A video showing an if not brand new, a not so old Lexus IS-F V8-powered sports saloon being crushed to death is making the internet rounds.
The person who uploaded the specific clip says that local police officers in the state of California crushed the vehicle after they confiscated it for illegal racing. We looked around on the web, but we couldn’t find any information regarding this claim.
Sounds like a great story but before you rush to accept the Youtube poster’s version of the incident, you may want to know that we discovered the same exact video uploaded in December of 2010, but there’s no mention of the car being confiscated.
Furthermore, we also found another recent clip of a Hyundai Genesis sedan being destroyed by the same crusher (notice the background and the blue color on the metal structure).
Here’s what YouTube poster “Blodg1” wrote: “This is a new Hyundai Genesis sedan that was crushed by a salvage parts vendor at the request of the manufacturer. There was nothing wrong with this vehicle prior to crushing it.”
All evidence points to a similar scenario for the IS-F as well.
Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out that the state of California has crushed cars for illegal street racing in the past. Even if you agree with the act of confiscating cars for illegal racing, what doesn’t make sense is why authorities would destroy these vehicles instead of parting them out, selling or in some instances such as with the IS-F, give them to law enforcement officers as they do in some other countries.