Lexus IS-F: Wald Sports Line Black Bison Edition

By Jay Williams - 29/January/2009

Osaka, Japan – Wald sounds like a German tuner and it's badge even looks European. But it ain't from Germany.

Wald is in fact a secret Japanese tuning company, that only operates during the shadows of the night and mainly works on high end product like Mercedes, Bentleys, BMWs, Land Rovers and those sorts of cars.

The tuner Illuminati showed off its latest creation, the Lexus IS-F Black Bison, at the Tokyo Auto Salon earlier this month.

Based on the $129,000 Lexus IS-F, which comes standard with a 5.0-litre V8 engine that produces 311 kilowatts of power and 505Nm of torque, it isn't hard to see why Wald chose this particular Lexus for their most recent project.

There is no talk of power increases for the Black Bison edition and that's a pity. But with its 8-speed SPDS gearbox and high power output, the Lexus IS-F is still a very capable sports sedan.

The Japanese tuner took the rear-wheel drive Lexus performance car, that looks semi-aggressive to begin with if you ask me, then turned it on it's head and made it look like one of the toughest kids in this well-to-do playground.

The updated custom kit is comprised of a busy-looking front spoiler, an enlarged rear deck spoiler and a rear diffuser, which is made from a sleek-finish carbon fibre composite to help keep weight figures down.

New side vents are also built in, though I am not sure weather they improve airflow or are just for improved aesthetics. Whatever the case, they add to the car's tough appeal.

The wheels are upgraded to non other than Wald's own Mahora 3-piece 20-inchers (thats a whole lotta rim), in a dark chrome finish that really set the car off, making it look ready for the business of burnouts.

The big five-spoke alloys fill out the wheel wells to impressive effect and give the car a stronger grounding than the stock rims.

The body kit as a whole is far from subtle and some would even call it offensive; at first glance you wouldn't think that this was the luxury brand Lexus.

But the kit does look aggressive with its angry front air dams, almost like a mouth that looks set to snap you up if you walk past. The rear bumper is more tasteful and retains the factory standard 4x tail pipes, just peaking out either side of the diffuser.

The kit also drops the overall ride height of the car by a large margin which would be a pain if it this car was your daily driver

Judging by the job Wald has done on the Lexus IS-F and some of its past creations, it's fair to say they are an experienced group in the tuner market, with their flush fittingkits that (most of the time) complement the donor car's style.

So I don't know about you, but being a younger motorist interested in tuning, I think the car looks good but I don't think the market it's intended for will see the beauty of the car, as most buyers of this vehicle are in an older demographic. Also, it's sad to see that no powertrain upgrades - even a new exhaust - isn't offered.

The standard Lexus IS-F went on sale in October 2008 in Australia, and if you want one of these in-your-face tune-up kits, check out the Wald website.

It doesn't look like there are any distributors in Australia, with the closest Wald outlet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but they may be able to courier the body kit pieces in if you're really keen on updating the Lexus IS-F's performance look.

Related Links:
- Lexus LS600hL (Road Test)
- Lexus GS450h (Road Test)
- Lexus LS 460 AWD (2008)
- Lexus IS250 (Road Test)
- Lexus LS460 (2007)
- Lexus LS 600h L (2007)
- Lexus GS430 (Road Test)
- Lexus LF-Sh (concept)