Lexus fine-tunes LX, GS in return to luxury roots - Automotive News
-- Lexus, which has been busy in recent years proving its hipness to millennials, came to this monied coastal enclave Thursday to show that it hasn’t forgotten its roots, or its customers, in the old-school luxury market. As festivities heated up at Monterey Car Week, Lexus unveiled facelifts to both its LX full-size SUV and its GS midsize sedan. The LX is based on Toyota’s iconic Land Cruiser, and while it sold just 1,886 units this year through July – a 15 percent drop from 2014 – it remains one of Lexus’ most profitable models. For 2016, the LX gets a dramatically updated interior and exterior, with a more aggressive version of the Lexus “spindle grille,” LED headlights, revised taillights, and new rear bumper and wheel options. Underneath the coddled passengers, a new eight-speed automatic transmission replaces the older six-speed, and an adaptive variable suspension keeps California’s potholed roads at bay. LX pricing will be announced closer to the on-sale date this fall, but given the extra features, expect it to jump up a bit from the current model’s $84,120 base price. Lexus first unveiled the fourth generation GS in Pebble Beach in 2011, and it went on sale a year later. As the name implies, this version comes with a 2. 0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a first for the GS line, and only the second current Lexus (behind the compact NX crossover) to use. Source: www.autonews.com
