The Lexus IS comes as a series of luxury cars of the entry level that are basically compact executive cars. The series has been selling since the year 1999, when the first generation of the Lexus IS series was introduced. At the time, it was introduced as a sport model and was at the slot below the ES lineup.
The cars in the Lexus IS series are those that were introduced between 2001 and 2005. Some of the cars included in the first generation of the Lexus IS are Lexus IS 200, IS 300, Toyota Altezza (JDM) and Toyota Altezza Gita (JDM). What is different about the Altezza IS is that it was manufactured to directly compete with the luxury sport sedans that the leading European carmakers manufactured. Greater emphasis was laid on the performance.
The most widely sold car in the first generation of the Lexus IS series was the 4-door sedan. Other than that, there was also the 5-door vehicle in this generation of the Lexus IS series. The 5-door first generation Lexus IS came in two styles. These were the hatchback and the station wagon. The Lexus IS first generation vehicles had an FR layout.
There were mainly three variants in the first generation Lexus IS. These were the 2.0 L 1G-FE I6 (AS200/IS200), 2.0 L 3S-GE I4 (RS200) and the 3.0 L 2JZ-GE I6 (AS300/IS300). They were used in IS200, RS200 and the IS300 respectively. Other than that, the transmissions that were available with the first generation of Lexus IS were 4-speed, 5-speed, 5-speed automatic and 6-speed manual. The 4-speed and 6-speed are automatic, while the 5-speed is manual as well as automatic.
From among the vehicles manufactured as the IS first generation, the IS300 was the first one to be sold in North America as far as Lexus cars go. The IS300 was available in multiple designs and was powered by a 3.0 litre displacement engine and the cylinders were in the V6 format.
Lexus IS is the executive model of the IS300 with which most people are familiar. This was a compact car and very stylish. Other than the compact executive model, there was also the hatchback model as well. This was sold under the label of Lexus IS300 SportCross.
The first generation Lexus cars were sold under different names in Japan and they came to Europe and North America as the IS200 and IS300. These models were quite different from their preceding ones, and by that time many innovations had been made to the Lexus vehicles in the IS first generation. One of the most noticeable improvements was the chrome instrument panel. In the beginning, Lexus was not known for innovations like these.
The Lexus IS first generation vehicles did well in the car market and it was later on that Toyota redesigned all the lines and introduced a completely different, much improved Lexus in the Geneva Auto Show in 2005. Since then, Lexus has continued to be known for its sleek and stylish design as well as great performance.
