Lexus shelves plans for all-new IS F

With parent company Toyota’s signing of an agreement for the co-developing of a new rear-wheel-drive platform with Mazda four months ago, a new report from Australia has cast doubt on the architecture in-question underpinning a new performance version of the Lexus IS.

As previously indicated, the platform will enter production in 2022 when Mazda introduces the all-new 6, but according to motoring.com.au, the fourth generation IS, mulled for the same platform in 2026, will not have a flagship F model last offered on the second generation.

“It’s one of my favourite cars that we’ve ever produced, [but] there’s no plans at the moment [to release another one],” said Lexus Australia CEO Scott Thompson was quoted as saying.

While the publication reported back in January that the IS F could be powered by a variation of the 3.5-litre badged 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 that pumps-out 310kW/600Nm in the LS500 instead of the normally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 currently powering the RC F, these plans appear to have been shelved with Thompson conceding that the brand’s F models sell in much smaller numbers than those of Mercedes-AMG, BMW M and Audi’s RS division.

Reports of Lexus developing a new bespoke engine for its F models have however also been kept under wraps for now.

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