See Anything You Like? Next-generation Lexus IS Looms

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

I must make a confession. Of all the vehicles on the market today — a diverse crowd if there ever was one — no car’s rear end annoys me more than that of the Lexus IS.

The brand’s sporty compact offering went in a controversial direction for its third generation, entering the 2014 model year with half-melted ice cream cone styling. Seems the taillights suffered worst from the heat, as the red plastic managed to bleed nearly all the way down to the rear wheel well. And the first-gen was so clean!

For Gen 4, it seems Lexus is prepared to correct this mistake.

A teaser image has landed of the revamped 2021 IS ahead of its June 9th debut — a reveal that would have taken place in Detroit, had a certain spiky virus not jumped from the animal kingdom to humans.

While little can be seen of the IS sedan, one feature Lexus thought important enough to highlight happens to the one that caused your author so much nausea and anguish these past several years. For ’21, the IS dons an uninterrupted, full-width taillight — a feature Corey would label “heckblende” despite that being an awful word no one should ever use. Let’s hope the unit and all associated plastic remains in its own neighborhood.

For the first time in a while, there’s sedan excitement in the air. Last week saw the debut of Acura’s slinky new TLX, which represents a concerted effort on behalf of the brand to rekindle interest in attainable premium three-box sport. Time will tell if Lexus put as much thought into the new IS.

The model that brought us Altezza taillights two decades ago has, like the TLX and earlier TL, seen its fortunes wax and wane over the past twenty years. The third-gen IS’ debut year of 2014 saw the model hit a post-recession high, though the peak was lower than that seen in 2007. Last year, the aging sedan recorded its lowest sales volume since 2005, with just 14,920 units leaving lots.

That’s less than a third of the sales the IS enjoyed back in 2014.

Currently offered in (2.0-liter) four-cylinder IS 300 and (3.5-liter) V6 IS 350 guise, with either rear- or all-wheel drive, the model offers F Sport variants of each of its models. V6 engines are becoming harder to find in Toyota products, as well as in similarly sized rivals, which could mean the new IS either stands apart or joins the crowd. Lexus has always had one wary eye on the Germans, meaning it’s likely to keep V6 power under hood if at all possible.

As well, given parent corp Toyota’s desire to (finally) be seen as a purveyor of exciting products, the pressure will be on to offer something with impressive specs. Will a hybrid show up, too? Another good question; it would be in line with Lexus’ product direction, for sure.

[Images: Lexus, © Timothy Cain/TTAC]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Trucky McTruckface Trucky McTruckface on Jun 01, 2020

    "For the first time in a while, there’s sedan excitement in the air. Last week saw the debut of Acura’s slinky new TLX, which represents a concerted effort on behalf of the brand to rekindle interest in attainable premium three-box sport. Time will tell if Lexus put as much thought into the new IS.." Are we really pretending that the new TLX is a competitive product that's going to upset this segment? Please. It's a front wheel drive Honda Accord with carryover styling from the old car. It's embarrassing that it took the company an additional three years to update to the current Honda platform. Most car buyers won't be able to tell it's a new model, and that's a major fail right out of the box. The single-scroll turbo V6 is vaporware for the time being, since Acura didn't release numbers, but I have a hard time believing it'll keep up with the twin turbo engines everyone else is offering. The interior doesn't belong in an entry luxury car and while they finally got rid of that stupid dual screen infotainment setup, they appear to have benchmarked Lexus to replace it - not good.

  • Lightspeed Lightspeed on Jun 02, 2020

    I've driven the current IS in 350 and 250 form. The 350 is more than adequate, the 2.5L 250 is an absolute dog. With them having axed the GS :( I assume the IS will be moved a little up-market, with the NX/UX taking more of the lease-bait crowd. IS500? tell me more!

  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
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