CarBrandLogos archive · Lexus · 1999
Lexus decided it needed a 3 Series rival, and the tail lights outlived the car.
Discover the storyPhoto: Elise240SX · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lexus IS, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
Lexus built its reputation on quiet, comfortable, effortless cars, which left it with nothing to sell anyone who wanted the sort of compact rear-drive saloon BMW had made its own. The IS, sold in Japan as the Toyota Altezza from 1998, was the correction: short, rear-wheel drive, with a six-cylinder engine mounted well back and a chassis tuned for keenness rather than isolation.
1999-2005 Lexus IS 200 sedan 03 · OSX · Public domain
02
The cabin took its cues from watchmaking, with a chronograph-style instrument cluster and a drilled aluminium gearknob. The rear lights, clear lenses with the lamp units visible behind them, became so widely imitated that the aftermarket simply called any such fitment Altezza lights, on cars that had nothing else to do with Lexus. American versions arrived as the IS 300 with the 3.0-litre 2JZ-GE straight-six.
2008-2010 Lexus IS F Sports Luxury sedan 01 · OSX · Public domain
03
The second generation of 2005 was more polished and more conventional, and it produced the car that finally gave the range some menace: the IS F of 2007, with a 5.0-litre V8, the first of the F performance models. The third generation ran for an unusually long time with successive facelifts, and later gained an IS 500 F Sport Performance using the same V8 formula. All-wheel drive has been available throughout in cold-weather markets.
2008-2010 Lexus IS F Sports Luxury sedan 02 · OSX · Public domain
At a glance
Produced
1998–presentTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the IS's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →From the journal
Contemporaries from the 1990s
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