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Lexus fans vote Solar Flare for new RC F hue

What's in a name? When it comes to model nameplates, quite a lot, and automakers go to considerable lengths to find just the right one. Same goes for the names of the colors in the catalog (save for maybe the Rape Yellow in the extensive Bugatti palette), but every once in a while, an automaker will open it up for suggestions from the public.
SRT did that when it introduced a new shade of blue for its Viper, as did Chevy for the pale green on the Volt. And last month, Lexus followed a similar path when it asked fans on Facebook to come up with a name for the new shade of orange for the RC F.
Fans suggested names like Tangerine Flame, Outrageous Orange and Fiery Orange, but ultimately the winning submission that Lexus selected was Solar Flare. The name was suggested by five individuals and will now enter the catalog of colors for the new luxury muscle coupe with its 450-horsepower 5.0-liter V8.

Lexus GX has quietly more than doubled its sales this year

There are some things in this industry that we're perplexed by, like the infotainment system on our long-term Subaru WRX or why the Mitsubishi Mirage is allowed to exist, among other things. Let's add one more to that group, with the Lexus GX. It's not a particularly bad vehicle for a big, body-on-frame brute, remaining one of the only true SUVs in the mid-size luxury class, alongside the equally old fashioned Land Rover LR4.
Considering these things, then, what we're about to tell you makes very little sense - sales are up 135 percent through last month. The Japanese luxury marque has moved over 5,300 during the first six months of 2014, owing in no small part to a significant price drop over the 2013 model. Today, a GX starts at $49,085, while a year ago, it was $53,445.
Don't mistake this price decrease for charity, though. Lexus specifically built a lower-cost GX to lure in customers. According to WardsAuto, faux leather covers the cabin rather than the real stuff, while the overall package is decontented relative to what you might find in a typical Lexus.

2014 Lexus IS gets TRD bits

Toyota Racing Development (TRD) in Japan has designed cosmetic and performance bits that give the 2014 Lexus IS a front-to-back workover. Different from the F-Sport parts we expect from Lexus here, the full body kit runs 437,700 yen ($4,285 US) and starts with air deflectors at the lower edges of the front bumper, through to side skirts, a decklid spoiler and a rear bumper with a diffuser and quad exhaust tips.
For 288,750 yen ($2,830) you can sharpen responses with new shocks, springs, dampers, sway bar and bracing. The priciest individual component is the set of 19-inch wheels, four of them going for 527,625 yen (5,170 US). There's no word on US importation or pricing yet, but done up all in black like the IS above, we wouldn't mind seeing it here.