Here we have a nice Lexus ES300, seen in Beijing’s Fangzhuang residential area in Fengtai District in the Chinese capital Beijing. The good Lexus was modified to the max; wrapped in matte black and fitted with an extremely sporty body kit.
The body kit came with an enormous front bumper extension, side skirts, and an equally enormous rear-bumper section. Over-the-top body kits like these were especially popular in China in the very late 1990’s and the early to mid 2000’s. I was there at the time, and I still vividly remember the shops that put these kind of kits on.
The shops were all tiny to small, based in larger general-car markets. Everything was ultra cheap and usually ready within a few hours. Sadly, most of these markets are nowadays gone from the wider Beijing area, but go just a few hours further and you’ll still find plenty!
The seats and door trim are surely newer than the car, but I guess it is a nice upgrade for a car this old. The wood still looks good, wood trim around the gear lever and some on the center stack. Radio-cassette player and pop-out cup holders are period original.
The rear bumper modification sticks out some 30 centimeters. Paint is cracking, but that makes it look even more cool! The wing on the boot lid adds a lot of racy raciness. In front of the car stands my electric Luyuan scooter (no they don’t give me any money for the link – I just loved it. I called my scooter “Scoot”. Yeah!).
Owner added a bunch of badges. TRD stands for Toyota Racing Development. Badges like this were for sale for a few yuan each on every car market in period. Well, the more the better! There is a ‘handwritten’ badge too but I can’t figure out what it says. If you can, please let me know in the comments below.
The second generation Lexus ES300 (XV10) was made from 1991 until 1996, with a facelift in 1994. Our modified example is a post-facelift car. Power came from a 3.0 liter V6 naturally aspirated V6 petrol engine, good for 188 hp and 275 Nm. The motor was mated to a 5-speed manual, or, as in this car, a 4-speed automatic.
The Lexus ES300 (XV10) was not officially sold in China but some cars arrived via the gray market and diplomatic channels. Note indeed the space between the rear light units, far too narrow for Chinese license plates.
The handwritten script is the “TRD Racing Development” logo script – it matches if you image search that, although on the car it’s a bit broken and the D is upside down.