Lexus Teases 2013 GS350 F-Sport and GS Hybrid; Models Will Debut at SEMA and Frankfurt

Lexus unveiled its new 2013 GS350 sedan last week at the festivities surrounding the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, and it snuck in peeks at two key GS variants that will follow the 350 to market. The first is the enthusiast-minded GS350 F-Sport—we’ve already driven a prototype—which Lexus teased with a zoomed-in shot of the car’s front-left corner. The second is the hybrid variant of the GS, although the image shows only an unchaged grille and a newly blue-tinged badge. Lexus will debut the GS hybrid at the Frankfurt auto show in September, by which point we should know whether it will keep the same GS450h moniker as the last-gen GS hybrid.

Although not as exciting as the 416-hp V-8–powered IS F, we did find the F-Sport GS to be noticeably more engaging to drive than the standard car. The F-Sport we drove was covered in camouflage, however, and from what we can see in the teaser, the model will feature an appropriately aggressive front fascia. The intakes under the headlights are much larger than those on the pedestrian GS350, and their edges are more sharply defined. The F-Sport trades the standard car’s horizontal grille slats for sportier mesh, and also inherits IS F–style dark-gray wheels.

It should be noted that a GS350 F-Sport is a different animal from an IS F. While Lexus F can be thought of along the lines of BMW’s M or Mercedes-Benz’s AMG—an in-house tuning arm that cranks out high-powered street burners—F-Sport is Lexus’s brand for its line of performance accessories. The F-ized GS will follow the IS350C F-Sport convertible and IS250 and 350 F-Sport sedans in offering the parts from the factory; a CT200h is due to come for 2012, too. The GS350 F-Sport will be unveiled at this year’s SEMA show in November.

 

From: CarAndDriver