England's Autocar comments on the next IS

British car magazine <B><I>Autocar</I></B>'s website features a story titled <B><I>Lexus' sexy LF-C to spawn IS and SC</I></B>. Among its most important passages:<P>

Longer and wider than today’s IS200, the new Lexus compact executive saloon (sedan) will be a key part in the Japanese company’s plan to double UK sales and triple European sales by the end of the decade.

For the European market, a 150bhp 2.2-litre, four-cylinder diesel will be available for the first time.<P>

(T)he concept previews a two-door coupé, probably to be badged SC200, to fit below the existing, bigger, folding hard-top SC430. Lexus has yet to decide whether to engineer the SC200 as a hard-top coupé with a soft-top variant or, only as a folding metal hardtop like the LF-C.

Today’s five-door IS Sport Cross estate (wagon) is likely to be canned in favour of a sporty crossover SUV to battle the Land Rover Freelander and forthcoming Saab 9-3X. Likely to be badged RX200, it will draw styling influence from the LF-X concept.<P>

For the entire article, click <A HREF="http://www.autocarmagazine.co.uk/News_Article.asp?NA_ID=207813">here</A>.<P>

<B>IS300.NET editorial comment:</B> A separate, other-than-IS prefix/series name for the 2-door versions is something that's been mentioned on our forums. Given the current worldwide love for crossover SUVs (or "soft-roaders", as they're referred to in the UK), making one as an IS SportCross replacement is logical, especially considering the popularity of BMW's new X3 in Europe. What makes NO sense, however, is giving these separate series the same prefixes (SC and RX) as existing larger models. I think <I>Autocar</I> really missed the boat on that prediction.