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Toyota gives dealers permission to drop Scion, shows them FR-S droptop, Juke rival first

We recently heard that Toyota could be looking to shrink its network of Scion dealerships, and now Automotive News is reporting that the automaker has officially given its dealers the green light to dump Scion without any penalties. Currently, Scion has about 1,000 dealers, yet our report from August 8 quotes an industry analyst as suggesting a healthier figure would be between 350 and 500 outlets. But before its current dealers make a decision on whether or not to get rid of the youth-oriented brand, Toyota also showed off a couple potential future products in the pipeline.
The FT-86 Open Concept shown above was revealed back in March at the Geneva Motor Show, and AN says that an FR-S convertible was driven on stage at a recent national Toyota dealer meeting in Atlanta. There has still been no definitive word one way or another as to whether the droptop model will be built, but it could be a good way to follow up to the popular FR-S coupe. Another possible future product is a subcompact crossover, which was shown in drawing form at the meeting, presumably aimed at small CUVs like the Nissan Juke and the upcoming Honda CUV based on the Fit, a model recently previewed by the automaker's Urban SUV concept.

Lexus planning a hydrogen fuel-cell LS by 2017

Toyota's Fuel Cell System will certainly migrate to other vehicles in the carmaker's lineup, but Australian car site Motoring reports that one of the models at the head of the queue is the Lexus LS. According to its sources, the executive barge powered by hydrogen will be released by 2017 and take the top spot in the range, rolling in above the LS Hybrid. We're told that Toyota engineers will find a way to slide two hydrogen tanks into its bodywork with the same general setup as on the Mirai – one under the rear seats and another under the rear parcel shelf. The 150-kW fuel cell stack will be placed under the front seats. Motoring says the resulting sedan and its 220-kW electric motor would come in "at around 2,100 kg," which is 4,620 pounds; that's a ginormous 539 pounds less than the listed curb weight of the current LS Hybrid, and 387 pounds more than the standard LS. Assuming all goes as planned, it would have a range of roughly 238 miles, a few dozens less than the Mirai's range of about 300 miles. It would look slightly different, too, the front end getting larger intakes to cool the power unit. It wouldn't surprise us if Lexus does have a hydrogen LS planned – it would be a statement car, and the company likes making statements, even if few heed them; it has stuck with its LS 600h for the past seven years, yet of the 7,539 LS models sold through the end of November this year, only 61 of them were hybrids. The timing would be intriguing, however; by the time the LS hybrid came out, Lexus had already worked over its filet-and-potatoes models. And if the hydrogen version is going to come in above the $120,440 hybrid, well, that will be a statement indeed.

Lexus GX, Toyota Land Cruiser Prado facelifts leaked

The Lexus GX and the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which isn't sold in the US, have gone without visual updates since the current generation was launched in 2009. But what appear to be patent filing sketches and pictures of the sibling sports utility vehicles' mid-cycle updates have been leaked on a Russian Land Cruiser Club forum.
Major changes to the GX's front end will be made to incorporate Lexus' signature grille. Gone are the awkwardly shaped headlamps and the soft-looking triple-slat grille. The sketch shows the Lexus with a new bumper, lower-profile headlights and a more aggressive, angular grille with one more slat and a gaping lower air-intake opening. The vehicle's profile looks unchanged, but the rear bumper will be reshaped slightly to fit new, better-integrated horizontal reflectors.
The Toyota gets a handful of styling updates as well, including a new front bumper with higher-profile headlamps that look a bit out of place to us. The Prado's profile also looks unchanged, but the rear end gets restyled taillights and a reshaped license-plate enclosure.