Has it been talked about yet.

The 2018 IS200t will become the IS300. Same thing for RC, and NX. GS200t will also become the GS300. I said a while back Lexus would be going this route.

Just wondering if there is a thread somewhere.

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ing-is300.html

 

The publications that have announced a new 2.0T IS300 have not addressed what happens to the current V6 IS300. Actually, it's quite poor reporting. Do they not even know Lexus already has an IS300 when they talk about the new name change? Maybe in their defense, the current V6 IS300 is not available in California or parts of the West Coast. Could be throwing them off.

 

Everyone obviously knows that there is an IS300. I think the current IS300 stays IS300. It was AWD only, as Lexus doesn't pair the 2.0T with AWD in the IS and GS. Instead of IS200t RWD / IS300 AWD and then IS350 RWD and AWD. It's simplified into 300 and 350, both in RWD and AWD.

 

http://www.motortrend.com/news/2018-...s-guide/#lexus

I'm not sure I understand the question about what happens with the V6 IS300 AWD. Seems clear to me the IS300 AWD lives on with a V6.

 

I'm for tossing the whole system of alphabet-soup-and-numbers system for naming vehicles. Though most of us, as auto enthusiasts, know the system and which vehicles are which, it is, nevertheless, a constant source of confusion for those who don't, and who would be better-served by having simple names for each vehicle. Some of the most confusing letter or letter/number combos come from Lincoln, Acura, and Mercedes.

 

Odd. So if I understand this correctly, they will be calling the 2WD model virtually the same thing as the AWD model even though they use two totally different engines (?). And being that the average shopper is just going to call both models the "300," it's going to cause confusion on the showroom floor. Really not the greatest marketing choice. Or at least I can't think of too many other instances when this has been done. They'll probably rectify this within one to two years, once they start getting complaints from dealerships.

 

Yes, it's definitely different, and nothing something that has been done directly by other OEMs, but I don't think it's going to cause confusion as 99% of car buyers don't really care what is under the hood, they simply need to know where in the hierarchy the model is place. Yes, they're putting the 2.0t and the lower output 3.5L V6 in the same hierarchy, but the customer needs to just know that it's lower than the IS350 RWD/AWD. Most customers won't know whether it's a 2.0T or a 3.5 V6 or whatever. We here obviously do and care, but the day to day consumer definitely could care less. Most BMW 1 series owners believed their car was Front Wheel Drive.

 

ok but then you have GS/IS 300 with either a V6 or a Turbo 4.
I never seen the same exact model name for 2 different engines.....

 

first time for everything. Plus this will only be temporary until they can mate an AWD to the 2.0T on bespoke RWD models like IS/GS

 

I don't really like how they've disassociated the number with the engine. Now it's kind of like how the Q50 has multiple engine options. The hard part with Lexus is that you also have the IS350, so sometimes they follow it, and sometimes they don't, all on the same model...

 

^
Q50 they also designate as 2.0T or 3.0T on the car so its clear which engine it has.

 

Well, the trunklid will still have the AWD badge on it for AWD models. "200t" has always seemed like a mouthful to me anyway...


I thought the BMW 528i went from being naturally aspirated to turbo without a name change? The 2011 model has the 3.0L inline six, and the 2012 has a turbo 2.0L inline four.

 

Right it did but the 28i designation didnt apply to both engines at the SAME time.

In Lexus case you will have 2018 GS300 with V6/AWD and a 2018 GS300 with 4cyl turbo/RWD!
Plus they just introduced the GS200t name a year ago.....

 

They don't offer a GS300 AWD. Your point is valid on the IS though.