As an owner and fan of the Lexus IS 350 C, this one hurts me to watch.
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Here at Torque News we shy away from re-reporting good work by other outlets. However, a story recently caught our eye and we almost wished it hadn’t. The story is about what happens to SEMA show cars after the show ends.
SEMA Lexus Show Cars
SEMA is a specialty aftermarket show closed to the general public. The show is a place for companies that make modification parts, and offer tuning services to showcase their stuff. The more outrageous, the better is the general rule of thumb. However, these kooky-car creations don’t mesh well with the general marketing promotion that the automakers try so hard to craft. Many also came from media fleet cars, which are sort of pre-production vehicles we auto writers get o beat on and write reviews for. Therefore, after the show ends, the automakers often send the cars out to pasture.
Lexus IS 350C and IS F
In the video, the Lexus IS 350C I own (mine is black with an alabaster interior) is paired with its sibling the IS F and both go to the crusher. These cars are rarer than hen’s teeth. Spotting one is like seeing a baby Pidgeon. To acquire mine in 2010 I had to go beyond the dealer network since after six months of looking I could not find an IS convertible with the powerful 306 hp V6 engine. I lucked-out and found mine on Cars.com pre-owned by a dealership as the owner’s car. It was like hitting the lottery.
The IS F is even more rare. Less than 100 were sold last year if you can believe it. Not many Lexus buyers want a track-star with a V8 and 4-doors. They are no more coming either since the car was discontinued after the 2014 model year, and production has now ended.
We hope that this video does not cause nightmares to any Lexus IS fans. I am getting over it, but still, that image haunts me…
Related Stories:
Lexus will keep building the IS 250C and IS 350C convertibles into 2015
2015 Lexus V8 RC F coupe will mean the end of the IS F sedan
Lexus IS convertibles to move to the new RC coupe platform by 2016
Credit Note: We saw this video first at Autoblog
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