Friday, Lexus unveiled the GS 350 F Sport, calling it the “best ever” GS. Unfortunately, after hitting that high watermark Lexus has decided to retire the entire GS lineup, citing, you guessed it, flagging sedan sales.
Lexus announced that after production ends in August, no more GS vehicles will be built, and that includes the GS F Performance sedans, like the best-ever 350 F Sport, according to Autoblog.
This is super unfortunate. No one likes to see a solidly decent luxury mid-sized sedan go out like this, but it wasn’t exactly unexpected. There were rumors circulating about the GS’s demise as early as 2017 and even then our response was a resounding: oh.
Oh is about as enthusiastic as Lexus shoppers could get about the GS.
Last year, the GS represented just 4% of overall Lexus sales in the car segment.
Through the first three months of 2020, Lexus sold just 624 GS sedans, a decline of more than 34% year over year. Full-year sales in 2019 were down a whopping 48.8%, at just 3,378. The model saw its best sales year in 2015, when it sold 23,117.
Toyota apparently wanted to kill the line after the second generation, but it held on thanks to Lexus executives. But it takes more than starry-eyed CEOs to make a car line last. Of course, Lexus has a pile of sedans and coupes for the dwindling number of sedan shoppers to choose from. In the end, the GS is just yet another sedan going quietly into that good night.