peteharvey

Somehow, the new Toyota Crown to be released the next quarter is not available in 3.5L V6 TT.
Hence I suspect that just as the 4LS model cycle was extended to 11 years, the 5GS and 4IS model cycles may be extended to 8 years with a 5GS to debut in 2020, and a 4IS to debut in 2021 - hence no spy shots of 5GS yet.
Normally the model cycles are fairly consistently 7 years.
Gives them time to develop and refine the 3.5L V6 TT for 5GS and 4IS use.
I would doubt they would axe both 5GS and 4IS as some rumours are starting to circulate.

BippuLexus

Agreed with your post.

I also want to add: axing the 5GS and 4IS together would be brand suicide for Lexus.

Vladi

If they ever put 5LS biturbo in non IS-F I would be shocked to tell you the truth. In new RC maybe but IS? One can only hope.
Lexus has totally screwed up with previous LS and it's successor so that's why the life cycle was almost a dozen. That screw up will reflect on new LS sales numbers. Both IS and GS don't have that much leeway like LS does so extending their lifecycle will also be a suicide. If they extend 3IS life cycle it means they have made the same mistake as with 4LS with no clear product development path.

peteharvey

At first the rumour was just axing the GS.
Now the rumour adds axing the IS too.
Starting to sound very far fetched to me!

The Germans & Lexus have fairly consistent 7-year model cycles, and an 8-year model cycle for the current 4GS & 3IS to develop & release the next generation of 5GS & 4IS on GA-L in 2020 & 2021 respectively isn't too bad.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

EZZ

It's important they put it in the new IS. The IS is 100x more important than a niche GT application like an RC so if they don't got head to head by putting in the turbo, we know they've pretty much given up fighting the German brands head on.

Vladi

Something weird is going on and you can tell when it comes to small turbo engine deployment. They are either trying to catch up or they are going different route altogether. I don't know what to make out of 5LS turbo either. It's pretty clear they kept the displacement big in order to make it a viable alternative to naturally aspirated V8. And perhaps to catch up with rest of the competition when it comes to performance, 600Nm is quite impressive considering others are pushing "only" 475 with their 3.0 biturbos in normal application. For that reason only that engine doesn't make any sense to be thrown into small cars like IS and RC, even if it was detuned it would carry the weight penalty for being so big in displacement.

peteharvey

I thought I might have seen someone at lexusenthusiast.com or somewhere else mention that the IS was rumoured to be axed too?

https://carbuzz.com/news/lexus-is-and-gs-could-be-killed-off

peteharvey

Perhaps they're already working on a 3.0L V6 TT for superior economy & lower reciprocating mass for smoother NVH, and less torque is needed for the smaller & lighter IS/GS anyway - hence a slightly extended model cycle for current 4GS & 3IS, and delayed release of 5GS & 4IS till 2020/21 respectively?

Anything is possible.
We must be patient...

situman

Well assuming the next gen IS will grow in size, the turbo 6 isnt that big of a deal when the current IS already has a 3.5 V6. Plus the GA-L is modular for a reason.

situman

I dont think a 3.0 turbo 6 makes sense with rumors of a 2.5L turbo 4. The 2.0 turbo 4 makes 235hp so presumably, the 2.5 will make around 275 to 300. Then you have the 3.5 turbo 6 at 415 hp. So presumably the 3.0 will be at around 325 to 350, which is usually not enough of a HP separation between engines. The power figures are just too cramped together.

spwolf

i think they will just put that 3.5tt everywhere in their RWD applications, thats the point of using less powertrains overall but then using them in more applications due to lowered costs.

Johnhav430

I wish that the focus would shift to inline 6's, and not V6's. Forgetting about the imbalance, everything is doubled (valves, valve covers, valve cover gaskets, camshafts, etc.). At least a V8 is more balanced overall when compared to a V6 (I6 is still king). As long as anything being possible, an inline 6 would be great.

JDR76

2IS also ran for 8 model years (2006-2013) so it wouldn't surprise me if 3IS does as well.

Toys4RJill

I thought there was another thread regarding the GS however, the Canadian Lexus.ca site has updated the manuals for 2019 and Lexus has removed the regular GS off the cover and it is now just the GS-F If you dig into the book there is information for the GS300 and GS350 (GS300 was never sold in Canada) The website has updated the the GS-F for 2019. I still believe a higher MSRP close to the 65K ES will take over the lower end MSRP price point of the GS.