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'Saturday Night Live' parodies Lexus' December to Remember sales event

We know there are plenty of people out there with more than enough money in the bank to surprise their significant other with a brand-new car for Christmas. And we're also sure that Lexus' annual "December to Remember" sales event must be successful enough that the automaker commits to running it each and every year. But for the vast majority of Americans, the idea of slapping a big red bow on a crisp white Lexus remains little more than a pipe dream. Apparently, we're not the only ones wondering who is surprising their loved ones with new cars. The crew from Saturday Night Live — Beck Bennet, Heidi Gardner and host Timothee Chalamet — put together a very humorous skit that reminds us of the fact that this December is a wee bit different than past Decembers, and that maybe an expensive purchase could have negative side effects. And in fact, end-of-year sales campaigns from many industries have been reframed as the pandemic rages on. As an added bonus, a scroll through the comments (which is usually a bad idea on YouTube) suggests that some car salespeople have seen this scene unfold in the real world.

Lexus LFA prototype spied lapping the Nurburgring with new bodywork

The Lexus LFA was a real engineering tour de force. Sure, it was stuck in development hell for years, and the 4.8-liter V10's 552-horsepower output wasn't super impressive when it came out, but it integrated a ton of expertise Toyota gained from its F1 team in the early to mid 2000s. Unfortunately, it didn't sell well. Last year, we found there were a few new models sitting on dealer lots, five years after the 500-model run ended. Still, it looks like Toyota may not have given up on the idea of a race-derived flagship for Lexus, at least based on this prototype running around the Nurburgring this week. At first glance, the car pictured here looks like an LFA with the Nurburgring Package and some camouflage on the front and rear fenders. If you look closely, you can see that the fenders are significantly wider than on the standard LFA. Based on the license plate, this appears to be the same car with two different sets of wheels. Lexus may simply be swapping out worn tires, or they may be testing different wheel and tire combinations to fit the wider wheel wells. Anything beyond this is just speculation. There have been rumors of a new flagship Lexus sports car that sits atop the LC 500 and LC 500h. We saw the Toyota GR Super Sport Concept back in January, though that car looks nothing like what we see here. As much as we would love that sweet Yamaha co-developed V10 to carry over, we're not holding our breath. Some sort of hybrid powertrain is almost a certainty. Maybe Lexus and Toyota could pull some tech from its Le Mans-winning TS050 Hybrid race car. Related Video:

Lexus GX 460 SUV gains technology on the road, and off of it

Lexus has updated its GX 460 SUV for 2020. The GX 460 is one of the longer-running SUV models on the market, as it was originally unveiled around a decade ago and it's still based on the sturdy Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which is a touch more compact than the U.S. market Land Cruiser. The refresh gives the model some new touches to keep it in line with other current Lexus products, including a more contemporary spindle grille and new headlights, but it's restyled along the same moderate lines as the previous updates the GX 460 has received during its tenure. There are color and trim adjustments, including the addition of very red leather, but the powertrain remains the same: the 301-horsepower 4.6-liter V8 with 329 lb-ft or torque. But still, the ladder-frame GX 460 has off-road agility thanks to its Prado DNA, and those capabilities are now enhanced with a new Off-Road Package made available on the Luxury trim level. Cameras feed to multi-view and panoramic monitors to give the driver a better idea of the vehicle's surroundings off the beaten path, and Crawl Control and Multi-Terrain Select make it easier to handle the surfaces underneath the GX 460. Crawl Control keeps the vehicle progressing steadily in low range, also utilizing what Lexus calls "virtual" locking diffs. The GX 460's drivetrain comes with a Torsen limited slip differential, too. Multi-Terrain Select regulates wheelspin and can be automatically set to perform best in mud, sand, loose rocks or other driving surfaces. There's also downhill assist and hill-start assist as well as active traction control and vehicle stability control. As for on-road safety, Lexus has made its Safety System+ suite standard, and it comprises a Pre-Collision System together with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert, automatic high beam control and high-speed dynamic radar cruise control. Our test of the 2018 model lamented the lack of the latter in standard specification, but that matter has now been addressed. For on-road comfort, there's also the Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System, or KDSS, and an available adaptive variable suspension that has electronic control instead of just a fluid-based setup as in the KDSS. Any pricing adjustments have not yet been announced.