Every year, weekly U.S. trade publication
Automotive News, between late July and the very end of August devotes 5 issues to future product predictions as long as 4 years out, with GM, Ford, Chrysler, European and Asian carmakers each getting an issue. These later work their way to their consumer-oriented sibling publication,
AutoWeek. Here's what they have to say about Lexus and the IS series:
The IS likely has been pushed to a six-year cycle, as Lexus takes more of a BMW approach with alternating sheet metal and powertrain changes every three years.
Lexus recently trademarked the names IS 250C, IS 300C and IS 350C
(news which was first reported by my.IS back on 24 April - Ed.), which would indicate a coupe is coming. Today, it sells only a sedan. Expect a coupe/convertible to arrive in the spring of 2009 as a 2010 model. The sedan's restyled sheet metal happens for the 2012 model year.
In other upcoming Lexus product news, the six-years-between-major-redesigns pattern will seemingly carry over to Lexus' rear-wheel-drive sedan models, with the LS due for a minor facelift for the 2010 model year (including the spread, as an option, of all-wheel-drive from the LS600hL hybrid to the non-hybrid LSs); an all-new, 4th-generation GS debuting for the 2011 model year; and, an all-new, 5th-generation LS debuting for the 2013 model year. The front-wheel-drive platform ES, given that it will remain, as always, a gussied-up Toyota Camry, will follow that model's five-year cycle. The 6th-generation ES is expected to arrive in the spring of 2011 as a 2012 model. The next generation will offer a hybrid model, borrowing the V-6 from the RX hybrid, as opposed to using the 4-cylinder Camry Hybrid powertrain.
Speaking of the RX, the 3rd-generation version comes in early 2009 as a 2010 model. Expect the hybrid variant to get more power, as Toyota already has filed trademarks on RX 430h, RX 440h and RX 450h. In this case, however, don't expect three different hybrid variants. Rather, Lexus is just hedging its bets and trying to figure out which nomenclature makes more sense for the next RX hybrid. The jumbo-sized, gussied up Land Cruiser 3rd-generation Lexus LX was just launched, so don't expect any changes for a while. In contrast, the future of Lexus' "in-between" SUV, the truck-based (Toyota 4Runner) Lexus GX is in limbo. The current freefall in SUV sales make two truck-based SUVs redundant, and one theory has the long-rumo(u)red JX seven-seat GS-derived crossover predicted by the Lexus LF-X concept picking up the GX moniker.
Another Lexus model with an uncertain future is the SC, with most pundits thinking it will just fade away without a 3rd-generation successor, especially if the upcoming IS coupe/convertible is successful. On the other hand, the also-believed-to-be-doomed Toyota Camry Solara convertible has just gained an unexpected two-year stay of execution, so anything is possible.
Besides the debuts of the 3rd-generation RX and the IS xx0C 2-door, the other major Lexus debut expected for 2009 is of the Toyota Prius-derived dedicated small Lexus hybrid, at least in concept form.
Automotive News predicts the production arrival of the four-cylinder small sedan in early 2010 as a 2011 model.
In
the 2007 edition of our annual article on Automotive News' predictions, we wrote, "Further into the future, a Lexus version of the RAV4 is planned for Japan and Europe. U.S. marketers are expected to turn it down because they don't want vehicles priced under US$30,000...
Automotive News predicts a crossover likely to arrive as a 2012 model. Take those Japan-and-Europe-only rumo(u)rs with a grain of salt, however. After all, that was the original plan for the Toyota Altezza-derived Lexus IS300..." This prediction will seemingly come true, as there are now contingency plans to bring it to North America for the 2013 model year.
In a 180-degree twist on the "we've saved the best for last" cliché, we've left the worst news for the end, namely that the Lexus GS F big brother to the IS F has been put on hold until the economy improves; and that the production version of the LF-A supercar (which, in spite of Formula 1
supremo Bernie Ecclestone's reported objections, is referred to as the LF-1) is not hitting performance objectives in line with a $160,000-plus performance car, plus launching a six-figure sports car into a global recession might doom it. At this point, Lexus likely will wait until the spring of 2010 to bring it to market as a 2011 model. Of course, by that time, the car's styling will be stale.
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