In the rear, there are subtle changes; the taillight housings are smoked gray on dark-colored cars, and chrome on light colors. There were some eye-catching new Lexus colors introduced on the IS 300 in 2001, and in 2002 there are more, making a total of nine.

The three rear windows on each side of the SportCross are a bit odd, the back two crowded, as if they're an unsolved design problem. Behind the rear door window there's a non-opening triangular window that looks like an old-style vent window, and behind that there's a another one shaped like a triangle/trapezoid, which neither looks in nor out on anything, and is outlined by a thick black band inside the glass where it fits against the car's interior.

Lexus calls the SportCross "more than a sedan but less than a full wagon'' (that's the cross), and adds "the new silhouette admittedly places unique design ahead of maximum utility." This priority leaves room for a gaping hole in the concept: there is no standard roofrack, nor even an available one, nor even any rain gutters to attach an aftermarket rack; and the radio antenna, rising from the center rear of the roof, would get in the way anyhow. Lexus says the SportCross will appeal to mountain bikers, and the press kit includes a photo of a SportCross with a bike squeezed in the back to prove it, but we don't think so. The bike has whitewall tires, which suggests how much Lexus knows about mountain bikers. They go everywhere in pairs; their bikes are perpetually caked in mud. They need roof racks.