Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges: Lexus to Drop Logo, Add Billboards

Well, at least on the rear of their vehicles. According to a recent interview with another industry outlet that rhymes with Rotor Blend, the Lexus brand will begin appending chrome-plated L E X U S billboards to the rumps of their vehicles instead of the famed round stylized ‘L’ logo, a badge which will continue to appear on steering wheels and enormous grilles.

Brian Bolain, a senior exec within the Lexus marketing department who MT hilariously and erroneously referred to as Brain Bolian, said in a far-reaching year-end interview that the move is as much about the forthcoming shift to electrification as it is brand identity.

“We need some way to signify that change is coming,” he explained to the mag, noting it may seem like a “dumb way” to accomplish the goal but that it will catch the eye of consumers. Or perhaps someone at Lexus has a cousin who just started a letter factory, who knows.

The chance will first crop up on the newest iteration of the junior-ute NX, while the mighty 2022 LX will be the second model to receive this change. The trim change will slowly creep across the rest of its line like so much kudzu, not necessarily waiting for any particular midcycle refresh.

Badges like these have gained a lot of popularity over recent years, typically showing up on off-road-focused variants of certain rigs (such as the F-150 Raptor or Toyota’s own TRD Pro series of dune busters) but plenty of others have recently jumped on the bandwagon. Hyundai notably spells out not the make but the model of its cars on their trunklids, such as the Elantra and Sonata. Old-timers Experienced gearheads will remember certain generations of the Nissan Maxima, back when it really was a 4-door sports car, did all this three decades ago.

Elsewhere, the infotainment systems at Lexus are in the throes of a revamp, and none too soon in the opinion of many. The corporate overlords have been plowing millions of bucks into a wholesale overhaul of Toyota’s (and, by extension, Lexus’) infotainment systems, some of which have been much maligned for their decided lack of user-friendly input methods. The sometime-infuriating Lexus joystick control is apparently vanishing in some models very soon, again not waiting for a midcycle refresh. Also reported to be on tap are faster processing speeds (sorely needed) and the ability to seamlessly receive certain over-the-air updates.

A full slate of Lexus EVs isn’t likely to drop soon, but we can look forward to some of these changes in the meantime.

[Image: Lexus]