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Toyota Hilux gets heart transplant from Lexus IS F

The Toyota Hilux might not be sold in the US, but Toyota's venerable pickup has an international reputation of being able to go anywhere and do just about anything. The trucks aren't really known for their speed, though, at least until Toyota South Africa Motorsport's new, one-off project. This bruiser ditches the usual diesel engine and replaces it with an unrestricted 5.0-liter V8 from a Lexus IS F making 449 horsepower. Of course, it takes more than power to handle the rigors of high speed off-roading. The motorsport team also adds bigger, competition-spec brakes, fully adjustable dampers, new springs, and retuned gearing to make the truck look practically ready for the Dakar Rally. The gearbox is really the only part that carries over. The V8 gives the special Hilux quite a mean growl, too. With the new Tacoma just launching in the US, maybe the engineers at TRD need to apply this same concept over here for its own Lexus-engined, one-off pickup.

UPDATE: There are 5 unsold Lexus LFAs left in the U.S.

UPDATE (April 9, 2019): This year has been a solid year for LFA sales with three more finding homes. Interestingly, all three were sold during the month of January. By our count, that leaves five of the supercars left unsold.UPDATE (January 3, 2019): The countdown of Lexus LFA sales continues. In the time since our last update, Lexus sold another of the supercars. That means we're down to 8 LFAs unsold in the U.S. Check out the whole story on unsold LFAs below. We'll also continue to monitor LFA sales to see if/when all are sold.UPDATE (April 5, 2018): Since we first ran this post, Lexus has actually sold 3 more LFAs, meaning that there should be 9 more remaining for sale in the U.S. Read on to learn more about how there are still a few new ones on the market. While we were digging through automaker sales figures for July, we found a few odd sales of discontinued cars, but the strangest by far was the inclusion of the Lexus LFA in Toyota's numbers. Apparently, a dealer sold one in July, and even more amazingly, six were sold last year. This is remarkable because production ended for the LFA way back in 2012, and there weren't many examples to begin with. So we reached out to Toyota for more info, and we have good news, sort of, if you missed out on buying a new one when the car was, well, really new. According to a Toyota representative, there are currently 12 9 8 5 LFAs around the country that are officially classified as dealer inventory. We also asked about overseas cars, but apparently those numbers weren't available. Still, 5 technically new LFAs is a shocking number. The representative also gave us a detailed explanation from Lexus International on how this might have happened. Basically, for the U.S. market, Lexus said the company intended to only take purchase orders on LFAs from customers to avoid price gouging and speculation. However, in 2010, orders started to drop off, and to make sure cars weren't sitting at the factory, the company allowed existing LFA holders to order a second car, and also allowed dealers and executives to order cars for themselves or for selling at dealerships, and some of the dealer-ordered cars still come up from time-to-time as new sales. So the cool news is that you might be able to still buy a new LFA if you really want to. But that's a big might.

Lexus celebrates 10 years of F performance with special RC F, GS F

Ten years ago, Lexus launched its F performance brand in a big way with the V8-powered IS F. To celebrate its decade-long life so far, a pair of also-V8-powered Lexus F models, the RC F and GS F, will get special editions. Sadly, they don't get any performance upgrades over the normal models, but they are visually striking. Both cars are finished in a matte paint called Nebula Gray, which the company says makes these special Lexus models the only ones to receive factory matte paint besides the LFA. The wheels are painted in a gloss black, and the brake calipers are painted a bright blue to match the F brand's colors. The F badges on the outside of the car also get little blue lines around their edges. Inside, both cars go wonderfully overboard with blue highlights. They each get bright blue leather seats with gray accents, blue suede shift knobs, and window switch panels adorned with blue, silver, and black carbon fiber. Naturally, serial number plates also appear inside to denote which example the car is. The GS F, despite being a more sober looking sedan, has the wilder interior. The back seats get blue leather highlights to match the fronts, the dash is wrapped in blue suede, and more blue carbon fiber trim is fitted to the center console. These 10th-anniversary edition cars are extremely limited production. Only 240 of the RC F will be produced, a number chosen because there are 240 Lexus dealers in the U.S. Only 100 of the GS F will be sold. They'll be available to purchase this summer, but Lexus hasn't finalized pricing for the cars. Related Video: