Lowered Golfs and Astras also quickly with blingbling taillights
Accessory shops still offer transparent taillights for many car models under the name ‘Lexus-look taillights’. How the Lexus IS started a trend in 1999 that has already passed its peak, but continues to be followed more than 20 years later.
Sometimes a real fad suddenly appears in the car world. In the 1980s these are smoked glass taillights and in the mid-1990s we collectively have to work on the three-spoke wheels. The usually conservative Toyota started a real design hype in 1999 with the transparent taillights of the Altezza, the model that the rest of the world gets to know a few months later as the Lexus IS.
Already in 1962 at Cadillac
There is already some experimentation with new rear light shapes in the 90s, but Lexus gives it a completely new twist. Instead of the traditional colored blocks, the IS has a cluster of separate lamps in a chrome-plated housing, behind a transparent lens. It may be a bit too much bling, but around the turn of the century it starts to become popular, so Lexus is at the forefront of the trend with its shiny taillights. However, they are not new. As early as 1962, Cadillac introduced Three-phase Rear Lighting: a transparent lighting unit that can glow red thanks to a complex system of colored filters.
A trend in the US in the 1960s
Of course, competitor Chrysler does not let that go over its side and launches similar taillights on the New Yorker in 1965. Ford follows in 1966, and transparent taillights are already a major trend in the US in the late 1960s.
Mazda 6, Saab 9-3, and the accessories trade
The transparent taillights of the Lexus IS are an instant hit in 1999. Soon they appear among the competition. Mazda put them on the new 6 in 2002 and Saab screwed them on the facelifted 9-3 in 2008. The Swedes open all marketing registers by promoting them as an ice block design, a smart reference to the cold homeland. Of course, the accessory trade also picks up on the trend and soon the shiny taillights appear on lowered Golfs and Astras.
As with many fashion trends, you may wonder whether those transparent taillights were such a good idea. Let’s just say it’s too early to judge that. However, one thing is certain: sooner or later they will come back!
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl