, TMG was "stealing" the 5.0-liter V8 engine from the Lexus IS F, to which it added a pair of turbochargers, among other minor modifications. In the end, as the name implies, the LS TMG Sports 650 was left with 650 hp of power, directed to the rear wheels through an eight-speed gearbox, and 765 Nm of maximum torque. In addition to the multi-link suspension with Sachs shock absorbers, TMG also added a Torsen differential, ceramic Brembo brakes and Michelin Super Sport tyres.
As for performance, the sprint from 0 to 100 km/h was completed in 3.9 seconds, while the top speed reached 320 km/h. Apparently, Akio Toyoda, CEO of Toyota, actually drove the LS TMG Sports 650. Toyoda was so pleased with the car that he ordered ten copies from TMG.
Unfortunately, the project ended up not being a production version, serving mainly as a sketch for the brand's next production models, in terms of engineering and technology. Lexus guarantees that it has “taken notes” – when will a new attack on German proposals be made?
