Lexus to use BMW 3.0-liter straight-six in next-gen IS sedan?

Here’s a

rumor

so wild it needs a U.S. Fish and Wildlife permit. Japan’s

Best Car

magazine reports that the next-generation

Lexus IS

will offer

BMW’s

B58 3.0-liter inline-six as one of four powertrain options. That’s the same engine found in the new

Toyota Supra

with 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque. What’s more, the fourth-gen IS will resurrect the

IS F

model gone AWOL during the current third generation, and do it with the twin-turbo V6 from the

Lexus LS 500

. The current TTV6 makes the same 416 hp in the

LS 500

as the 5.0-liter V8 did in the first

Lexus IS

F 12 years ago.

According to the magazine, the other engine options would be

Toyota’s

2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, a 2.5-liter for a

hybrid

model, and a 2.4-liter turbo. We don’t know where that last engine fits in.

BMW

doesn’t make a 2.4-liter, and

Toyota

appears to have retired all of its 2.4-liter applications. Ignoring that, the 3.0-liter straight-six looks like it would replace the current 3.5-liter V6 rated at 311 hp and 280 lb-ft.

This wouldn’t be the first time the

Supra’s

engine has been ported to the IS.

Lexus

mavens will remember that two years after the introduction of the original IS in 1998, Lexus put the Supra’s 2JZ 3.0-liter straight-six engine in the

IS 300

— without the turbochargers, thank you.

But

Best Car

‘s prediction would have zero relation to history. Those were both Toyota engines back in 2000, and even ignoring the power differential, the IS didn’t compete with the Supra. Putting BMW’s 3.0-liter in the

Z4

and the Supra works because they are the same car. And again, even ignoring the power differential, the more powerful

Z4

doesn’t compete with the Supra.

Best Car

‘s scenario has BMW selling one of its

best engines

for use in a direct competitor to the 3 Series. Lexus would need to design an engine bay long enough to swallow an inline-six,

not

a bread-and-butter engine for the brand, yet still be sensible for three more compact powerplants. Then, assuming BMW and Toyota made the same deal as with the Z4 and Supra, the Lexus would be down by a healthy double-digit horsepower margin on its German foe. The new

Supra gives up 47 hp

to the roadster. Where’s the upside?

It’s said the trim sedan will stay about the same size, on a wheelbase roughly four centimeters longer, but lose a substantial chunk of weight. With other rumors that

the design of the fourth-gen IS

was frozen last year, and that Job #1 of the new IS will happen in July 2020, answers can’t be far away.

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