Phase out their best selling sedan? Makes no sense. It would be like Ford eliminating the Taurus....

 

Yes, they're dropping both the RX and the ES for the 2014 model year...my uncle's nephew's father's son told me so. Shouldn't affect their sales volume/market share too much....

 

Good one.

 

Ford did kill off the Taurus, once. See what happened? Ford brought in a new CEO and he could not bring it back soon enough.

 

It seems that it could be another industry analyst/magazine trying to play armchair-CEO.

 

we all know the es does well in the u.s. for people who want a reliable buick but maybe ihe's saying the ES isn't the best option for the european market since he's talking about europe and other 'nonmarkets' ?

that's probably not far off the mark. the es is kind of an 'odd man out' in europe (fwd, sort of luxurious, nowhere near the cache and brand recognition of the big 3 there). by dropping the es, they could focus on ct/is/gs for europe??

 

I thought that it was referencing europe completely too, but then again the Avalon isn't sold there.

 

Sensationalism...... how about more of this

 

Through February the ES accounted for 52% of Lexus car sales, and 30% of total brand sales. Granted it's a new model, but unlikey to be going away any time soon.

 

There is no Avalon in Europe... it is just stupid MT, lol.

If anything, with this new ES, they are expanding the market. They need to offer it in Europe and let customers decide if they like it or not. GS in Europe, due to taxes, is very very expensive vehicle. ES300h would sell much better, just like A6 FWD sells great with 2.0 TDI engine.

 

As far as NA market usually you try and build on past success and change or remove failures. So in NA, this would be a terrible horrible decision.

 

As far as I'm concerned, after driving and reviewing the latest 2013 ES, Lexus, IMO, for all purposes, HAS cancelled the series. For years, it was a relatively plush, smooth-riding, comfortable car with top-notch workmanship....especially the superb 4th-generation model (and that's what made it so popular). The latest 6Gen model clearly suffers from cost-cutting measures, a decontenting of sound-insulation used, a firmer ride over bumps, less wood-trim used inside, and a general attempt to both economize it and make it more of a semi-sport-sedan.

I feel that the ES series clearly reached its peak from 2001-2006, though it was not perfect...it had some complaints here and there (and some TSB's) about an unresponsive electronic throttle-by-wire system and quirky transmission-shifts. But, IMO, it was far more impressive than the current new model.

 

Mmarshall, does the ES hybrid come close to the older ES in terms of ride quality?

I hope they don't kill the ES either. Like it or not, seeing so many running wild in North America, the ES has become the iconic symbol for Lexus for me (not counting the RX).

 

I'd love to see them drop the ES and bring in more entry-level GS models, but we know that won't ever happen. I'm much more concerned about Lexus potentially deciding to can the GS.

 

that would be nice if the LFA mattered. overall, it doesn't, or should i say didn't, as its run is over. it's certainly a fabulous engineering achievement, but only selling 500 of them at a stratospheric price made it pretty irrelevant.

^^ this. the es and rx is what lexus is known for. the somewhat oxymoron of 'practical luxury'. or 'sensible luxury'.

is that u.s. or worldwide?

wouldn't the es300h also be subjected to huge taxes? and being the most expensive es anyway, there's no free lunch.