2018 Beijing Motor Show: Lexus ES teased ahead of official reveal

THE legendary “Toyota Camry with leather”, the Lexus ES, will tease its brand-new looks with an official unveiling at the 2018 Tokyo Motor Show.

Few details are available, but the seventh-generation midsize sedan presents what Toyota calls a “ re-imagined luxury equation, featuring engaging design, athletic performance and renowned Lexus refinement”.

Straight away we notice the strong LS influence; it gets one of the proportionally biggest signature Lexus spindle grilles to ever feature on a vehicle rolling out of Toyota’s luxury car-making division. It’s framed by narrow LED headlights with a Nike Swoosh-like daytime running light etched underneath it, Camry-esque boomerang-style features and what looks like a subtle splitter running the full width of the lower air dam.

The “hybrid” badge on the trailing edge of the rear door’s skin, as well as the blue-tinged Lexus badge in the grille all point to this version of the Lexus using the Camry’s 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain. A V6 version is also anticipated.

As it’s done for the Camry, the new-gen ES is expected to get a huge kick up in terms of the refinement of its ride and handling from its move to the Toyota New Generation Architecture, the newly developed modular platform that has transformed other Toyota-badged cars, potentially including the next-gen Toyota Corolla due here in August. One of the features of TNGA is its ability to cater to both front- and rear-wheel-drive applications, with rear drive having more of a luxury tinge to it.

A teaser video shows straked, BMW-esque LED tail-lights add visual appeal to the ES’s flanks and rear, while the bootlid sports a subtle integrated spoiler, indicating Lexus is keen to talk up its new sedan’s dynamics.

The Lexus ES will make its debut at the 2018 Beijing Motor Show, which starts on April 25.