Lexus Ls Luxury Sedan Could See A Return To V8 Hybrid Power

Lexus LS luxury sedan could see a return to V8 hybrid power

When Lexus launched the fifth-generation LS at the end of 2017, the Japanese luxury maker predicted its once-brand-defining sedan would sell 12,000 units per year in the U.S., a threshold the model hadn't reached since 2010. The LS managed 9,301 transactions here in 2018, its first full year on sale, falling back to 5,528 units in 2019. Through the first three coronavirus-affected months of this year, Lexus dealers have sold 801 LS sedans, compared to 1,404 units in Q1 2019. There's a mid-cycle refresh supposedly due for release in the fall of 2021, and the June issue of Japanese magazine Mag-X (translated), via Lexus Enthusiast, claims we're due for a couple of big surprises that could jolt the sales figures. The first shock is that Lexus is supposedly bringing back the LS 600h moniker for an LS with a V8 hybrid powertrain. 

Lexus debuted the LS 600h L in 2007 for the 2008 model year, retiring the hybrid trim in 2016. Its heart was a 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8, and when combined with an electric motor, combined output came to 439 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque. The fifth generation introduced the LS 500h that switched to a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6, producing a combined 354 hp and 369 lb-ft., taking second place in output to the twin-turbo V6 in the non-hybrid LS 500 with 416 hp and 442 lb-ft.

Lexus Says It'll End Production Of The Gs Midsize Sedan In August

Lexus says it'll end production of the GS midsize sedan in August

You know that 2020 Lexus GS 350 F Sport Black Line Special Edition we told you about yesterday? As it turns out, it'll be the last gasp for the midsize luxury sedan, as Lexus plans to cut the nameplate from its lineup.

Lexus announced in Japan that it will discontinue the entire remaining GS lineup, including the 467-horsepower GS F performance sedan, after production there ends in August. It also follows the brand's decision last year to not offer the entry-level GS 300 in the U.S. for 2020.

Junkyard Gem: 1989 Mitsubishi Galant Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 1989 Mitsubishi Galant Sedan

The history of the Mitsubishi Galant in North America goes all the way back to the 1971 model year, when Chrysler imported the first-generation Galant and badged it as the Dodge Colt. Later in the 1970s, we got Galant coupes badged as Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Sapporos, and Mitsubishi began selling Galants (now with front-wheel-drive) with the company's own badging starting in the 1985 model year. The sixth-generation Galant arrived here for the 1989 model year, as a stylish and technology-packed competitor to the Taurus, Camry, and Accord, and it made a fair-sized splash in the automotive world. You'd have a tough time finding one of these cars today, but this '89 appeared in a self-service yard in Phoenix a couple of months back and I was there to document it.

Junkyard Gem: 1994 Subaru Legacy Ls 4wd Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 1994 Subaru Legacy LS 4WD Sedan

I live in Denver, where Subarus rule the roads, and that means that all my local car graveyards are packed with worn-out vehicles displaying the Pleiades logo on their battered grilles. These days, most of those discarded Subarus will be second- and third-generation Legacies of the 1995-2005 period, mostly Outback wagons, so I'll be making an effort to document some of the 1990-1994 first-gen cars before they become junkyard rarities. Here's an optioned-up 1994 Legacy sedan, looking very outdoorsy in a yard located near the Dakota Hogback south of Denver.

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Acura Legend Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Acura Legend Sedan

Honda beat Toyota and Nissan in the race to bring a luxury marque to North America, introducing us to the Acura brand for the 1986 model year. Acura shoppers could buy a luxed-up, more powerful Civic (the Integra) that year, while the real high-rollers went for a smooth-looking, V6-powered luxury sedan co-developed by Rover and Honda: the Legend. That was quite a leap for a company that had been selling tiny cars with two-cylinder motorcycle engines just 15 years earlier, but the 1973-1985 period had been spectacularly good times for Honda. The early Legend sold very well in California, and that's where I found this high-mile '87 a couple of months back.

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Subaru Legacy Gt Limited Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 2000 Subaru Legacy GT Limited Sedan

Due to the runaway success of the Subaru Outback wagon based on the third-generation Legacy, which appeared in North America for the 2000 model year, nearly all of the discarded 2000-2004 Subarus I find in my local Denver junkyards are these dime-a-dozen longroofs, mostly with H4 engines and automatic transmissions (though I do manage to run across the occasional rare H6 model). For a discarded example of the super-rare non-Outback Legacy GT sedan with manual transmission, I had to travel all the way to a Northern California car graveyard. Here it is!

2021 Toyota Avalon Awd First Drive Review | What's New, All-wheel Drive, Sedan

2021 Toyota Avalon AWD First Drive Review | What's new, all-wheel drive, sedan

PARK CITY, Utah – Adding all-wheel drive to the 2021 Toyota Avalon is pretty much an instance of "Hey, why not?" The latest-generation Avalon, like its Camry platform-mate, was never meant to have four driven wheels when it launched, but here I am less than two years after driving that supposedly front-drive-only full-size luxury sedan for the first time. What's changed? Well, the easiest answer is that the Camry got all-wheel drive, so hey, why not add it to the Avalon as well? All the engineering done to send power to the Camry's back wheels could just as easily be done to the Avalon, as they share the same TNGA-K platform.

Now, the answer as to why the Camry got all-wheel drive is a bit more in-depth, as we describe in its own first drive. In short, customers and dealers were demanding an all-wheel-drive Camry from nearly the second the new generation launched, and people were continuing to leave sedans for crossovers in part due to all-wheel drive. As a result, Toyota of North America tasked its own Michigan-based engineers to create an all-wheel-drive Camry using components from the TNGA-K SUV models, the RAV4 and Highlander. Oh, and while you're at it, they were told, do an Avalon, too.

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Nissan Sentra Two-door Sedan

Junkyard Gem: 1986 Nissan Sentra two-door sedan

It seems that the Sentra has always been with us, but in fact the very first Sentras didn't show up in North America until the 1982 model year. This gas-sipping econobox became an immediate sales smash hit over here, and the Japanese-built 1982-1986 cars elbowed aside many a Civic and Corolla in the battle for American sales. Sentras began rolling out of Nissan's new Tennessee factory in 1985, just before the debut of the second-gen version, and so today's Junkyard Gem in Denver is one of the very last of the Kanagawa-built Sentras sold in the United States.