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The effects of PGM zoning and washcoat staging have been investigated as a means to lower the cost and simultaneously improve the performance of a lean NOx trap system. It is shown that reverse PGM zoning can be used to reduce the cost of the LNT while essentially maintaining the NOx performance of a similarly-sized trap with a uniformly high PGM loading. In addition, the effective temperature window of the trap can be expanded by staging different NOx trap formulations that are optimized for different temperature ranges. Alternatively, LNT washcoat staging can be used to improve the hydrocarbon conversion of the trap while maintaining good NOx performance. Laboratory data and vehicle data are presented for several NOx trap system combinations that demonstrate the improved performance that can be obtained from a combination of reverse PGM zoning and washcoat staging.