While on the topic of the Lexus LX 570, check out this super-impressive Youtube clip of the luxury-tank scaling a sand mountain:

Zero to small-white-speck in less than 10 seconds.

MyRide managed to snag one of the incredibly rare Lexus LX 570's just long enough to film this video review:

A nice overview, to be sure. I've grown into a huge fan of the new look LX. More than anything, the absolute cocoon it provides is a significant upgrade, it's more like a luxury tank than an SUV.

Three stories out today about Lexus sales, and rather than post them all separately, I thought to just combine them.

First up, Toyota president Katsuaki Watanabe still expects to see a slight increase in 2008 sales over 2007, despite the recent downturn in sales. This makes for a large uphill battle, though, as Lexus sales were down almost 10% in both January and February.

This downward trend isn't worldwide though, as sales in the United Arab Emirates as surged, with a whopping 68% increase in 2007 over 2006. This was mostly attributed to the release of the LS 460, and now with the LX 570 making its debut, Lexus is forecasting another 40% jump in 2008.

This leads right into the last story, where Russians are buying Lexus after Lexus, accounting for a quarter of all European sales in 2007. Again, with the addition of the LX 570, Russia is expected to replace Britain as the company's largest European market by the end of this year.

A new Lexus dealership has opened in Oman (the country just south of the United Arab Emirates), and it was quite an event, attended not only by Toyota executive vice-president Akio Toyoda but practically the entire Oman ruling class.

Starting off with a performance by juggler Michael Moschen, the grand opening quickly escalated into a over-the-top spectacle:

Deeply absorbed in the performance, the guests were completely taken by surprise when a glowing heliosphere ethereally materialised, delicately floating towards the audience. Such was the effect of this performance that thunderous applause blanketed the entire seating area.

A Hollywood stunt artist made a dramatic entry from the roof-top and in tandem with the Taiko drummers and the heliosphere weaved magic on the spellbound audience. The act culminated in the much-awaited ribbon-cutting and official inauguration of the new showroom — drawing a spontaneous and sustained round of applause from the guests.

At that precise moment, the entire showroom lit up dramatically revealing the width and scale of its construction. A choreographed, spectacular pyrotechnics display followed, adding to the entertainment for the evening.

How's that for grandiose?

[Source: Times of Oman via: Autospies]

Normally, a car raffle wouldn't be anything to post about, but they do it differently in Dubai. The Lexus Mega Raffle, which will be held during Dubai's annual Shopping Festival, will see an ES 350 and a RX 350 given to one winner every day for 32 days, though they can opt instead for a cash prize of $100,000 in a number of different currencies.

This press release explains it more succinctly:

Ibrahim Saleh, Chief Operating Officer of DSF explained that the 2008 Lexus Mega Raffle would be a special edition in terms of the excitement and the value of prizes. “While two brand new Lexus ES 350 and RX 350 models would be given daily to one winner, the same winner would have the chance to take home 100,000 in cash but in a currency he or she would pick through another draw.”

“There will be 32 currencies to pick from - ranging between the Pound Sterling, US Dollar, and the Euro, to the Turkish Lira, Argentinean Pesos and the Iranian Tomman, among other international currencies. The winner might thus take home a cash prize of the equivalent of AED 400 or even AED 750,000,” added Saleh.

Now that's some raffle, but considering the location, it's not really all that hard to believe.

[Source: Dubai City Guide]

While I'm certainly no expert about what it's like to be wealthy in the Middle East, this Lexus commercial really captured my imagination -- beautiful homes, giant yachts, private jets and LS 460s all round:

As strange as it is to say, they picked a great actor for this ad, who carries it with his authenticity. Fantastic job.