Not only Toyota’s plans for the future have been put on the street, because in one smooth movement those of her luxury brand Lexus follow. There is enough change in the air, it becomes clear. Striking: the GS as we know it seems to be in its last round.
Presumably during an American dealer presentation, an attendee decided not to keep the confidential information to themselves. Through Allcarnews This revealed not only Toyota’s future plans, but also Lexus’ plans. While – unlike Toyota’s plans – there is no picture of a schedule to support the claims, some interesting information is still shared.
GS becomes Mirai
Starting with the GS. The large sedan, with which Lexus originally tried to gain market share between cars such as the Mercedes E-class and BMW 5-series, appears to be in its last round worldwide. The GS is no longer available from us. Future plans would show that Lexus puts a line through the GS in favor of a Lexus variant of the new Toyota Mirai. So a car with a fuel cell (hydrogen). With the GS successor, Lexus clearly wants to enter a niche market more, because fuel cell cars are still by no means a widespread phenomenon. Still, parent company Toyota, just like Hyundai, still deploys a significant part of this technology. Incidentally, a test LS appeared with a fuel cell on board last year, so it was likely that the technology for the GS successor was tested.
IS, LS and ES
The IS, LS and ES will be refreshed in the near future. A brand new generation of IS is planned for the summer of 2021. It will then take over from the current IS that was introduced seven years ago. The LS, which has only been in operation since 2017, will be refreshed in 2022. Not a completely new generation, but that is not yet the case. The ES, which has largely taken over the role of the GS in the middle class with the introduction of the current generation in Europe, will be refreshed in the same year.
NX, RX, GX and LX
The Lexus NX, just like the IS, is already a solid time on the market. The strikingly contoured BMW X3 and Audi Q5 competitor can do it for a while thanks to a fairly recent facelift, but Lexus plans to push a successor forward in the near future. When that happens, it is still not entirely clear, but expect far into 2021. The larger RX, which will be able to deal with it for the time being, can already mark the calendar. The next generation of that SUV will be available in 2023.
The GX, Lexus’ variant of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (which we also know as Land Cruiser here), is already quite old with its eleven years old, but it must last until 2023. Then a ‘completely new model’ follows the GX. Finally, there is the LX, Lexus’ top SUV. It will run even longer (since 2007) and will finally be repaid in 2022. The next LX is to become an ultra-luxury and modern SUV to compete in the highest echelons. With a biturbo V8 under the hood, the LX is said to even be able to aim at cars like the Bentley Bentayga. We are curious.