Sriracha-Themed Lexus IS Debuts at LA Auto Show

[Joe]

I understand that they cannot outright show anything related to the XC10 facelift (RC), AZ10 facelift (NX), AL21 (RXL), XV70 (7ES), LX redesign (5LS out of the question), but to stoop to this level is unfortunate. Seeing the new LS and LC, plus money wasted on recalls and buybacks, the budget must be seriously tight.

If the budget is tight, I prefer they would have made the choice not to show anything special at all instead of this.
Big mistake, imho.

 

[meth.ix]

Where is the RC cabrio for that matter? I had hoped they were joking when they "cancelled" it two years ago, but it looks like they're not.:worried:

I think they are waiting for the next generation of the RC to add a cabrio, because it will most likely be a hardtop, and a hardtop will add waaaaay too much weight to the already obese Rc. So I think that they will make the next generation more lightweight before introducing a convertible model.

 

[mikeavelli]

I am very disappointed in Lexus in respect to the decision to use the LA Auto Show to debut such a sideshow of a vehicle. Should've been for SEMA, not the showcase for a major show. There are a number of models outside of the new LS, that could've been shown as precursors. It is that Japan command just didn't want to spend extra money on paying their advanced design team to develop concepts previewing either the next generation ES and GX? Next CT? Where is the RC cabrio for that matter? I had hoped they were joking when they "cancelled" it two years ago, but it looks like they're not.:worried:

Design of the 5GS is frozen by now and surely decided on many months ago. Even at that, during 5GS design competition last year, surely management would be able to know which proposal would be likely to win and Tokuo Fukuichi could've easily delegated any studio to draw up a ridiculous concept with only the fascia having vague hints of the incoming production model (in order to not give away too much too early). I say this, as that would give them enough time to have a concept ready in time instead of this drivel.

BMW somewhat did that in 1999 with E65 7-Series, even if the Z9 Concept internally became the production E63 6-Series within 9 months of its IAA debut. In fact this has been practiced by Lexus in some cases already.

I understand that they cannot outright show anything related to the XC10 facelift (RC), AZ10 facelift (NX), AL21 (RXL), XV70 (7ES), LX redesign (5LS out of the question), but to stoop to this level is unfortunate. Seeing the new LS and LC, plus money wasted on recalls and buybacks, the budget must be seriously tight.

I believe last year they showed the RC convertible concept? What would have been nice is a IS F concept, even if it doesn't make production. Or why not a RX F concept? I agree that this as the highlight is clearly a meh especially when looking at the competition.

A 4 door coupe would be nice too

 

[Tragic Bronson]

Passed by the Lexus display at the show today as I took the day off; just one or two souls around the car at the time I saw it.

The car is located at the very right back edge of the Lexus display as shown here. Doors locked and trunk closed, and no video playing. Meh.

 

[mikeavelli]

Passed by the Lexus display at the show today as I took the day off; just one or two souls around the car at the time I saw it.

The car is located at the very right back edge of the Lexus display as shown here. Doors locked and trunk closed, and no video playing. Meh.

They should give out some free hot sauce

 

[Carmaker1]

If the budget is tight, I prefer they would have made the choice not to show anything special at all instead of this.
Big mistake, imho.

Exactly, they could've just done that and focused on the LA debut of the LC, with more in-depth information about the car inside-out. I still get the feeling that the LC introduction still remains incomplete, in regards to in-cabin technology and some other areas. I know that NAIAS was too early to reveal everything, but what are they waiting for 10 months later and less than half a year till market launch? I know they've shown the car at local venues, but they never really addressed certain things about the LC at official press showings.

I think they are waiting for the next generation of the RC to add a cabrio, because it will most likely be a hardtop, and a hardtop will add waaaaay too much weight to the already obese Rc. So I think that they will make the next generation more lightweight before introducing a convertible model.

For all of the weaknesses of the RC-F and RC350, they have really miscalculated things if that is really the plan here. They kept the IS cabriolet too long and now they want to outright skip a cabrio version for a car that was engineered to have more structural rigidity for such an offering? If that is true, they botched another coupe (not LC).

They started work on that car in 2010, not even having enough foresight to abandon aspirations of a cabrio version down the road? That is why it is overweight in the first place, to accommodate that cabrio variant. Why would they stupidly show the LF-C2, if they didn't have these intentions either? What is with these half-baked decisions across Toyota and Lexus? The GT86/FR-S cabrio was one thing due to various reasons, but to repeat the same mistake doesn't make sense.

The 7-seater CUV excuse doesn't make sense either, as that TX name was just an irrelevant resurrected trademark filing without full nomenclature included. Just like JX. There is something more to that.

I believe last year they showed the RC convertible concept? What would have been nice is a IS F concept, even if it doesn't make production. Or why not a RX F concept? I agree that this as the highlight is clearly a meh especially when looking at the competition.

A 4 door coupe would be nice too

I figure they don't want to get anyone's hopes up about an IS-F this generation, but FCA even showed a Ram Rebel TRX concept, despite the fact the next generation DT Ram 1500 design was frozen last year and on-stream for early 2018 (plus 'HD refresh) and barely looks like the current model (first Ram revolution since 1993).

An RX F concept would've been a novel idea and wouldn't have required as much development lead time, as an LF-style concept. But it would require some engineering, if a higher output V6 or URV8 was dropped in it. Again, they probably don't want to get people's hopes up again, I figure mostly based on the LF-C2.