The highway sedan has always been the preferred segment of German manufacturers, and over time, it has even become a preserve. Lexus wanted to tackle it, with exactly the same arguments. Either a large propulsion with powerful 6 and 8 cylinder engines. The Lexus GS, but it will not have convinced many people in Europe. Even the hybrid version did not find its place in front of the German diesels. The Lexus GS should therefore disappear from the European markets, and here is its replacement, the Lexus ES.
Its definition is different, since while the GS is a propulsion, the ES is a front-wheel drive, giving priority to comfort, softness, with performances that take a back seat. There are never ES with a V8 engine. Another big difference, as seen in the US market where ES and GS have been offered for over 20 years, is that ES is some 20% cheaper than GS. Customers will find themselves there quickly, although the European market was distinguished by a GS300h call version that never existed in the United States. The ES300h will probably not be much cheaper than the GS300h...
The new ES was unveiled simultaneously on both sides of the Pacific. In Palos Verdes, California, and at the Beijing Motor Show, China. It is a 4.96 m long sedan, 1.87 m wide and 1.44 m high. It can almost be called a limousine. In the United States, it is considered a bit like a luxury Toyota Camry (which is based on the same platform), and much more luxurious in fact, but in Europe, where this great Toyota is no longer marketed, it will be far beyond the most beautiful Toyota. However, it will be a real Lexus, because if it does not receive a high-performance powertrain to compete with the BMW M and other Mercedes AMG, it will be a luxury car.
And of course, it will be a hybrid. Its powertrain will take the capacity of the current GS300h, and there will no longer be a 450h version. We will therefore be satisfied with a 2.5 L 4-cylinder engine, a mechanism that is highly optimized to consume as little as possible. With total power available under the driver’s right foot of 218 hp (160 kW). It is a reasonable powertrain, with an official average fuel consumption of only 4.7 L/100 km. This is a truly exceptional value for a large sedan of this calibre. A diesel would consume no less.
In markets other than France, there will also be a 4-cylinder, non-hybrid version, and a V6 version of 300 hp, but the ES300h will be alone in the catalog in France, and no one should complain about it. Because now that Lexus has abandoned the idea of competing with the Germans with the same weapons, it is up to the Japanese manufacturer to put forward its own arguments. The first is the grille, which, if not unanimously, still has the advantage of being unique. Hybrid propulsion has the same advantage, and when the Germans are always lagging behind on this terrain, it’s the best card in Lexus.