- lexus's mid-size luxury sedan, the gs, is ending production for the u.s. after the 2020 model year.
- it will say goodbye with a special-edition model called the gs black line.
- the gs has been around since the early 1990s and all four generations have been sold in the u.s.
it turns out that reports of the lexus gs's death were not exaggerated, as the sedan will end production in japan this august after rumors circulated about its demise for years. the news originally came from yahoo japan and was confirmed to car and driver by a lexus spokesperson. lexus cites slow sales and the declining sedan segment as the reason for its cancellation.
in the u.s., the gs will say goodbye with a special-edition black line package (pictured above) that includes certain appearance tweaks including black trim and red interior accents. available for the gs350 f sport model, there will be 200 units produced in total for the u.s.
lexus first brought the gs to the u.s. for 1993 to give the fledgling luxury brand a competitor to the bmw 5-series and mercedes-benz e-class. the rear-wheel-drive gs was sold alongside the similarly sized front-wheel-drive es sedan for years, but sales of the es have always far outpaced those of the gs in the states. in 2019, the es sold 48,484 units to the gs's 6604 units.
the second-generation gs, sold from 1997 to 2005, was a particular favorite at c/d. we named it to our 10best list in 1998, 1999, and 2000. the current gs is the fourth-generation model and has been on sale since 2012. only the v-6–powered gs350 and v-8–powered gs f performance model remain for 2020, as previously available four-cylinder and hybrid variants had already been discontinued in recent years.