And this is just a teaser.
It may seem strange to us, but Japanese marque Lexus actually sells quite a number of ES saloons. It outsells the rear-drive GS in most markets, though Australia’s never really warmed to the ES. Our sentiments aside, the ES is an immensely important car for Lexus, which is why they’re aiming to launch a new one at the upcoming Auto China show, better known as the Beijing motor show.
“The all-new ES springs from a reimagined luxury equation. Engaging design, athletic performance, and renowned refinement transform Lexus’s most popular saloon. The all-new Lexus ES, reborn.” — Statement, Lexus
The latest generation ES will likely continue to share underpinnings with the large Toyota Avalon saloon, meaning the use of Toyota New Global Architecture. With the Avalon, the US-market model is offered with a 3.5-litre V6 or a 2.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid, and we’re likely to see similar setups for the ES saloon.
The ES might be similar in size to something like a BMW 5-Series, but price- and positioning-wise, it’s more of a 3-Series competitor. As such, it sits alongside the smaller Lexus IS saloon, which outsold it nearly six-fold through last year on our shores. However, it fares far better in North America, where the ES was responsible for something like 17% of total sales for Lexus.
There’s reason to believe that while it’s positioned as an ‘inferior’ version of the Lexus GS, the narrowed gap in appeal between the ES and the GS means that the ES may go on to replace the GS in this generation, though that remains as mere speculation at the time of writing.
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