I hadn't thought about this until the HP editor pointed it out, but soon, the numbers after the designation won't mean anything — just like with a lot of other automakers. Case in point? The new NX will be the NX 300, not the 200t. And then there's the LS 500... There's no justification for that number either. Personally, I liked it when companies actually named cars, as opposed to just giving them numbers. I understand that it presents challenges internationally, but I just think it's cooler. And if there is going to be a number on a car? It's way better when it's not arbitrary. Check out the post on the HP for the full breakdown.

 

I mentioned this a while back. Lexus is going to change its naming structure. I think they are going to have a 200, 300, 400 and 500 series of vehicles

 

Higher ups and marketeers in Lexus NA must think this is a brilliant thing that Mercedes and BMW have done: making their already cold and alphanumeric model names effectively meaningless other than the very first letter or number of each.

It's one thing to have an over-simplified model/trim name based on what the vehicle is supposed to be without giving it a personalized nanme (ie: Executive Sedan 3.5L, Luxury Sedan 4.6L, Sport Coupe 3.0L, Grand Sedan 4.3L, etc) but it's another to make only the first two letters/numbers meaningful and have the rest just sound cool with no meaning whatsoever.

If the engine displacement is to be ignored from this point on, just call the new models "LS", "LC", "ES", "RX", "GX", etc. Or better yet, make a real break from tradition and name each model something unique as Johnny Mayday says above. Toyota used to do this with their high end models sold in Japan. Several of those were re-badged as alphanumeric Lexus vehicles for overseas export. Hyundai does this with their luxury models (ie: "Genesis").

BMW and Mercedes have never once done this in their respective histories and that makes their choices to use meaningless vehicle trim naming schemes all the more perplexing.

It makes no sense to me no matter what company does this but many of these luxury car companies tend to follow the examples of their competitors even on the smallest details. If this is related to numerology and studies of how numbers and alphanumerics are perceived it's still ridiculous.

 

The most sensible and, IMO, the most practical thing to do is to simply dump the whole alphabet-soup and/or alpha-numerical designations and use simple names like all American-badged automakers used to do. It was quite rare for American-badged automakers to do otherwise....the Chrysler 300-alphabet series of the late '50s and '60s was one of the very few exceptions. In those days, everyone knew what a Valiant or Falcon or Electra or DeVlle or Galaxie or Impala was.....nobody had to guess.

 

This is the right thing for Lexus from a marketing point of view. The classic Lexus customer will remember and respond to numbers like a GS460 or a LS450...but going forward a RX300, GX400, LX500 or however they are going to call them will be more simplified for the new customer.

 

The problem is that with every redesign all these companies want to INCREASE the # even though the engine got smaller.

BMW went from 535 to 540 etc. MB went from S550 to S560 and then all the idiotic C43, E43 etc.
Right now Audi is the only one that makes sense.

 

The new gen of buyer does not see it as a problem. They see the number as a level of status.