Confirmed: Lexus RC (IS Coupe) arriving at Tokyo Motor Show – RC F V8 planned too

The Lexus IS Coupe will be the Lexus RC when it arrives at the Tokyo Motor Show in November, and Lexus are to produce an F version with a 460bhp V8.

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The concept version of the new Lexus IS was the LF-CC Concept, which was shown at the Paris Motor Show last year.

But the LF-CC was actually a two-door coupe, not a four door saloon, so it seemed highly likely there was an IS Coupe in the works that would arrive sooner rather than later. And it will, at the Tokyo Motor Show in November.

Automotive News have been talking to a man from Lexus who confirmed our story from May that the new IS Coupe will be arriving in showrooms in 2014, that it will be called the Lexus RC and that there is an IS F / RC F on the way too.

AN’s man from Lexus confirms the RC 350 for the US for late 2014, but as we don’t get the 350 in the UK and Europe it seems certain there will be an RC 300h this side of the Pond, and perhaps an RC 250 too.

But perhaps the most interesting prospect is the arrival of the RC 350 F with more power than the current (last model) IS F – 460bhp instead of 416bhp – which should be enough to give the RC F – and its inevitable new IS F sibling – a fighting chance against the new BMW M4 when that arrives with similar power in 2014.

The new IS is a big improvement on the previous IS, and if the RC arrives as a production model looking as good as the LF-CC it stands a very good chance of taking the fight to the German Coupes with real intent.